[A/N] Hello :) Wow, I didn't expect for anyone to be reading this, so thank you. And yes, I am one of those geeky authors who check their traffic to see whether their stories are being read...LOVE YOU ALL

A quick shoutout to Princess Steffany, who alerted and reviewed this story. You're amazing, Steff :)

This chapter is pretty short because I thought this was an ideal ending and I didn't know how to continue it, so bear with me. Enjoy:

Rose sat in Stan's class, spacing out as usual. She toyed with the idea of slipping into Lissa's head for something to do, but dismissed it. Lissa wouldn't like it.

"Rose, how do you knock someone out?" Stan asked, suddenly appearing beside her desk. She sighed. They were revisiting the basics again – I mean, this was stuff they had learned in sophomore year.

"Well, there are three methods," she said blandly. "Method one – an upwards strike to the middle of the chin. Method two – karate chop the neck."

Lots of giggles echoed throughout the classroom because of her terminology. Eddie, her best dhampir friend, caught her eye and winked. Nice, he mouthed.

She grinned and stood up. "Method three – use your middle finger and index finger to stab them in the neck." She brought her fingers to the dent between Stan's collarbones. "Want me to demonstrate?" she whispered slowly, applying soft pressure to his neck. Stan gulped.

The rest of the glass erupted into fits of laughter, causing Stan's face to go from pale and frightened to red and angry within a matter of seconds.

"Miss Hathaway, that is highly inappropriate," he spat, forcing her fingers off him. She shrugged and sat back down. Stan's eyes widened. "Apologize," he shrieked at her, embarrassed.

She lifted her chin defiantly. "And what if I say no?"

The class held their breath. Sure, people liked to piss Stan off – but no one had ever gone this far. Except for Rose Hathaway, of course.

Stan's face started to turn purplish, and a vein bulged. "Then I will send you to –"

A knock at the door interrupted his angry yell. Muttering about 'horrible timing,' he opened the door. Dimitri stood there, his guardian mask firmly in place. If it wasn't there, he'd be on the floor laughing. He'd heard the whole thing.

"Guardian Belikov," said Stan, surprised. "Wha-what are you doing here?"

He looked over Stan's shoulder and caught Rose's eye. She winked. "I'm here to collect Rose. Ellen wants to see her."

Stan smirked and turned to Rose. "Well then, Hathaway, I see you're getting your punishment anyway." He turned back to Dimitri. "You can have her," he said casually, flicking his fingers to indicate that she should leave.

Eddie caught Rose's eye worriedly. What trouble had she gotten into this time? Rose understood his glance and shrugged. It's okay, she mouthed. His tensed face didn't ease up.

Rose gathered her belongings and followed Dimitri out the door. Once they were out of earshot, Dimitri spoke. "You really shouldn't have egged Stan on like that," he said, his words disapproving but his tone light.

She punched his shoulder playfully. "Oh shut up, Comrade. It was fun," she said, a grin firmly on her face. Being around Dimitri always did this to her.

He shook his head. "I'll never understand your version of fun, Roza," he said, causing her heart to do little flips. He had called her Roza! In public!

"You know," she said seductively, trailing her fingers up his arm, "there's no one around to –"

She didn't get to finish her sentence before Dimitri's lips were on hers hungrily. Ever since the cabin, he had been a lot more open with her, and she loved it. She dropped her stationery and wrapped her arms around his neck, nestling his fingers in his silky brown hair. He responded with a growl and pushed her against the wall, bringing his hands down her sides and resting them on the curves of her hips. She wrapped his legs around his waist, losing herself in the kiss.

The faint sound of a door slamming caused them to jump apart, their hair and clothes all messed up. They chuckled at the sight of each other. They were both still slightly breathless. At last, Dimitri resumed walking and Rose picked up her stuff and followed.

"Headmistress Kirova's going to wonder what took us so long," he murmured, his thought still slightly scattered.

She smirked. "Yeah, well, she can deal. Tell her I was reluctant or something."

He chuckled and they noticed that they had reached Kirova's door. Dimitri knocked politely while Rose rolled her eyes. He was always so nicely mannered. She would have just barged through there.

"Come in," called Kirova from the other side. Dimitri pushed the door open and Rose cringed. Lissa, Adrian and her mother all stood in the room. They were all looking at her expectantly.

"You finally showed up," said Kirova impatiently. "Sit down, Rose." She gestured to the uncomfortable chairs in front of her desk. She shrugged and sat down.

"So," she said nonchalantly, "why am I here?"

Kirova narrowed her eyes. "We were hoping you could answer that question, Miss Hathaway."

Rose's casual expression was replaced with one of surprise. "Huh?"

"I hope this isn't the usual," said Janine, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms. She checked her watch. "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I really need to be somewhere else."

Kirova fixed Rose with a penetrating stare. "Are you sure you don't know why you're here? You sure you haven't done anything wrong within the last few days?"

Rose stood up angrily. "If I'd done something wrong, don't you think I'd own up to it?" she snapped. Dimitri's hand was on her wrist in a flash, murmuring to her to sit down. Lissa was also telling her to calm down through the bond. She sat down, unashamed at her outburst.

Adrian spoke up. "I don't know why Lissa and I are here though," he said, eyeing Dimitri who was still holding Rose's wrist. "I mean, wasn't it Rose's problem? Not ours? Not that we don't love you, little dhampir." He grinned.

Kirova sighed. "I assumed that you both had played a part in this, seeing as you're all so close to her. And seeing as you, Lord Ivashkov, have access to happenings outside of her school, you seemed likely to be involved.

"Just spit it out already," Rose protested. "Tell me why we're all here."

Kirova shot her a weary glance and lifted her phone. "This."

They all rolled their eyes. "We were all called here because of a phone?" Adrian asked, shaking his head.

Kirova glared. "No, we're here because of what's on the phone," she said, highlighting a text. "This is from the NCIS department in Washington, D.C."

"Washington?" asked Lissa, incredulous. "Do they think that Rose could have gotten there and back within a few days without anyone noticing?"

Dimitri would have spoken up and told them Rose had been nowhere, because she was in class during the day and he was in her room at night, but that wouldn't have gone down with them very well. Especially as Janine was in the room.

"NCIS?" asked Janine. "I doubt that Rose could have gotten involved with federal agents."

"This seems to say otherwise," said Kirova. She showed them all the text.

Bring Rose Hathaway to us. Immediately.

[A/N] Doesn't that sound dramatic? I wanted to do this chappie in Rose's POV but I thought it might be a bit hard if it was in RPOV to write the NCIS bits, so I left it in 3rd person. I hope everyone was IC. And did you enjoy the little RxD moment? I know I did XD

Next chappie up soon guys. Peace ^^