I've been trying to update ASAP, but this chapter is probably a little later than my other chapters have been. I'm glad that you guys are enjoying the story. Also, thank you all so much for your wonderful reviews! I wasn't sure if I should continue this story at first, but it seems like a lot of you are enjoying it, so I'll definitely continue. Without further ado, the story continues…

"A month?!"

I fiddled with my hospital band. There was no way they were telling me the truth. I couldn't have been sleeping for an entire month.

I was lying in a hospital bed with my parents next to me. I'd woken up about an hour ago and the first thing I'd wanted to do was eat. They'd been sitting next to me the whole time, looking at me with concern in their eyes.

My mom leaned forward and put her hand on my mine. "Honey, you were…in really bad shape when they brought you in here. We didn't even know if you were going to make it."

I shook my head. "I don't understand. What happened to me?"

"Well, we were actually hoping that you could tell us that." my dad explained.

My doctor, a petite woman with a brown bob who'd been monitoring the machines to my left, walked to the left side of my bed, opposite my parents. "You shouldn't try too hard to remember anything just now. What happened to you was very traumatic. Your mind is keeping the memories from you right now so that they won't interfere with your recovery.

"You also suffered from a fractured skull, which may have damaged your ability to remember certain things. Can you tell me the last thing you remember before being here?" she finished.

I thought back, wondering how the events of a month ago could feel like yesterday. "Um, I remember…Mason's funeral." I stopped, thinking the doctor would say something, but she just nodded at me to keep going. "Afterward, uh…I was with my friends. We ate lunch and then…I left them to go home."

"But you left the house again." my mom said.

My doctor gave her a look that said she needed to stop trying to help me.

"I did?" I asked, trying to remember. Where would I have gone after that? I remembered my friends all telling me they had things to do that night, so I didn't think I'd gone to meet up with them. A flash of something I'd seen before popped into my head. I was sitting at my vanity, putting on makeup, with Lissa behind me. "Lissa came to see me."

My parents nodded like they already knew that. "And then…?"

Before I could answer, my doctor spoke. "I actually think that's enough for today. We should let Rose rest."

"Rest? I've been asleep for a month! I don't need any more rest!" I exclaimed.

But my doctor disagreed and shooed my parents out of the room.

I stayed in the hospital for another couple of days, desperately trying to remember what had happened to me. It was like the harder I tried to remember, the less it worked. But I wasn't giving up. I'd find out what happened to me.

It turned out that I'd broken two ribs, my finger, fractured my skull, and punctured a lung. They told me that I'd been healing up well, but it would be another couple of weeks until I was completely healed. Luckily, the fracture to my head wasn't horrible and my lung didn't get an infection in it when it punctured, making it that much easier for me to heal. My left side – the side with the broken ribs – was still sore, even though my ribs had mostly healed, and I had to wear a finger splint for two more weeks.

My friends sent gifts, cards, flowers, and letters to me through my parents. My doctor – whose name I found out was Dr. Jones – didn't want them visiting me so that I could rest. Jones barely let my parents in to see me.

I was happy to get a letter from Lissa the last day I was in the hospital.

Rose,

You have no idea what a relief it is to hear that you're awake and alright. When I heard what had happened to you, I was worried sick. I visited you a lot after school, but they'd had you in a deliberate coma so you could heal faster and easier. When I found out exactly how hurt you were, I was so scared. I didn't know if you were going to make it or not, no one did.

Having this happen so soon after Mason's death…well, it's been hard on all of us.

Right there, in the middle of the note, Christian had apparently taken the note to scribble down what he wanted to say:

Don't let her lie to you, Rose. It has been hard on us, but Lissa's been…so different since your accident. When you get out of there, the first thing I'm going to do is give you a big hug. The second thing I'm going to do is put you right back in the hospital for worrying Lissa to death. Get better soon. We all miss you.

I shook my head and laughed, reading that. Good to know that some things never changed. I continued reading the rest of Lissa's note.

Mr. Belikov made us swear that we wouldn't tell you anything for fear that it would jog a memory that you weren't ready to remember yet. I didn't want to keep anything from you at first, but, after a couple of sessions with him, I realized he was right. If you really want to know some details about what happened to you, I promise I'll tell you when I get to see you, but I want you to think about it before you do anything. I especially want you to think about what happened when I told you what had happened with Mason after you forgot about it. Remember your reaction? Imagine what would happen if you found out everything that happened to you all at once.

I've really missed you. You have…no idea. Call me as soon as they let you out of the hospital. I love you, just like you were my sister. Get better soon.

Love, Lissa. And Christian.

There was a part of me that was frustrated that Lissa hadn't told me anything about what had happened to me. But however badly I wanted that, though, I knew that Dimitri had a point. If I'd been really hurt like everyone said I had, whatever happened to me must have been pretty bad. Remembering that might hurt me in the long run.

Over the course of my hospital stay – while I was awake, that is – I'd managed to piece some things together. I remembered my whole conversation with Lissa and how she'd taken some energy from me. After I remembered what we'd talked about, I remembered heading to the coffee shop to meet Dimitri. Thinking about that night made my heart ache. It had been so easy, talking and laughing with him. Now I was convinced we would be back to square one.

Even though I hated to admit it, I missed Dimitri more than anyone else. Why did I have to get hurt when I did? It seemed like Dimitri and I were finally making progress. I wondered what he'd been doing this past month, whether he worried about me or not. Even though I knew it was wrong, I wanted him to worry about me.

The whole time all of this was running through my head, there was one thing that I never stopped wondering about. What had happened to me? I'd only been able to come up with one theory, but it didn't feel right to me. Maybe, just maybe, Lissa had taken too much energy from me. I knew I was tired when I left the coffee shop that night. What if I was so tired that I'd deliriously wandered off and gotten myself hit by a car.

But if that had happened, wouldn't someone have come forward about it? Sure, there was a chance that someone wouldn't come forward for hitting me because they were scared they'd get into trouble. And there was another problem with that theory, as well. If that was what happened, wouldn't it make sense that I would start to remember things once I figured it out?

[BREAK]

I was trying hard not to bounce up and down as I sat at the lunch table. Lissa was right next to me, like she had been most of the time since I was let out of the hospital. Putting her hand on my shoulder, she tried to hold me down. "What's up with you?"

I smiled. "Nothing. I'm just happy to be here with you." I looked at Mia, Eddie, and Christian. "With all of you."

"I'd say I'm happy to be with you, too, but you aren't acting like you." Eddie laughed. One of the best things about being back was seeing how happy Eddie was. He'd given himself time to grieve for Mason and now he was – in his words – "living the life Mason would want me to live." He finally asked Mia out on a real date and the two were inseparable. That made me the only single person in the group.

"I guess almost dying does that to you." I shrugged.

They all nodded. "Have you remembered anything yet? I heard you were seeing Mr. Belikov again." Mia asked.

My stomach did a flip and I resisted the urge to begin bouncing again. "I haven't seen him yet. We have an appointment after lunch." That was why I was so bouncy. My nerves were on edge from the excitement of seeing Dimitri again. "And, no, I haven't remembered anything yet. Every now and then I feel this…tug, like I'm trying to remember something, but nothing ever comes."

They all looked disappointed, which bothered me. I was grateful to have my friends, people who worried about and looked out for me. That wasn't what made me want to scowl, though. No, I was frustrated because I knew that part of the reason they kept asking me – over and over and over again – if I'd remembered anything was because they wanted to be the first ones to know the hot gossip. Everyone was talking about my accident. It had happened a month ago, but my coming back to school had started all the rumors up again.

"Hey," Christian began, "I was thinking we could all go to the movies after school. You know, have a little welcome back party for Rose?"

Mia and Eddie started to agree, but stopped when they saw the looks on my and Lissa's faces.

"We can't." I sighed. "Dr. Jones wants me to take it easy for a little while longer, so I have to stay home as much as possible until next week. And even then, I probably won't be allowed out to places like the movies. My parents are still freaked out and don't want me going out by myself or to any dark places, even with a group. My mom's picking me up right after school cause my dad's out of town on business and I won't be allowed out again until school tomorrow morning."

"Well, that sucks." Mia told me.

Christian scoffed. "Yeah, first we don't get to see you cause you're in the hospital, now we don't get to see you cause you're under house arrest."

I laughed. "Careful, Christian, or I might think you actually like me."

"As if." he said. "I'm just trying to be considerate to our friends."

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and the beginning of fourth period. I felt my heart start to race and my palms begin to sweat. It was time to meet Dimitri.

I tried to keep normal conversation going with my friends as we began walking towards the main hallway, but it was hard to focus on what they were saying. I was nervous. My mind began to race, all sorts of question running through it. What if he isn't happy to see me? What if all he cares about is trying to get me to remember what happened so he can won't have to see me anymore? What if…?

As we approached the front office, I turned to my friends. "I'll see you guys later." I turned to leave, but Lissa stopped me.

"We were wondering if you might want us to come over since you can't leave your house later. I know you'll have to ask your mom, but I wanted to see if you were up to it first?" she asked.

I smiled at her. I knew Lissa had been channeling my emotions every chance she got, but it didn't bother me. It was obvious that she was just trying to make sure I was okay. "Sure, I'd like that. I'll ask my mom when I get home. But, for now, you need to stop doing you-know-what before you hurt yourself."

I'd told Lissa about my theory of what happened to me over the phone Saturday night, when they let me out of the hospital. I'd made her promise to cut back on using her powers, but she still wasn't convinced that using them could seriously hurt her. She rolled her eyes and said goodbye before running off to catch up with the rest of my friends.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm myself, I stepped into Mrs. Stepp's office. She looked up when she heard me approaching and gave me a smile. "Rose! I'm glad to see you're okay. What happened to you was just awful."

I'd been hearing the same thing all day – or something along those lines – from everyone, especially my teachers. No one really knew what had happened to me – if they did, they hadn't spoken up – but they all knew that I'd been pretty seriously injured.

"Thanks. It's great to be back." It was the same line I'd been saying all day. "Is Mr. Belikov in his office? We have an appointment."

"Oh, of course." she said, searching around her desk for something. "He's with a student right now, but you're welcome to have a seat in the waiting room."

I thanked her and went down the hallway towards the waiting room, surprised to see Fink's door open. He looked up when he heard my footsteps and nodded toward me, a smile on his face. It was weird to have him smiling at me; I usually only saw him when I was in trouble or when he was addressing the school. I'd seen him this morning before classes to discuss how I was going to make up the work I'd missed while in the hospital. While I was there, he shocked me by telling me that I didn't have to worry about the three detentions I was supposed to serve for beating Camille up.

Apparently getting beat to a bloody pulp gets you out of punishment at school. I thought.

Wait. Where had that come from? Getting beat…? I felt the tug in my mind that told me a memory was trying to surface, but a wall sprang up, keeping it away.

I silently cursed my brain as I sat on one of the couches in the waiting room. Why wouldn't it just let me remember? I could handle it, no matter how bad it was. I suddenly remembered something I'd read in an issue of Cosmopolitan.

I sat on Lissa's bed while she sat on the floor, painting her toenails a deep red.

"Hey, did you know," I began, scanning the article I was reading, "that there's a small percentage of rape victims that can't remember actually being raped? They know that they've been raped, they just can't remember the experience."

She took a break from blowing on her toenails, shaking her head. "No, I've never heard that before. How could you forget something like that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It's crazy and scary at the same time."

"Yeah, it is." she agreed.

Was that what happened to me? My heart began beating hard in my chest and my mind spun. Could I have been raped and just don't remember it? But, no, the hospital would've checked to see if that was what happened…right? My body felt numb as I thought back, realizing that they hadn't said anything about checking to see if I'd been raped. Maybe they hadn't thought it was a possibility.

I jumped at the sound of a door closing, bringing me back to reality. I looked up to see Collin Myers coming out of Dimitri's office. He smiled at me before heading toward Mrs. Stepp's office. I was actually surprised that he hadn't told me it was good to see me or that he was glad I was better.

I took two deep breaths, holding each in for a moment. I did my best to put my rape theory out of my head and walked over to the door. I briefly hesitated, my hand poised to knock. What if he doesn't really want to see me…?

I pushed the thought out of my mind. It doesn't matter. You're going to have to see him at some point, so you might as well get it over with now.

I finally knocked, three quick raps on the door. A moment passed before I heard, "Come in," from the other side of the door.

The first thing I saw when I opened the door was how comfortable Dimitri had gotten in his office. He'd painted the walls a deep blue, a huge contrast from the bright yellow color it used to be. All the furniture in front of his desk – two La-Z-Boy chairs and a small chaise lounge – was the color of chocolate. He'd put a Betta fish in a small bowl on top of his file cabinet and there were photo frames – all facing the opposite direction than me, so I couldn't see the actual photos – scattered about his desk.

I looked over at Dimitri, who was sitting in the same black leather chair he'd had before. He was writing something down in a file in his lap, not bothering to look up as I came in. "Hey, comrade."

His head automatically snapped up to look at me, surprised. "Roza." He stood up as I shut the door behind me, coming around his desk. I was about to crack a joke about new decoration when he pulled me into his arms.

"I was so, so worried about you." he breathed, stroking my hair. "When I saw you – I mean, when I saw the story in the paper about what had happened to you…I didn't know what to do. They wouldn't let me see you in the hospital. You have no idea what I've been through this past month."

I closed my eyes, letting out a sigh of relief. I'd been fully prepared for him to do what everyone else had done: tell me he was glad I was okay and then go on about our normal routine. But this? This was too good to be true. If I hadn't had my arms around him, I'd have pinched myself.

"Well, here I am. Safe and sound." I assured him.

His grip on me tightened for a moment more before he let go of me. "Come, sit down." We lowered ourselves into the two La-Z-Boys, turning them so that we could face each other. "I've heard some rumors…"

I groaned. "What did you hear? Camille better not have said I tried to kill myself this time."

"No, no. Nothing like that." he assured me. "I heard that you can't remember what happened to you."

I nodded, looking at the ground. "Yeah, that's true."

"You can't remember anything?"

"Not a thing." I sighed. "And every time I feel like I'm on the verge of getting a memory back, it disappears again. You have no idea how frustrating it is."

When he didn't say anything immediately, I looked up at him. He was studying me, his gaze focused and calculating. I was confused. Did he not believe me? But I didn't have long to think about it because he sighed and said, "Well, what do you think we should start with?"

My mouth fell open as I was stunned. "You're asking me what we should do?"

He laughed, his eyes deep and warm. "Yes, Rose. I'd like to know what you think is best for you."

"Uh, I don't know. What do you suggest we do?"

"Well," he began, "there are a few different things we could try…"

A memory suddenly engulfed me, one that felt like it had happened years ago.

"When is that dinner with your parents that you're supposed to be at?" "Anthony" asked me as we walked along the beach.

I sighed, not wanting to think about it. "At seven tonight."

"That gives us…" He looked at his watch. "About three hours."

I kicked at a seashell, missing horribly, but he didn't notice. "So what do you want to do?"

Without a word, he wrapped his arms around my waist, lifting me off the ground. He pulled me close to him, never letting my feet touch the sand. As he brought his lips to mine, I wrapped my arms around his neck.

His tongue snaked out and stroked my bottom lip. I knew exactly what he wanted. I opened my mouth just a little, allowing his tongue to find mine. When they connected, I felt goose bumps emerge all over my skin. I ran a hand through his hair, not really noticing that he was slowly lowering me to the ground.

He broke away from me when my feet touched the ground. "Well," he said, trying to catch his breath, "there are a few different things we could try…"

"Rose?"

I jumped, realizing that Dimitri had been talking the whole time and I hadn't heard a word he said. "Huh? What?"

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly. "Why don't you go lie down on the couch? I have a technique I want to try."

I got up and walked over to the couch, still dazed from the memory that had consumed me. For a moment, I thought of other "techniques", ones that didn't involve clothing. I felt a blush creeping up on my cheeks and quickly tried to think of something, anything that would make it go away.

Dimitri pulled his chair closer to the couch as I lay down. "Close your eyes." he ordered and I did as he said. "Take some deep breaths and try to relax."

I heard the shuffling of papers as I breathed in. I wondered if he'd thought of this before our session started or not.

"Now, I want you to tell me what happened when you left the coffee shop that day."

I thought back, trying to remember the details. "After I said goodbye to you, I walked out of the coffee shop. I was tired, so I was walking quickly down the sidewalk on 2nd street." This was where things got fuzzy. "I had my phone out, but I can't remember why."

One of the first things I'd done when I got home from the hospital was check my phone, hoping to find a clue as to why I'd had my phone out. I was disappointed, however, to find that my inbox, outbox, and call log had been deleted.

"Think harder. Were you expecting anyone to call you? To text?" Dimitri asked.

In my memory, I could see my phone in my hands, but I couldn't remember what had been on the screen. I thought harder, pushing against the wall that was keeping me from my memories. It wasn't working. I squeezed my eyes shut, telling myself that I could do this.

"Hmm. Okay, never mind. Why don't you – "

"Wait." I interrupted, heart racing. "I remember. I got a text message…from you."

There was a brief moment of silence before he said, "Go on. It'll be easier for you to remember if you keep talking."

I wanted to nod, but it was hard to on this couch. "You suggested meeting up again. I…was happy about that. I'd had a good time and didn't think meeting up again sounded like a bad idea. I wasn't walking as fast anymore so that I could text you back without running into anything.

"I started writing and…and…" I let out a cry of frustration. "I can't remember."

"Take a deep breath and try again." Dimitri told me, voice soft.

I did as he said, but it was no use. The wall wouldn't budge for me anymore. I told him as much.

"Okay, I have something else I think might help you remember. The hospital told you what injuries you'd sustained, right?" I nodded. "Think about those injuries. Try to imagine what caused them, how they felt when you got them. You can start with whatever you want. Take your time, we're not in a hurry."

I decided to start with my ribs. In order to get that kind of injury, I'd had to have fallen at just the right angle and with a lot of force. Thinking of that got me nowhere, so I thought of other ways I might had broken my ribs. I'd had to have gotten hit pretty hard, something that would cause tremendous pain. Suddenly, I was ripped away from Dimitri's office and into my mind.

I was trying to see, but everything was a swirl of black and white.

"It-It's dark. Really dark. There are stars in my eyes."

I looked to my right. Nothing but blackness. I looked to my left. Nothing.

"I can't see – wait."

There. I couldn't see anything straight ahead of me, but I could see out of my peripheral vision. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a person's shadow.

"There's someone there." I whispered before I was yanked out of the memory. I opened my eyes, gasping for breath.

"Rose, are you alright?" Dimitri asked, voice full of concern. He lay his hand on my arm.

I let out a shaky breath. "Yeah, I'm okay." I didn't know why I'd been so out of breath when I came out of the memory. My best guess was that I'd been holding my breath and hadn't realized it. "Let's go again."

Dimitri now stood over me, looking in my eyes. "I don't think so. We're making good progress – especially for our first session trying this." I don't think he realized what he was doing when he cupped the left side of my face in his hand. "You've done well."

I shook my head, causing him to take his hand away. "No. You told me earlier that you wanted to know what I wanted to try. I want to try this." He looked like he was about to protest, so I continued, "We're making good progress now. If I continue, we could make great progress."

He sighed and sat back down. "If that's really what you want. Be careful, Roza."

I took a deep breath, trying to relax. Okay, I needed a new starting point, another injury to think about. I moved my hands without thinking about it. It was then that I decided to think about my broken finger. Knowing my luck, I'd probably just fallen down on top of it or something dumb like that. I went through the motions I had when thinking about my ribs, but nothing was coming to me.

Just when I thought I wasn't going to get anywhere with this, another scene came rushing at me.

"I'm on the ground. It's rough and uneven. I'm in pain…so much pain."

Dimitri's voice was soft and low when he spoke. "Can you tell where you are?"

"No. I-I can't focus on anything but the pain. I'm trying to block it out so I can…I can…" I was trying to do something, but I couldn't remember what. It was as if I was seeing everything in slow motion and it was taking forever for me to do whatever it was I was doing again. "Crawl. I'm trying to crawl."

My head throbbed from trying so hard to remember all this, but I wasn't about to stop. I needed to try and remember everything I could. With one more hard push, the wall that forced this memory from my mind was blown away and I was sucked into my own memory.

"I can see the street. There's a streetlight across it. I'm trying – "

Snap!

Pain. The world was nothing but pain. Endless, agonizing, deep-seated pain.

"Rose!"

My finger's not supposed to bend like that…

"Roza, please!"

I was ripped out of the memory. Dimitri was standing over me, shaking me by my shoulders. My mouth was dry and my throat hurt. Without thinking, I sprang up, wrapping my arms around him. To my surprise, he immediately wrapped his arms around me, too.

He sat down, pulling me into his lap. I tucked my head into the spot between his shoulder and neck. When I whimpered, he stoked my hair, slowly rocking me back and forth. "Shush, shush. It's okay now. You're okay, I've got you." he murmured.

I felt the overwhelming need to cry, but repressed it. "I'm scared." I whispered, tightening my grip on him.

"Why?"

I gulped. "Because I don't think what happened to me was an accident anymore. There was someone there, in my memories. I think they meant to hurt me."

Dimitri pulled away from me, but he didn't go far. Our faces were only inches apart. He looked straight into my eyes and, in a low growl, said, "I won't let anyone hurt you again."

Hearing the way he said that, seeing the way he was looking at me right then…I got the answer I'd been wondering about since the first day of school. He loved me.

The world around us disappeared as we stared at each other. I could feel his muscles tensing under my grip, saw his chest stop moving with the breath he was holding. I knew it was now or never. I didn't think before I acted, giving in to my impulse.

He must have seen it coming because he moved forward the same time I did. Our lips crashed together, sending a rush of heat throughout my body. His hand came up, cupping the side of my face. It was the gentlest kiss I'd ever had, but it was also the most passionate.

"Oh, Roza." he sighed, in between kisses.

I was vaguely aware of the bell that ended fourth period and began fifth sounding off, but I didn't really care at that moment. We kissed and kissed, running our hands up and down each other's bodies. I felt his arms, his chest, his shoulders…

I pulled away from him, gasping for air. The whole time we'd been kissing, I could only think the same sentence over and over again. I didn't give myself time to think about what might happen next; I just acted. "I love you." I whispered.

My heart began to pound when he didn't say anything at first. Had I read too much into all of this? I'd thought for sure that he'd felt the same way about me. How could I have been so stupid?

But all my doubts melted away when he cupped my face in both hands and said, "I love you, too, Roza." He leaned in and kissed me again, this time much softer than before.

There was a knock at the door. Dimitri and I immediately broke apart, Dimitri going for the chair in front of the couch and me laying back down. He quietly cleared his throat and asked, "Yes?"

"Is everything okay in there? I thought I heard a scream earlier, but didn't know if I should interrupt." Mrs. Stepp said through the door.

Scream? I worded to Dimitri, confused. He held up his hand, signaling that I should stay quiet. He swiftly rose out of his chair and opened the door. The two of them spoke so low that I couldn't hear a word of what they were saying.

He apparently appeased Mrs. Stepp, closing the door as she walked away. He turned to me. "You should get to class before one or both of us get in trouble. I wasn't even supposed to keep you throughout fourth period."

I nodded, not really knowing what to say. He'd been making out with me a couple of minutes ago and now he was all business. I got up and walked to the door, mumbling a quick goodbye.

So I was surprised when he grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him. He kissed me, brushing my hair behind my ear. "When can I see you?" he asked when we broke apart. "Outside of school?"

"I don't know. I'm kind of under house arrest after the incident. My mom's been freaking out."

His face turned hard. "Well, I don't blame her, especially after what just happened."

"Yeah, what was that Mrs. Stepp was saying about a scream?" I asked.

"You don't know?" He was looking at me as if I'd just sprouted wings. "Rose, you were screaming at the top of your lungs earlier. You scared the hell out of me."

Oh, so that was why my throat hurt. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize – "

He put a finger up to my lips. "There's no need to apologize. But I do want to hear why exactly you screamed." His eyes glanced toward the clock over his desk. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but you really have to go now. Text me when you get home?"

I nodded. "Sure." I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "I'll see you later, comrade."

A lot of you were asking for more Dimitri, so I hope this was enough for you :) Trust me, there will be a lot more of him as the story continues. Make sure to leave me a review, letting me know if there's anything else you'd like to see in the story.

I have two questions I'd like you guys to leave me an answer to. One might affect the plot of the story, but the other is just because I'm curious.

1. Who do you think attacked Rose in the last chapter?

2. What has been your favorite Rose/Dimitri scene in this story so far?

Thanks in advance for your support and feedback!