Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy.

Ch. 2 We Meet Again

Eddie, Adrian, Dash, and Liam came with us on our visit.

Dash was Adrian's guardian, assigned to whenever Adrian left the safety of Court. Since Adrian rarely left Court, Dash was often away guarding other royals and sometimes even non-royal Moroi.

Eddie had been assigned to Christian after graduation. In truth, Christian should've had two guardians – he was a royal after all. But after his parents turned Strigoi, the sigma still lingered over the Ozera family. As punishment, the guardian allocations for their family had been cut down to one. It was unfair, but we couldn't do anything about it.

It'll be okay, Lissa whispered to me before we landed in California around noon – which was technically midnight for the Moroi world. We would have to run on a human schedule while on our visit. The constant sun would make it harder on the Moroi, but I loved being out in the sun. I was a little surprised she would choose to be here, but not like I was complaining…too much.

I wish I could tell her it wouldn't be okay. How could anything be okay anymore, after my true love had left me for another woman?

I gave her a small smile, but I think she could see through me. She gave me a sympathetic smile. You won't even need to talk to D- I mean, him, she hastily corrected herself.

We rented out a huge van, and since Liam was the oldest, he got to drive.

"I never get to drive the car," I complained.

"Please, you'll get plenty of time to drive…once we get to Lady Ozera's," Liam said to me without taking his eyes off the road.

Lissa had warned him when she'd taken him on as a guardian that I had some issues with Tasha Ozera, but hadn't explained in detail. As such, he was polite and didn't ask what had happened, but referred to her as Lady Ozera. It touched me, considering how he didn't know what had happened.

"Welcome!" Tasha called as she opened the door to her house.

It was a medium-sized two story house in the suburbs of LA. With the constant sunshine here, no Strigoi would want to come here. Although too much sunshine would weaken Moroi, it would keep most Strigoi away since they wouldn't want to come here as often. Still, they could strike at night when we didn't expect them to.

"Thanks for inviting us," Lissa said a bit cautiously as she moved into the house with her luggage.

"It's no problem," Tasha said cheerily, trying to act oblivious to my presence. That was fine with me. "Come in everyone!"

We stepped into the living room, and we all gasped.

The floor was soft beige carpeting, and the walls were painted a light eggshell blue. I could still smell fresh paint, although the couple must've moved in six months earlier. A flat screen TV was on one side of the wall, with comfortable, kickass couches scattered about.

I heard footsteps and tensed up. There was only one person whom it could be.

A man came into view, and suddenly my heart rate was a little faster and the room felt warm. Although I hadn't seen him for a year and a half…I would know him anywhere. Hell, if I hadn't seen him for fifty years, I think I would still recognize him.

Dark, bottomless chocolate brow eyes it felt like I could fall into...Lightly tanned skin….Dark brown hair that was now slightly above his shoulders and was slightly damp, like he'd taken a shower recently….

It was Dimitri. And oh God, he looked as gorgeous as the last time I'd ever seen him…

He was dressed in a white shirt that clung to his muscled body, and sweats. I scolded myself for noticing him, and how good he looked. I couldn't help but admire his gorgeous features.

His eyes widened when he saw me. I was a little surprised he was showing some of his emotions so openly. I thought I could see a flash of regret in his eyes as he looked at me, but I turned away and told myself to ignore it. He no longer loves you, I whispered to myself. It was the sad but hard truth. The sooner I finally accepted it and moved on, the easier my life would be.

"Princess Dragomir," he said formally to Lissa and greeted everyone else cordially. Adrian eyed him coolly, and was very nonchalant and even a little rude towards him. When he came to me, he hesitated. "Rose…"

"Guardian Belikov, I'm not Rose to you, it's Guardian Hathaway," I said brusquely, keeping my emotions off my face.

"Of course…Guardian Hathaway," Dimitri said. A slight bit of pain flashed in his dark eyes before he turned away. He seemed hurt that I was calling him by his formal title, and not his actual name, which made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

"You guys know each other?" Liam asked, raising his eyebrow.

"He was my mentor," I said coolly, grateful Liam was interrupting my "talk" with Dimitri. "He left after the Strigoi attack to…guard Lady Ozera."

And make babies with her, I added bitterly. I looked around, but to my surprise, there were no cries or shouts from children. Were they at a daycare or something?

I noticed Lissa speaking with Christian in soft rapid tones. She looked over at me from across the room. Rose, she said, Christian says that…he's never had kids with her.

I shouldn't have cared at all…but my heart felt a little lighter. If he hadn't had kids with her…

Stop. I shouldn't care, I reminded myself.

"Well, get settled in," Tasha said to everyone. "I'll show you all to your rooms."

I was sharing a room with Lissa…and across the hall was the room that Dimitri and Tasha apparently shared. Of all the damn luck we had to get the room closest to Dimitri.

After I put my luggage down I met with Liam. "I know that here it's very sunny, but we still need to be on the lookout for Strigoi," he said in a low voice. "They might want to strike at night, when we're not expecting them, even if that's supposed to be daytime for us."

"I know," I said, nodding. "And we need to keep the Moroi safe at all times."

"Lady Ozera and Christian control fire…but we can't just leave them to defend themselves," Liam said quietly. "Still, it'll be easier for us to keep an eye on Princess Vasilisa and Lord Ivashkov if we're attacked since they can distract the Strigoi." Like me, Liam fiercely believed that the Moroi should be able to defend themselves if they chose. That was a pretty hot topic at Court still, even after more than a year had passed.

I nodded. "I'll check the perimeters while you keep an eye on everyone else with Dash."

"Right," Liam said, and smiled. He gave me a quick peck on the cheek right as Dimitri was coming around the corner.

He immediately stopped in his tracks, and his eyes shifted from me to Liam. His eyes were guarded, and he didn't reveal his emotions. "Guardian Hathaway. Guardian Lancaster."

"Guardian Belikov," I said coolly and strolled away as fast as I could.

Once out of sight, I heard some loud voices behind me, like two people were arguing. I hesitated, and scurried back to around the corner, and eavesdropped on Dimitri and Liam.

"Why the fuck did you kiss her?" Dimitri demanded, sounding visibly upset. "You…you two aren't dating, are you?"

"What concern is that of yours?" Liam retorted, his voice angry as he spoke, and I had to agree with him. "I have a right to kiss her if I wish, and if she allows me to. You were her mentor, so why do you care?"

I could hear Dimitri take a deep breath from around the corner, presumably to calm himself down. "It is because I was once her mentor that I care," he said evenly. "I don't want her taken advantage of by some other man."

I pressed a hand to my mouth to stifle the squeak of surprise. Now he chose to act like he cared about me, when I was supposed to be over him? What the hell was going on?

"Taken advantage of?" Liam repeated, his tone incredulous. "You were only her mentor! You're not her father or her friend, so you shouldn't even care. You care so much…did you take advantage of her?"

"I didn't take advantage of her," Dimitri hissed, and I heard some thuds, like they were hitting each other.

I took a small breath to quiet my trembling, and walked downstairs so I could check that the perimeter was secured.

Lissa POV

I watched Rose run down the stairs and head outside. No matter her tough words and the front she put up, she wasn't okay. I couldn't read her thoughts through the bond like she could read mine, but she was my best friend.

It's been a year and a half since she last saw him, I thought sadly, putting up a barrier so she couldn't read my thoughts. It hurt me, knowing that my best friend was still heartbroken and no matter what she did, she couldn't forget him. Sometimes at night, I could hear her crying when she thought no one could hear her.

To my surprise, when I came back to myself, I could see Dimitri standing in front of me. His dark eyes were serious.

"Princess Dragomir, may I speak with you for a moment?"

"Yes, Guardian Belikov," I answered. We left the others in the kitchen and went into the living room.

"Why do you want to speak to me privately?" I asked, lacing my hands together and putting them in my lap. I had a feeling it was related to Rose, but why would he want to know anything about her? Besides I was probably wrong anyway.

Dimitri hesitated for a moment. He frowned, and then his words came out. "I wanted to ask…how….Roza – I mean, Rose – has been doing," he said softly.

I stared at him in shock. I hadn't expected my prediction to actually come true. The man who had broken my best friend's heart to be with another woman was asking how she was doing? Was he out of his mind?

"She's doing great. She would be doing even better if you hadn't broken her heart to be with another woman," I hissed at him angrily. I knew she wasn't doing so well…but he didn't need to know that. Yet, at least. Anger filled me. How dare he try to find out how Rose was doing now? If he'd really cared about her, he wouldn't have left her in the first place.

"Please, let me explain-" Dimitri tried, but I cut him off. I didn't want to hear it. I was glad I'd put the barrier up. Rose didn't need to see this weird conversation with him.

"There's nothing to explain. You're living a perfect life with Tasha Ozera, just like you wanted when you left all those months ago," I said harshly. I lifted my chin haughtily and stared at him. "You don't need Rose. If you're just hoping that she'll come back to you, you obviously don't know her. If you really loved her, you wouldn't have even thought about leaving her!"

Pain and sorrow filled Dimitri's eyes. "Please…hear me out."

"I'm not going to bother," I said, rising to my feet and glaring at him. "You'll need a very good reason for why you want to talk to me next time! If you want to know how Rose really is, then you ask her yourself. I'm not your messenger, Guardian Belikov."

Dimitri's features hardened as I addressed him by his formal title. "Very well, Princess Dragomir. I will talk to her myself."

He stormed out of the room, and I watched him go. There would be nothing I could do to stop him from talking to Rose, but the last I could do was give her a heads-up.

Rose POV

I angrily stalked around the perimeter of the house. I really wished I hadn't come, but of course, I had no choice. Being Lissa's guardian I had to come along. He's doing just fine without me, I thought bitterly as I scanned the area. No need for him to pretend that he's so nice, checking up on his ex-friend with benefits.

Now, I didn't believe in love. Not after how Dimitri had left me. If he'd claimed to love me so much, why had he decided to leave me? And now the jerk had the nerve to get mad when Liam kissed my cheek. Asshole.

Lissa called to me through the bond. Rose!

I couldn't exactly respond, so I just kept on walking. She continued, Dimitri spoke to me. He wants to have a word with you.

If I'd been able to respond, I would've told her to tell him to fuck off. She couldn't read my thoughts. A collection of swear words appeared in my head at what I wanted to say to that but I heaved a huge sigh.

Being on the lookout for Strigoi, I wasn't exactly paying attention to if there was a person in front of me. A tall figure suddenly appeared in front of me. I let out a very loud shriek and jumped about five feet into the air. I finally realized it was Dimitri who stood before me.

"Rose…it's good to see you again," he whispered, his Russian accent lacing his words.

I felt a twinge in my heart at seeing him but ignored it. I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled at him. "You wish it was good. So. Now we meet again, after a year and half. And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Guardian Hathaway?"

"You don't really mean that, Roza," he whispered, reaching his hand out towards me. "And you used to call me Comrade."

I sprang away from him like he was a snake. My heart twisted at his use of his old nickname for me when he felt affectionate towards me. "I do mean that, Guardian Belikov. Guardians don't address each other by their actual names, let alone nicknames."

"You used to let me call you that," Dimitri argued softly. There was a gentle look in his eyes that made me want to melt. He stepped forward and put a hand on my arm. I froze at his touch. "Please, just let me-"

"No!" I shouted, recoiling away from his touch. "If you think that acting like you still have feelings for me will win me back, you obviously don't know me. You're the one who left me. If you regret your choice now, which I doubt, that's too bad."

"It's not that-" Dimitri began.

Something occurred to me, and I glared at him. "And you're with Tasha now. You're just cheating on her if you hope to get me!" That made him scummier than what was under a boat for even looking at me that way. Besides, I was over him. I was living the single life, and enjoyed being free of a guy.

At least, that's what I think I believe.

"I'm not two-timing Tasha!" Dimitri yelled, anger finally in his eyes. He'd finally lost control of his emotions.

I continued to glare at him. "Yeah? Two-timing is when you're with another person, and you act like you like someone else, you jerk."

With that, I turned and stormed back into the house, slamming the door behind me with a bang.

Dundundun...Dimitri tried to make a move on Rose but she won't let him. Reviews greatly appreciated ;D