Hello! I'm so sorry I've been gone so long, both on this story and HON! I'm finally writing again, and I will finish both stories no matter what - I just can't make any promises on how fast I'll be able to do it, sorry!

HON folks, I love you and I love Zoey and her guys, so don't hate me as you see more VA chapters come out! I'm hard at work on Zoey again – recent reviews and favorite-ing and the awesome new Awakened book are getting me back in Zoey's head! Now to see if I can balance these two fics again, because I do love them both!

I'm loving Dimitri and Ivan and the challenge of splitting Rose's personality and other traits between Malina and Katya - I hope you're enjoying them too :-D.

Oh- the big reveal of Ivan and Dimitri's connection won't be for a while, I'm not intentionally being annoying by holding back, it's just that in character, Dimitri is avoiding and struggling against the connection so much that he's not admitting it to himself. In the meantime, I'm trying to weave in as many hints to what that relationship actually is, lots of future-echoes of Rose and Dimitri, and also an actual plot(!).

Vampire Academy is all Richelle Mead's - and I got to meet her on her Last Sacrifice tour!

The study commons was on the main floor, a large room set off from the main entryway. A guardian was normally stationed at the desk just outside the doors. Tonight Guardian Rybalkin sat at the desk, looking more alert than usual. From his vantage point he could see the entry doors, the hallway and doors to the stairwell, and the comings and goings from the commons. In the dorms of the younger students the study commons was the only place where mixed genders were allowed. In the senior dorms the rule was technically the same, but enforcement was extremely variable based on the guardian in charge. They were lucky tonight: Malina had already gotten past Rybalkin to wait for Dimitri, and as they exited the doors from the stairwell he merely glanced at them and sighed.

Rybalkin was one of the older guardians on campus, and while he was one of the deadliest fighters and most serious teachers Dimitri had, he was also one of the most lenient when it came to student 'extra curricular' activities. Dimitri would not have risked any movement or action that could have pegged him as a threat in Rybalkin's eyes, but he was certain that Rybalkin considered chaperone issues beneath his serious notice. Malina smiled at him as she led Dimitri past the desk to the commons doors, and he gave her a slight smile and a bemused head shake in return.

Once inside the room, Dimitri nearly turned around, but Malina pulled him across the room to an empty spot. The commons was crowded with dhampirs and more Moroi girls than Dimitri had ever seen in the novice dorm. Even on an ordinary day he and Malina wouldn't have been the only dhampir-Moroi pair, but they would have been in the minority. A quick assessment told him that tonight nearly a quarter of his male classmates shared cubicles with Moroi girls.

Malina sat next to him in the cubicle and followed his gaze. She shrugged and set her books on the table. "The other Moroi girls are nervous," she offered. "The Strigoi sighting has everyone on edge, and suddenly the dhampir guys are looking hotter than usual. If there's anyone else you've had your eye on, now is probably the time to do something about it."

He watched her carefully. She looked both nervous and challenging, like he might indeed decide to make a beeline for the Moroi dorms. "I'm not interested in anyone," he said. She looked away and shuffled out his calculus assignment.

"What did you need help with?" she asked, changing the subject.

"How did you know I needed help?"

"I saw you after class. Just about everyone had that same glazed look. Show me where you got stuck."

He pointed to a random equation and she fixed his mistake. "Calculus was my favorite class last year," she shrugged when he stared at her.

"Really?" he asked, for lack of anything better to say.

A hint of that sweet, shy smile played around her face. "You can do so much more with calculus than regular math – like design bridges and roads. If I can get my parents to let me, I'd like to go to Moscow, or St. Petersburg, or even America for university, to study to be an engineer. I know it's much safer to go to a smaller school, but if I took only daylight classes and kept a low profile, and stayed inside at night, with a good guardian maybe it would be possible to go to one of the larger, better universities." Her words came out quickly at the end, half excited, half worried that he wouldn't approve.

He wasn't sure how to answer. He liked her interest, her animation, but from what little he knew of Moroi families, he assumed it was unlikely Malina would get her dream. "I hope you do," he said anyway.

"What about you?" she asked hesitantly, as if only just realizing something.

He didn't understand the question.

"The family business and family politics is my idea of hell, but I know it might be my future anyway. You're going to be a guardian; you don't have any choice at all."

Dimitri had never considered not being a guardian. "I'm good at it."

"Do you like it?"

It took him a minute to wrap his mind around the question. It didn't matter if he liked it. They come first. His life had always been about protecting – his mother, his sisters, the Moroi. He couldn't imagine standing back and letting others take the risks that he could. "I guess I do."

She looked like she wanted to say something else, then stopped herself, turning her attention back to his assignment. She reworked his equations but explained his mistakes as well, tutoring him through the basic lesson better than his instructor. She sat close, her knee pressing into his leg, her fingers brushing his hand, their temples nearly touching as they looked over his work together. He enjoyed her physical proximity but her apparent comfort in touching him confused him even more after her refusal to join him in his room.

When they finished she half-smiled at him, almost in challenge. "Anything else?"

He took the prompt and asked her to play pool again. They had minor trouble finding an open table. The pool tables were in the expansive recreational space in the basement of the dorm, and tonight it was as crowded as the study commons.

Pool was one of the few physical activities where Moroi and dhampirs could compete, and Dimitri enjoyed playing against Malina. She had an uncanny instinct for angles and applied force that rivaled his well-honed hand-eye coordination, and though he'd won their matches the previous night, she rallied in their current matches and won every game they played.

He was impressed with her skill and execution, and her brilliant, triumphant smile at her final victory caught him completely off guard. Her emerald green eyes practically sparkled, and even though her hair had fallen and frizzed from her loose bun, he thought she looked stunningly beautiful. For just a moment he stopped second-guessing her motives and interest. If she'd been another dhampir he wouldn't have hesitated.

"Can I walk you back to your dorm?" he asked.

"You don't have to."

"I want to."

She accepted with another full smile. Near her dorm he stepped off the path and brought her under the canopy of a large old oak tree. Anyone looking their way could have seen them, illuminated by the gaslamps lighting the path and the starlight, but he counted on the many low-hanging branches to generally obscure them from sight.

This time he initiated the kiss without any prompting. As before, she responded so willingly that he couldn't help but wonder if she'd be as sweetly uninhibited… in other activities. She'd refused him, though, and he realized he should apologize for his presumption. No matter how easily the other Moroi girls had slept with him, he shouldn't have assumed that Malina would be the same.

His apology died in his throat as Malina's hands worked quickly between them in the cold air, opening the buttons on his coat and her own. She backed him against the old tree and pressed her body closer, touching from thigh to chest. He had no objections to her aggression but dropped his hands, not trusting his read on her signals. He gripped the tree at his back with more force than he intended. The rough bark dug painfully into his skin even through the thin leather of his gloves.

He kept kissing her, warmth radiating between them, their hot breath crystallizing around them into white fog. "Hey, Cowboy," she whispered. Her voice, sweet and sultry, went straight down his body. "I'm not sleeping with you, but I'm not afraid of you." Her long fingers were cool as she tugged off his gloves and brought his hands under her coat – and more. He let her lead and she took full advantage, guiding his hands where she wanted them and stopping them where she didn't. He was glad – and intrigued – as she set her boundaries. He couldn't fathom her reasons for wanting to take things slow – parts of him actively protested – but he would never force or push any girl for more than she was willing to offer. Until now, he simply had no experience with a Moroi girl who wasn't immediately interested in sex. Malina might not be interested in sex, but she very clearly wanted him to touch her.

He lost himself in her, the pressure of her slim body against his, the sweet taste of her mouth, the silky heat of her skin. Just before curfew, she disentangled herself and breathed in his ear. "Thanks, Cowboy." She pulled his coat closed and ran up the stairs to the entrance to her dorm. Just before she opened the door she paused. Her smile was half playful, half dangerous. "I'm not afraid of you, but you should probably be a little afraid of me."

She disappeared into the building.

His head spun. His liaisons with other Moroi girls had been much more straightforward… but he had to admit: much less interesting. He made his way back to his own dorm, feeling strangely calm. His mood darkened in an instant when he caught sight of a small body and blond curls disappear through the lighted doors of the novice dorm. He didn't have to look far to have his suspicions confirmed. A tall, dark figure stood on the path, and when the door closed, he turned away.

Have I done enough buildup that you can stand to read about Dimitri making out with someone other than Rose? :-D

I know Rose was in "stupid math", but Malina is only partially like Rose, and I liked making something about her completely anti-Rose. I also wanted to give Malina something she was really good at. Since Rose is such an exceptional fighter, Malina needed to be exceptional at something too.

Thank you so much for reading! (PS I love reviews!)