A/N: Sorry this is a long note but I have lots of people to thank, please take the time to read it if only this once.
Thank you so much to Me and Adrian 4ever for helping me with the summary, I've changed it now to her idea.
I am so grateful to those who reviewed that I'm listing them here, that doesn't mean I can live without more reviews, I can't! I would be like Rose was in the first few chapters if I didn't have reviews, do you want that?
JennyTran195 (The coolest person ever, okay I admit she gave me a really long, kind review and I don't actually know but I'm allowed to say she's the coolest person ever, this is my story!)
SKDanielle16 (Proving how much one word means...)
Gabby123456789 (Everyone who reviews is awesome by the way...)
4everSmiles (You don't have to wait anymore! Hope that makes you happy. )
AlexandraOzera-Ivashkov (From the first chapter, isn't that wonderful?)
.belikov (And Life is haunted! Wow you are all amazing today!)
iluvwritingxoxo (For saying it's long at the first chapter! XD )
Lissa Dragomir101 (Kindest person ever, reminds me of Lissa actually... )
BreatheIfYouFindDimitriHot (Awesome author name... Right everyone? Yeah!)
Well, I hope to have more names to post next time! And to all of you listed above, you are now famous! Kinda... Any who, thanks for reviewing!
Okay, here's chapter 24, Lissa and Christian Fluff! I thought you could use a little fluff to lighten the dark stuff.
Disclaimer: You know the Drill, it's all Richelle Mead and she's awesome... etc.
My beta is amazing, right? Thanks again MyLifeIsEdwardCullen
I quickly turned and headed to the attic. As I climbed the stairs I smelt something that was suspiciously like Bacon.
"Princess..." a voice whispered and warm arms encircled me, whether in an embrace or in restraint I couldn't tell.
I was lifted off my feet and carried up the rest of the way into the attic. There were colourful candles sitting in clusters around the attic, light flickering and blazing from the flames. There was a platter of buttered toast, bacon and eggs, wedges of apple and strawberries on top of a box with 2 mugs of coffee sitting on the floor next to the box.
It was so beautiful with the candles shining, the dust moats floating and dancing, and the aroma of the food.
"Christian...?" I asked as I was lowered to the ground again, the arms around me sliding to my waist from behind.
"Who else?" He whispered leaning in to kiss my neck.
"Good point. This looks... amazing." I said leaning my head to the side as he brushed his lips up and down the side of my neck.
"You're amazing." He whispered.
"Mm, so are you." I whispered back.
"Thank you, just keep whispering, loud noises... ugh," he shivered before continuing, "Hangovers suck. Speaking of which, your head must be horrible, here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of Advil.
"Thanks," I swallowed two and smiled at him, "You are so... perfect." He leaned in and kissed me softly, taking my hand and leading me to the food.
He gave me a plate and started serving himself, I watched for a moment before I started putting food on my plate as well.
He grinned at me, "Since there isn't any great seating up here, you can use my lap."
I nodded and made my way over to him with the plate, sitting in his lap and draping my legs over his.
"You're a very comfortable couch." I informed him.
"Mmhmm..." He murmured while eating a piece of bacon.
I picked up a strawberry and tried to eat it but he grabbed it out of my hand and fed it to me. I nearly choked on it laughing but composed myself quickly. I loved our time up here; we could always be ourselves up here, free from watching eyes. Even the first time we'd been up here together, it had been awkward but I had felt like I could tell him anything. What I didn't tell him he guessed anyway, he was very observant.
We had both been worrying so much recently we hadn't spent much time together, we had lost time to make up for. I was brought back from my thoughts by Christian holding a slice of apple to my lips. I opened my mouth and let him feed me, biting his fingers gently and smiling at him.
"You're beautiful, did you know that?" He asked grinning.
"Oh, I think someone keeps telling me, how could I forget?" I said rolling my eyes.
He laughed, moving his concentration back to his own plate. We ate in silence; Christian finished first and started kissing my neck again, while I ate. It felt amazing, so I wasn't complaining. I looked at my watch and realised that half an hour of lunch had already gone by, Rose was probably waiting for me in the cafeteria.
"Christian, I have to go find Rose, I was supposed to meet her ages ago, this was wonderful, thank-"
He cut me off, "Rose is fine, she isn't waiting for you. She went to lunch with Adrian. So we have the rest of lunch to hang out or we could have some fun..." He trailed off, caressing my arm lightly and kissing the back of neck passionately.
"Oh well..." I turned around and pulled him closer, kissing him properly, "That's how the fun begins."
"This needs to go if we're going to have any fun." He said pulling at my jacket.
"I agree," I said shrugging out of my jacket and laughing as he frowned at the shirt I was now wearing, "But this is ruining my fun." I pulled on his t-shirt.
He pulled it over his head muttering, "Girls always have more layer of clothing on, it's not fair."
I smiled and pulled his mouth back to mine, when we broke apart for air I whispered 'I love you's in his ear and ran my fingers through his hair. Ah, he had good hair, thick and soft, exactly what every girl is trying to achieve with hair products. He arched his neck back and sighed. Then in an instant he was at my ear, whispering about how much he adored me and loved me while running his hands expertly through my hair, down onto my shoulders and massaging them until I moaned.
He pulled back smiling, "Lunch is nearly over."
I groaned, "That's no fun!"
"You could always stay here with me..."
I shook my head; he knew I had to go back to class. He sighed and gave me a small smile, like he was giving up and then laid down, pulling me with him and wrapping his arms around my waist.
"You can't go anywhere!" He said smiling like an over excited little kid.
I was about to protest but he started kissing me again, not so sweetly this time. He was kissing my shoulder when I realised what he had said earlier,
"Rose is with Adrian? What?" I said confused.
He groaned, obviously upset that I had interrupted the moment, "Yes, they're having lunch together, somewhere private I think."
"Is Rose okay?" I had thought she was fine this morning but maybe something was wrong and Christian was trying to cover it up while Adrian took care of it. Maybe Rose had had another breakdown, or she'd tried to do something horrible...
"Yes, she's absolutely fine. They're having lunch together because Adrian loves Rose and wants to make her happy. He said something about cafeteria food not being good enough for his Rose. He's Adrian, you know him." Christian explained.
"Okay..." I sighed, it did sound like something they would do. Rose was fine.
"Stop worrying." He said, making a tantalizing trail of kisses down my arm.
I sighed and closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation. A few minutes later the bell went and Christian grip on me tightened.
"Please stay... I'll make it worth your time." He said grinning.
"I have to go to class, sorry." I said pulling back and grabbing my jacket.
"After school?" He asked hopefully.
"Okay, but then we have to go hang out with Rose." I reasoned.
"Yeah, see you soon." He said standing up and pulling me with him.
"I love you." I said kissing him softly.
"Love you, too."
...
Classes dragged by with the idea of spending more time with Christian distracting me constantly.
When the last bell went I headed straight to the attic, where the candles were still lit and Christian was sitting on the window seat we used to fight over. I walked over to him and sat beside him, kissing him forcefully.
"Hey gorgeous, missed me?" He asked smiling.
"Of course." I replied.
He started kissing me again and clothing was quickly the casualty. We stayed here for hours, together, not caring about the world outside of this room. After a while a thought tugged at my mind, I hadn't thought it though. It was the sixth sense spirit users sometimes had, being able to read people. It was as if I knew something was wrong with Rose and Adrian, but maybe it was just me worrying again. Normally when I felt something like this, it was about people I could see, people close to me. Maybe Christian knew something he wasn't saying, that could be the only explanation.
"Is something wrong with Rose and Adrian?" I asked him seriously, pulling away from him as he kissed my stomach.
"What? No, I haven't heard from them since Adrian texted me after lunch to say they had had fun." He answered confused.
"Promise?" I asked him, looking straight into his eyes.
"Yes, they're fine. I promise." He said looking back at me with the same intensity.
"Okay." I agreed, I was just worrying again, they were fine. I smiled at Christian and he continued kissing me, making me forget everything except him.
Hours later we decided to go find Adrian, Rose and dinner. When we were both dressed and decent we made our way to the cafeteria.
Adrian was sitting at our usual table with Eddie, eating and talking.
"Hey, where's Rose?" I asked.
"I haven't seen her since class, I think she went to her room." Eddie answered.
"She's probably getting changed or something." Adrian added.
If Adrian was okay then Rose probably was too, I was imagining it. I didn't mind being crazy as long as Rose really was okay. Adrian raised an eye brow at me questioningly; I wondered what had given me away: my face or my aura. I sat down beside him, which seemed to irritate Christian for a moment but then he took the seat on the other side of Adrian. I moved my seat closer to Adrian's so that Eddie wouldn't be able to hear and raised my eyebrows at Adrian in return.
He smiled and whispered, "Sometimes you're so like her." He shook his head and was suddenly serious, "You seem worried, what's up?"
"It's nothing; I just haven't seen Rose all day." I said shrugging and sitting back in my chair, Christian was watching me adoringly and I smiled at him.
"Well, I saw her earlier." Adrian said watching me closely; I nodded at him knowing they'd had lunch today before he continued, "Why are you worried?"
I smiled at him but it didn't last when I saw the look in his eyes, he was staring at me with an intensity that made me want to shrink back in my chair. Christian saw me flinch and shifted in his chair, looking between Adrian and I slowly. Before he could ask I smiled at him brightly and looked at Eddie,
"How were your classes today?"
He started recounting everything to me, "Lots of rumours about Rose, all different things, you know? Some people were saying she's lost it and people who saw her were saying not to mess with her..." On it went, I tuned out and Adrian leaned closer to me again.
"Lissa," He whispered, "tell me."
I turned to him and whispered in his ear, "Seriously, it's nothing. I'm just being crazy, she's fine. I'm being over-protective or whatever."
He spoke quietly and firmly, not whispering, "I don't care if it's crazy, I know about crazy, tell me."
I glanced at Christian who was talking to Eddie, he hadn't noticed our conversation. If I hadn't told him, why was I about to tell Adrian? Adrian understood the spirit stuff and cared about Rose but I loved Christian. I sighed, that didn't matter. Adrian was getting impatient, he cared so much about Rose, it amazed me she didn't know it.
"I just had a feeling that something was wrong with you and Rose, I don't know, your fine so obviously it wasn't true. It was that spirit feeling you get when someone close to you is in danger or is lying, that sort of thing, you know? Only Rose wasn't close and neither were you, only Christian was and he promised that he didn't know anything. So everything is alright." I explained quietly.
"Okay, yeah, I'm fine. We didn't do anything that you would be worried about, so it's okay." I couldn't tell if he was talking to me or to himself. "When were you feeling this?" he added.
"A few hours after school..." I answered carefully; I didn't want to go into details of where I had been and what I had been doing.
"Weren't you supposed to be meeting Rose?" he asked without pause, how did he suddenly know everything about Rose when I knew nothing?
"Yes, kind of, I guess. We hadn't organised exact details." He gave me a look that clearly said 'why-did-you-abandon-her' so I continued to explain, "We said we'd meet up some time after school and hang out, but if we didn't we'd meet at dinner."
"It is dinner and she's not here." He said quietly and if I didn't know better I would say dangerously.
"She's always running late, relax." I said smiling at him.
He smiled in the usual Adrian manner and leaned back in his seat joining in the conversation with Eddie and Christian. They were discussing the rumours they'd heard and I added a few things to the list, Adrian stayed quiet, obviously not knowing any rumours from today.
After a few minutes he stood up casually, "Well I hate to ruin your young lives but I have things to do, I'll find you later. This food," he said gesturing to Eddie's tray "is not what they serve in guest housing." He grinned smugly and walked off slowly.
I knew where he was going, of course, to check on Rose. He deserved to be paranoid for a little while and I understood it well. Nobody knew what Rose was capable of right now, if she was better or not.