Chapter Thirty-Two

Last Time:

"If he wanted his hair to look sexy," Viktoria interjected. "I could have done it myself," Jeez, was everyone listening in on our conversations now?

I snorted. "Puh-lease. I am a boss at hair," I said, petting my own hair. Viktoria glared.

"Is that so? Then I challenge you to a hair-off!" she declared. I gave her an odd look then nodded. I shook her hand.

"You bet." I paused and placed a finger on my chin. "But, Dimitri has to be the model."

Dimitri chuckled, though looked uncomfortable. He held up his hands. "Oh no–"

"Oh yes," I cut him off, raising both eyebrows at him as he gave me a ridiculed look. "It'll be awesome."

Viktoria and I laughed, and I honestly expected her to completely forget about the whole hair-off thing.

However, what happened next was definitely not expected.

Currently:

Rose POV

The doorbell rang and then a following knock pounded on the door. Everyone paused what they were doing and turned to the direction of the noise: the door. I hopped up, a grim feeling in my chest beginning to stir up.

Maybe... I knew it was Lissa all along. I mean, after all, she is my bond mate and stuff. So, this should've been expected, right? I ignored my gut and opened the door, mentally cursing myself for not checking the bond and trying to see what she had been doing this past month. I had got in on a few details, but I had not foreseen this. She must've been keeping it from me somehow, I decided.

I turned the knob and yanked it open right as Dimitri walked up behind me. My eyes widened in shock and my heart gave a hard painful squeeze. There I stood in the doorway, my jaw on the floor. I was frozen to the bone at her sudden shocking appearance. I could hardly believe what I was seeing and was at loss for words.

"Liss..." I was awestruck, my breath caught in my chest the second I began realizing how much I had missed her. I looked at Dimitri and he stepped outside with me and closed the door behind himself, crossing his arms, looking like a true badass guardian. "Okay," I said regaining my composure putting my hands out in front of me. "What the fuck is going on?" I asked.

"I came to see you, Rose."

I snorted. "Yeah, no fucking shit; I'm not blind, I can see that. I mean, why in hell did you come? Don't give me some crappy–" For a second I felt bad about being mean... "shitty-ass excuse!" I said, realizing that my voice had rose a couple octaves. I turned to Dimitri and sucked in a deep breath, successfully calming myself.

"I..." she started, tearing up already.

"Oh boy, get ready for the water works, everybody," I said annoyed and throwing my hands up in the air.

"Shut up, Rose!" Lissa shouted loud enough that the Belikovs' inside could probably hear her. Here comes the tantrum, I thought mentally. I sent her a completely, utterly pissed glare. "I'm sorry! Okay? I'm fucking sorry!" Lissa shouted at me.

That surprised me – she just swore. Only once in a blue moon did that ever happen when we last were together. I rose an eyebrow and I nodded, pretending to take this all in. "Okay. I see, I see, you're sorry." I breathed out hastily. "Well that makes everything better, now doesn't it?" I said, still completely bewildered by this strange appearance.

"If you'd let me explain!" she screeched, her cheeks growing pink from embarrassment. She looked up finally and gave me a kind, regretful smile. Dimitri stood in between us, looking back and forth; wondering what would probably ensue because of our tragic, and completely unplanned, sudden meeting. Especially after what happened the last time I was with her.

I stood there for a few seconds longer, unable to form any noise. I sighed a little put out, "That sounds great, considering you have a lot of explaining to do," I finally managed to get out. Lissa nodded looking relieved that I would even listen and a glad smile on her face. Well she shouldn't be glad. I'm about to rip her throat out as soon as we leave the perimeter of the Belikov's house.

"Do you mind... Going on a walk with me?" she asked with hopeful eyes. Lissa turned right as I locked eyes with Dimitri. He gave me a look that said it was my choice. Wow, I thought. He really is my rock; I honestly needed him with me for support.

"As long as Dimitri is coming too," I said, crossing my arms in a stern way. I can only assume that she must've only come here to apologize for being such an atrocious bitch to me last month. I have the upper hand at this point in the game, so to say.

Lissa shrugged. "Yeah, that's fine," she said slightly unhappily. Dimitri shouted something in Russian to his family and then closed the door behind him. "I just kind of wanted to it be just you and me..." she whispered, but I picked it up. I ignored her. Dimitri's going to come and Lissa's going to like it.

Dimitri trailed some six or so feet behind us as we walked. Since it was Christmas, it was a given that there wouldn't be very many people out. I decided to ask a few questions.

I turned and squinted at her. "How the hell did you get out here? Let alone know where I was?" I asked, my anger rising once again.

She shrugged again. "I, well, compelled a couple people to give me his address," she said tossing a thumb in Dimitri's direction and acting as if it were everyday that she was going around getting whatever she wanted by using compulsion... Which it seemed like it suddenly made a whole lot of sense to me, in fact, that's probably what she does on a daily basis. "So I took a jet and flew out here. Everyone's on break so the officials didn't mind much. I just told them that I was going out to visit you and they let me."

I nodded at this, it seemed reasonable. Everyone back at the school still believed we were best-fucking-friends-for-ev's! and unaware of our actual slightly messed up state. Something seemed missing though. I thought for a second and then I realized that Christian wasn't here.

"Where's Christian?" I asked wondering if they broke up or something.

"At the hotel," Lissa replied curtly. She didn't look like she wanted to expand on that. It actually seemed like she was trying to get up the nerve to say something so I just walked along patiently waiting.

"Okay, I just want to get this all out, because it is seriously killing me. And that's blatantly: I fucked up Rose," she said, looking at me with sincere eyes. I turned and looked at her pointedly. It always seemed weird hearing Lissa swear, she just always had that goody-goody, perfect air to her that made her seem so un-prone to any emotions other than happiness and acceptance. But I knew her better than that. Much better.

"Yeah," I scoffed. "You certainly did."

"Yes, and I know I totally screwed up. But what I'm here to do is explain and apologize, and I know this is the last thing you want to hear and shit, but just hear me out. I really wasn't myself back then, and that's the best I can admit to. It was the darkness of the spirit. I wasn't used to you not sucking the darkness out, so I was a little on overload. All my emotions were amplified by like three hundred, and I couldn't help what I was saying."

I stayed silent as she paused, waiting for her to go on.

"Part of it was because of the darkness, but... That wasn't all." I sent her a confused look. Before I could ask what the hell she was getting at, she jumped into the explanation. "It was Tasha. And I'm not just blaming it on her because she's out of the picture now. She had given me this really cool, intricate ring that day. And I figured it was a harmless, pretty little thing, so I wore it. I really didn't have my head on straight, just like you said."

The memory of my words spun around in my mind.

I stood up from my spot on the bed opposite of Lissa's. I turned to leave, but I looked back at her one last time. "Come and talk to me when you've got your head back on straight," I said, walking towards the door backwards shaking my head. "This is seriously stupid. I want my best friend back." And with one disgusted look and last cold glare, I left.

What an unbelievably horrible day, I remembered. I remembered feeling like such utter shit that I wanted to just curl up in a ditch and die. I felt like someone had just killed my puppy. Hell, raped it and then stabbed it to death. It was just all bad. I smirked, though, at the fact that Lissa had remembered my words just as I had said them.

She sighed as we continued to walk down the trail. We were walking down the road that Dimitri and I had gone down the night that we killed those two vile strigoi. I shuddered at the memory, as proud as I am of my marks I still didn't like having to kill someone that use to be like me. But unfortunately, it's a fact of life.

I was actually enjoying the walk, watching all the little snowflakes floating down. I liked how delicate and beautiful the snowflakes looked as they fell around me. I was glad that those distracted me from my own frenzied mind. The sun barely shined through, and it appeared pretty dark out due to the dark clouds overhead.

I looked back and smiled at Dimitri who looked oddly enough like he could be stalking Lissa and I, two apparently innocent teenage girls. He smiled back that panty dropping, orgasmic smile, and I winked at him before turning back to Lissa.

"So yeah. After I bitched at you, I had this little moment of clarity where I asked myself 'what have I just done', and I realized that I just ruined my whole life. I mean, sure, there's Christian, and I love him with all my heart and all, but compared to you, he's in a whole other ball park. I see nobody but you when it comes down to friends."

I knew what she was saying because Dimitri was in a whole other ball park of his own, too. I would do anything for him. I love him with all my heart, but I also realized I needed my best friend, the person I considered my family, my only sister.

I took a few deep breaths as I thought it all through and taking in her explanation. It would make sense that Tasha cowardly, of course, knew how to get to Lissa. Taking away my best connection as a friend, making her come to hate me. Isolating me from the people I care about most and making my life miserable.

Tasha was playing dirty like that and really wanted to ruin my life, or should I say end my life. The thought of all that Tasha did to get to me sent a shiver through me. I bit my lip and crossed my arms. Suddenly it seemed much colder out here, but I'd grown up to sustain temperatures like this so I decided the weather was not the thing sending cold chills through me.

One question still urked me.

"Well..." I began softly, meeting her eyes as she met mine. "Why didn't you ever call, or talk to me, you know?" I asked a little hurt that she never thought to do so.

Lissa widened her eyes in understanding. "I never took the ring off! I never knew that it was the problem with me. My anger and hatred was only towards you when I wore it, so I had no idea what was going on."

"You're telling me that in this past month since I've been away that you never took off the damned ring?" I asked, giving her a disbelieving look. "But wait, Tasha's not a spirit user. How could she have charmed it if she doesn't have spirit?"

"My guess is it was Adrian. Tasha compelled him to charm the ring and then forget. It was weird, and it turned out that there's a gap in Adrian's memory. He doesn't remember at all what happened one afternoon. Sound coincidental?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips, but then dropping them to her sides as she reeled in a deep breath.

"And when I took it off, I didn't realize at first. I took it off at nights and during showers. I didn't notice a change in emotions when I took it off because I was so calm when I did and you weren't around to fuel the flames. It felt like no change at all. But Adrian and I were studying, and we came across these super old archives made by ancient spirit users. They talked about spirit infused charms and such. You can understand that everything just seemed to click at that point."

I nodded. "Y-yeah," I said, stumbling over my own words. My anger over our whole fight had subsided and I was just regretting the time we lost and the fact that Tasha almost succeeded in taking away my best friend.

"Ah shit, Rose! I miss you!" she shouted, throwing her arms around my neck. I faltered back in surprise, but then caught her in my arms and in return, held her back. "I didn't know what was going on," she cried. "And I didn't understand the power I wielded. It was so hard. Not only for me, but Christian; he was as dumbfounded as me, and just saying, he seriously misses you," Lissa rambled on, but looked sincere when we broke apart and we got a good look at each other.

"Really?" I asked, chuckling. "Sparky misses me? Aw, I'm touched," I said as I clasped my hands to my heart.

Lissa giggled. "Yeah, you should've seen him the other day. Going on about how he missed your wit and jokes, so bad that he was hugging a pillow and refusing to do anything. It was adorable. He was like a lost puppy." I laughed at the idea of that and the picture of Christian curled up in a puppy bed with droopy eyes and hugging a pillow, his bottom lip sticking out in a pout.

Hell, I knew I couldn't, rather, wouldn't let myself stay mad at her. I gave her suspecting eyes, but glanced at Dimitri who honestly looked as confused as I felt internally. Surprising everyone, including myself, I cautiously put my hand in hers, allowing myself to be pulled flush against her body.

For some reason, the feeling of her against me felt so comforting, and wonderfully familiar. I was so homesick. I hadn't realized how much I missed my best friend. Or could I even call her that? I really didn't know if we could go back to what we were. Had too many things been said to go back.

I still had torn feelings. Part of me felt hurt that she lashed out at me the way she did, but since we had been best friends all our lives, I couldn't express how much I felt like I needed her with me right now. I slumped into her arms, leaning all my weight on her. And she surprised me by holding me up, unfaltering.

We broke apart after another moment more and looked at each other, a wide smile forming on her lips, and strangely, the beginning of a smile of my own. So we got a second chance, we both knew that neither of us better not blow it.

"I propose we start over, and take advantage of our second chance," I said, eyeing her. I could see the happiness light up in her eyes and suddenly a rush of warmth from the bond. She had let me in and that alone told me we would be okay. I knew it won't all be easy, but I was pretty willing to take the chance.

We made our way back to the house, and I suddenly worried if it would be okay if an uninvited guest were to show up. Meaning Lissa. Nevertheless, Dimitri opened the door for us and allowed us in. I smiled at him and took his cold hand to lead him into the house. Olena looked up to see us first. Then everyone else's eyes pursued. I smiled warmly.

"Um, guys, this is Lissa Dragomir." All their faces were in shock. I imagined that they knew who she was, what with being the last in her royal line and all. "I… err, hope you don't mind if she crashes for a few days."

Olena shook her head and jumped up to greet her. "Hello, princess." God, she sounds just like Dimitri. I rolled my eyes, always with formalities. "Is there anything I can get for you?" Pant, pant. Kidding, but it appeared to be that way. Olena was always one to be an amazing host, but when it came to a royal in her (or technically Dimitri's) house, she took it to a whole different level.

Lissa charmed her with her modest-ness. "No, please, Ms. Belikov. Sit down. I'm fine. I'm thankful that you're allowing me to hang out with you guys," she said and looked over at me and smiled. I rolled my eyes and smiled as well.

I looked over at Viktoria, and was a bit shocked to see that she was glaring at Lissa with hatred. I sighed. She'll come to like her.

xXx

Dimitri took my hand and brought me close, leaning in to whisper in my ear something quiet. "You have yet to see you're most important present." I looked at him a little confused but decided to go with the flow.

Viktoria POV

I death glared at Lisa or whatever her name was. I couldn't believe–better yet–couldn't stand that two-faced Princess bitch. How the hell did she think she could just show up here and act as if absolutely nothing is wrong, and didn't just recently hurt her best friend the way she had? Even though I had to force it out of her, Roza had told me all about what went down at St. Vlad's at her last visit. I just can't believe Lissa has the nerve to show her face here of all places. She doesn't even like Dimka!

Roza looked over to me right as I was in the middle of glaring at Lissa with utter, deep hatred. She looked a bit shocked to see me this pissed, but I didn't care at all because this girl, Lissa Dragomir, is a first class bitch. I am not about to act all nice and pretend to like her.

I watched as Dimka whispered something soft in Roza's ear. I hadn't had my eye on him the whole time, but every time I checked him out, he was just, for lack of a better word, weird. He had been super quiet and jittery, now that I come to think of it. This made me wonder what he had up his sleeve.

He sucked in a deep breath and stood to his full 6'7 height. He stealthily looked around to see if anyone was already paying attention to him. He snuck over to Abe and said something so quietly and secretively, that my sharp dhampir senses couldn't even pick it up. I cursed at that; I hated it when he spoke so low.

Abe nodded and stood up, exiting the room swiftly with a very nervous looking Dimka trailing shortly after him. Which in my sisterly perspective, I know something weird is going on, because Dimka is never nervous.

Only a minute and a half later, they were back. My big brother had a wide, goofy smile on his face. I squinted at him. What the hell? He looked like a kid that just learned he was going to go to Disneyland. Abe took his place next to my mother, and, ugh. That's a whole other headache that I definitely did not want to get in to. I watched Abe with hard suspicious eyes, but he is generally pretty hard to read. Looking back to my brother, I saw him take off his duster and then reach in the pocket for something that he put behind his back.

He looked up to meet Abe's eyes with what looked to be a very meaningful gaze, and right after, Abe nodded to him and, shockingly, smiled proudly at him. Now that got me curious. I sat forward in interest. The room seemed to quiet down as Dimka pointedly walked over to Roza, stopping only when he was standing right before her.

I suddenly realized what was behind Dimka's back; as he was standing in front of Roza with his back to everyone else in the room. In fact... We all saw what he held in his hand. A small, black velvety box. That type of box. You know. A collective gasp was heard around the room and the entire room went silent, as if everyone was holding their breath. Even Paul and Zoya knew to be silent and just stare at their uncle and Rose.

Roza was looking utterly confused at our reaction and she looked over at me, hoping for an answer. That, I'll admit, gave me a little power trip, made me feel a little smug. Considering she didn't turn to her previous best friend and look to her for answers. I bit my lip as I met her eyes and tried to keep myself from smiling. Instead, I just waited and watched like everyone else in the room.

Dimitri POV

Wow, I thought. This really is happening. I was soo nervous that I could feel my hands and knees shaking as I stood in front of her. My beautiful Roza sat looking up at me with her gorgeous big brown eyes, wondering something roughly like: What the hell is he doing right now? Yeah, I didn't blame her

She had on a sexy pair of black leggings that clung to her perfect legs, along with a clingy dark tank top with a soft, cream colored sweater. Her perfect, long and visibly silky chestnut brown hair was in loose curls, and I knew that if there wasn't a whole crowd of people in the room, that I would be all over her. God, she was so beautiful, so beautiful that it hurt. One very happy thought flashed in the back of my mind. And she's mine.

I swallowed painfully hard because my throat seemed suddenly excruciatingly dry. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I was surprised that Rose couldn't hear it. For that matter, everyone in this room. She was the most beautiful, loving, and downright amazing person in the world to me. She knew me inside and out. No one else knew me that well. And no one but her ever will. That position is strictly held for Rose.

The thing that kept running through my head and causing my palms to sweat all the more was the fact that my beautiful Roza is young, and to top it off, not even graduated yet. What if she doesn't want me, or worse, us? I'm not one to be insecure, but this was a pretty big deal. I mean, I knew for sure that she loves me... But is she really ready for what I'm about to ask her? Am I going to freak her out because it's far too soon? My god, baby, please just don't say no. Don't say no.

As Roza intently stared at me, waiting patiently for me to do something, my mind was racing with all the agonizing reasons she would have to say no. And believe me, there's many. I know what it's like for her not to be with me, and how alone and empty it made me feel. I couldn't help but feel the massive fear of losing her that sent stabbing pains all throughout my body. I had made a deal with myself that I never wanted to feel that horrible, excruciating pain ever again in my life.

I knew I could do this, and that last thought alone was enough for me to stop dragging my feet. I took a shaky, deep breath as I got down on one knee. I swallowed painfully once again, my mouth felt like it was stuffed with a giant wad of cotton; all I could hope for was that I could allow myself to speak.

I was looking down at the floor trying, to summon up all of my courage. And then, right as I looked up directly into the eyes of the love of my life, I knew I would be able to go through with this. Roza gasped when she lovingly gazed into my eyes. I was only hoping that she was able to see beyond the nervousness, and notice all the undying love that I felt for her in the depths of my heart and soul. I felt like my heart might explode. It skipped a beat just at the sight of her.

Taking one last deep breath, I cleared my throat and swallowed down the remaining fear that was holding me back... And I took the plunge. Reaching out, I took Roza's small, soft, and delicate hand into my much larger and calloused one. Keeping the small black velvet box behind my back in the other hand, I began to speak.

"Roza," I said, smiling at her as I spoke. I couldn't help it; it was a reaction to merely saying just her name. "You are so gorgeous, and unbelievably beautiful that it hurts me sometimes. You are so amazing, strong, loving, feisty, and braver than any woman I've ever met. There are not enough words in any language to describe how perfect you are to me. You bring more love, joy, warmth, and happiness into my life than I thought could possibly exist. The feelings you stir inside me when you look into my eyes is almost more then I can take.

"I love you more than life itself," I continued. "I never thought that there would come a day that I would find someone so special, someone who could make me feel complete, let alone a time that I could really even just express it in words," I said and Rose sucked in a breath and laughed so softly that I could barely hear it. There were tears brimming in her eyes, and I knew she knew what was about to fly out of my mouth in a couple minutes... And strangely enough, she seemed to accept it. "I've never been this close to anyone in my life. Roza, there is no doubt in my mind that you are my other half, my soul mate, the love of my life. Simply your presence makes me whole.

"And when I'm with you, I feel like I can conquer the world. You make me a stronger, better man just by allowing me to be apart of your life. When I met you, you woke me up inside. I am nothing without you by my side. When we're together, every minute of every day gets better and better. The moment you touch me there is nothing else in the world but you and I. Roza, I'm so in love with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side, forever."

"Dimitri..." she whispered in a choked up voice, unable to form any different words in her mouth, other than my name. The tears ran down her soft pink cheeks as I poured my heart out to her.

"It would be my greatest honor to be the one who stands by your side for the rest of your life. The man that gives you everything your heart desires. To be the one who lifts you up when you're down and laughs with you when you're happy. I want to grow old with you and love you through an eternity. I will love you forever, for eternity… Not just until the day I die, but in this life time and in the next."

I brought the little black velvet box out from behind my back. I carefully opened the lid with my slightly trembling hands and presented the ring inside to her. I had poured my heart out to her and I didn't care who heard how romantic I was being. I wanted Roza to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I meant every word I spoke. I looked into her eyes the whole time and saw tears streaming down her beautiful face. With a shaky breath I popped the magic question.

"Roza..." A half smile formed on my lips. "Will you marry me?" I felt my breath hitch in my chest and literally felt like I wouldn't be able to breathe until I heard her answer.

Rose POV

I took a shaky deep, very much needed breath. I was completely blown away, and on top of that, I was a total mess with my heart wrenching, sobbing tears spilling out of my eyes. I fought as hard as possible to contain them, but I just couldn't anymore. Hearing Dimitri tell me all of those wonderful things had me acting like a total girl. Not that I minded all that much.

But when he went down on one knee, my heart just about jumped right out of my chest. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. At first I was stunned from the shock, and it was like the room disappeared and the only thing I could see and hear was Dimitri.

His words were so eloquent, and the look in his eyes as he spoke told me a thousand more things. I took in his perfect, smoldering chocolate brown eyes and knew that I could look into those beautiful orbs for the rest of forever.

As I listened to him pour his heart out to me, mind you in front of his entire family and my father; it was as if we had been transported to another place and time, where everything around us froze. It was just the two of us, as it would be forever. It was incredibly magical.

I took in every feature, his perfect shoulder length dark brown hair, his beautiful dark tanned skin, his handsome strong features, and his perfect soft lips that were moving and saying the most amazing things I have ever heard.

I know he has said most of these things to me before. But when Dimitri said that I make him a better man, I swear my heart grew five times bigger. And with every word that left his mouth my heart continued to grow. When I thought it couldn't get any bigger or it would pop, it grew even more.

We were meant to be together.

I found myself holding my breath as the last five words slipped through his perfect soft lips. "Roza, will you marry me?" My heart stuttered in my chest at the sound of those magical words. I felt faint for a moment and realized I had to breathe. And the most magnificent man in the world just proposed to me.

The next thing I knew I was screaming "Yes!" I flew into his arms and kissed those irresistible, warm lips. I pulled back for a second and screamed, "I love you!" Then went right back to tackling his lips once again. The kiss was so sweet and perfect as our tongues danced together in harmony.

Suddenly it was as if the world came crashing in around us. Noise registered in my head and I heard cheering and screaming and clapping. I had to pull myself away from Dimitri's fabulous mouth so I could think.

I looked into his eyes and I couldn't believe how happy he was. He was smiling from ear to ear with the most brilliant smile I had ever seen. He scooped me up and twirled me around, hugging me tightly to his body.

"Wait!" Dimitri said loudly, he put me down and I was confused. Oh shit! He didn't change his mind, did he? But then he took my hand in his larger warmer one and slid the most beautiful ring I had honestly ever seen onto my third finger. He brought my finger up to his lips and sealed it with a kiss. That ring would be mine, forever.

I stood there, staring into the eyes of my fiancé. And then his lips crashed down on mine. Once again everyone in the room disappeared except the two of us.

Viktoria POV

Oh my god! I was so happy. Yes, I was completely and totally a basket case, crying my eyes out over what I had just witnessed, but it was the most beautiful, romantic thing I have ever seen. And it came out of my brother's mouth!

The whole room was a sobbing, tear fest as we listened to Dimka pour his heart out to Roza. It was so perfect; as Roza was, as well, in tears while Dimka was in the process of tearing up. I couldn't believe my brother was capable of saying such honest things to anybody. Sure he was sweet, but romantic? Never thought I would live to see that day.

Roza practically knocked him over when she screamed "Yes!" and jumped into his arms. All I could think was Roza was really my sister now! I was absolutely ecstatic. The room erupted in joyous shouts and cheers.

I couldn't help but glance over at Lissa smugly, and I saw her with teary green eyes and a soft smile with her trembling hand over her mouth, as if her mind was saying, Is this really happening to Rose? I didn't blame her, and in that second, I forgot my anger and hatred towards her and understood how happy she felt for Rose.

But don't worry, in a second it was back and I couldn't stand staring at her for that long. She has just rubbed me the wrong way and its going to take a lot for her to get back into my good graces. I once thought quite highly of her, but now, not so much.

Rose sniffled in Dimitri's enclosed arms, and from the look of it, he wasn't planning on letting go any time soon. She moaned. "I'm so h-happy," she stuttered through sobs.

Mama came up behind her and patted her on the back. Dimitri reluctantly let her go so that she could give her soon to be mother-in-law a big hug. Everyone was lining up to congratulate them. Her dad literally picked her up off the floor and hugged her tightly. Laughter erupted between them in the intimate moment. As everyone crowded around I saw Lissa lingering in the background, finally she was the last to give Roza a hug.

They hugged longer than both parents combined. Lissa kept telling her how happy she was for her and how proud she was that she followed her heart and such, but I tuned it all out. I turned to Paul.

"Hey, Paul," I said, catching his attention. He wasn't crying, but he looked pretty close to it. His nose was red and his eyes bloodshot. Probably from his earlier crying over his new Xbox. I rolled my eyes at his already stoic demeanor. "What do you think about Uncle Dimka and Auntie Roza getting married?" I asked.

He didn't even reply. The little shit. Instead, he jumped up and ran over to Dimitri, only coming up to his waist. "Uncle Dimka!" he shouted. Dimitri looked down and bent over to kneel right before his nephew.

"Yes, Paul?"

"I'm sorry for being mean to you in the past and stuff and ignoring you and throwing spoons at you," he rambled. I raised a brow, spoons? "I promise I'll be nicer."

Dimitri smiled at him and rubbed his cheek. "Its okay, Paul, I forgive you," he said, kissing his forehead. Paul lit up like a Christmas tree and hugged him.

Rose and Dimitri soon found each other once again. "I love you," Rose whispered loud enough so that I could decipher.

This made Dimitri smile. "I love you, too, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Roza."

His smile caused a chain reaction, causing Rose to beam an incredible smile in return. "As do I, Comrade. As do I, my love."

xXx

I want to give a thanks to each and everyone of my reviewers! Some in particular, Dpower, (my awesome beta), Delicious, LexiSoulsister, Twilighternproud, JosefineSheild, Nessy, , Olivia Williams, lovingbites, gopherluv... And many more! I want to give a special thanks to those named because they've either reviewed every or every other chapter. Like, that seriously means soo much to an author. Keep it up guys.

I'd like to ask you guys to divert your attention back to The Thorns of a Rose. It's back in action since I'm done with this story and Camp Is... It's the Sequel to Russian Mafia Boss, if that triggers anything. So, I'm going to be updating that like crazy, & some new one-shots and stories to come!

Thanks again to my amazing reviewers who've stuck with me this far!