A/N: To all of the readers of this story, I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to update. I've been through quite a lot in the last few months and it has been fairly difficult to adjust. But anyway, I'm on track now and have got the next few chapters planned already. I'm in exam week now but I hope that I'll be able to update every couple of days or so. Won't be able to this weekend, but after that I'm all yours! (Apart from school of course but that doesn't take up much time at the moment). I'll do as much writing as I can but there may be a time again where I struggle to extend the storyline so if anyone has anything they want me to add, or any improvements or just general comments please do because they are the best way of helping me to write more and they inspire me to update more often. I hope that you enjoy this chapter, apologies that it is short but I wanted to have this chapter then follow with a longer one. Enjoy!

Rhia xx

DISCLAIMER: THE VAMPIRE ACADEMY SERIES DOES NOT BELONG TO ME, IT BELONGS TO RICHELLE MEAD!

Dimitri's POV

I could tell from the way that she was looking at me that I had made a really big mistake. I honestly didn't know what had come over me but it was those actions that would haunt me for the rest of my life. I had to regain her trust, but there was very little that I could do to make her look at me in the same way that she did. Even as a Strigoi, my feelings for her had not changed, and I was going to do everything in my power to prevent that from happening.

I had tried to rationalise what I had done, but there was no excuse, and now I had lost her forever. I then tried to amend my behaviour by making a new start. I visited her every day in the little care unit that was down the road from the main hospital. I had to visit her during the night, as I knew that I couldn't go out during the day; an advantage of this being that there were very few employees around at that hour. When I was with her, I would spend hours at a time watching her sleeping peacefully. I would write to her so that she could see how much she still meant to me, and I'd talk to her so that she wouldn't forget my voice. The nurses told me that there was very little chance that she would remember anything, and that I shouldn't get my hopes up. But obviously I was the only one to notice how her heartbeat quickened every time she heard my voice. I knew that she was awake; she may not be able to open her eyes and speak, but she could hear everything, and she knew that I was here.

Immediately after the incident in the caves, I left to find a home for myself. I would have ended it right there and then, but I had seen how determined some of the Strigoi were to get to her, so I knew that it was my job to protect her. The question was, would she let me close enough to her to be able to do that? It didn't matter; if she wouldn't let me in, I would watch her from a distance.

She had been in the coma for three weeks, but I was determined to visit her every day. If she was going to progress, even in the slightest bit, I was going to be there to see her, and encourage her in every way that I could. She showed no signs of progress, until I visited early one morning at the end of October. I arrived, as usual, promptly at 2:30am and went up to the reception desk. The usual employee was on her shift and she just nodded at me as a signal that I could go through. She was a short and fragile looking woman, maybe late 40's. She had short brown hair, nothing like Rose's, as it hung drowsily down to her shoulders rather than being naturally gorgeous.

I went through to her room, pausing in shock when I realised that she wasn't in her bed, as she usually was. I looked around the room to see if maybe she had gotten up but there was no sign of her. I spun on my feet and headed back out to the reception desk, quickly grabbing my notebook. I noticed that it wasn't in its usual hiding place which meant that someone had read it. And I was willing to bet anything that it was her. I brought her absence to the nurse's attention, and she just looked at me with a puzzled expression. She stood up and before she could reach the door of Rose's room I was out of the building. My timing had been fortunate, as it was that exact moment that I got outside when I saw her hobbling away from the tree that shadowed over my truck. She must have been hiding, which meant that she did remember, and she was still scared of me. Using my speed, I ran after her, taking care that she didn't see me as I didn't want her to panic and hurt herself. She turned her head to look behind her, probably checking to see if she was being followed. As she did, I passed her and stopped in front of her, causing her to run into me and fall backwards. I smiled at the expression of surprise that she made when she bumped in to me. She landed on the ground, fairly gently, and looked up at me.

Her next expression told me that I couldn't even attempt to apologise to her now, as I could tell that she would either scream or attack me, most likely the second. She looked terrified. I had expected anger, but she was actually scared of me. In the spur of the moment I decided that I would take her back to my house and try to explain myself to her; try to convince her that I would never hurt her; not again.

Knowing that she would never go with me without putting up a fight, I quickly injected her with a sedative that I had acquired when collecting medical supplies for my house. I wasn't going to need them, but I had a feeling that they would be necessary in a situation with Roza. I chuckled slightly with the memory of her putting up a fight when she didn't want something. I was positive that this would have no negative consequences after it had worn off. I had done my research. I was hesitant to do this, knowing that it was wrong to take somebody without their consent, and I was aware that it sounding like kidnapping, but she wasn't safe out in the open in a place like a hospital. It would be too easy for one of the Strigoi to find her, and I was sure that it wouldn't be long before they started looking for her in all of the right places. So I had to at least make sure that she was safe, even if she thought that in being near me she was in danger.

Her whole body relaxed and I caught her before her head reached the ground. I picked her up and carried her back to my truck, laying her across the backseat. After making sure that she was comfortable and that she wasn't going to fall over when the car started, I climbed into the front seat and began the drive home.

It took a couple of hours to reach the border of the forest, and I was grateful as the suns first rays were beginning to show. With the cover of the trees, I could complete the journey without having to stop. It took about an hour from there to reach the house. It was more of a cabin, that I had built myself during the time that she was unconscious. I had stocked up the house so that anybody could live here, knowing that she would want food even though I didn't actually eat it. A field of guilt ran over me again as I regretted my actions. I had spent the whole time in her absence learning to control myself, and my determination to explain myself to her must have enabled me to keep some of my own personality. But there were some things that even I couldn't escape, and it wouldn't be long before I had to return to civilisation to fulfil my needs.

I carried her out of the car and into the house, laying her down in the bedroom. On entering the house, the living room was to my right, the kitchen and bathroom to my immediate left and then a small bedroom behind the kitchen. After setting her down, I quickly made my way round the house closing and blocking all of the windows to prevent the light from coming through. I locked all windows and doors, and then settled on the sofa to rest.

It didn't take her long, after half an hour she was making noise and sounding as if she was waking. I remained on the sofa, keeping my senses aimed in her direction, as I was very aware that she would quickly realise that we were alone and she would try to attack me.

She quietly walked into the room, obviously wondering what was happening. She was on the offense and was preparing to attack me. Just as I heard her leap forwards, I grabbed her arms and pushed her down onto the sofa, landing in a position that gave me more strength then she had. I could feel her shuffling beneath me, trying to release herself. I was expecting this, and just waited until she relaxed. She stopped trying to escape after about ten minutes, but she didn't relax. She was still ready to move if she needed to. Knowing that she would try to make her escape, I released her, preparing to hold her down if she tried to get out of the house. Just as I suspected, she made a move towards the door and I prepared to react, however all of the time away from her meant that I wasn't as familiar with her moves as I had once been, and so her double take took me by surprise. She aimed a kick towards my head and knocked me back against the wall. That's my Roza! I thought.

Even in her weak condition, she was always ready to fight. She was also ready to talk, finally realising that she didn't have a next move. However her question was what surprised me.

"Who are you?" she asked, trying not to let her fear leak into her voice.

I stared at her, speechless. Maybe the nurses were right, I thought. It felt strange being in a room with someone I loved so much, but being seen as a stranger in return.

She repeated her question, holding her stance and allowing more of her strength to show in her voice, as she realised that I wasn't as confident as I should be.

"Who are you?"

"Dimitri. I'm a friend" I said, almost defensively. I wasn't usually lacking in self-confidence but I knew that if she felt threatened she would attack.

"No" she replied in a cold voice.

I didn't know how to reply so I remained quiet, watching her as she watched me, desperate for answers.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As I say, sorry it's so short but I just wanted to get this "middle ground" done so that I can continue with the story. In response to the comment by PrincessRedfern , after so much time between writing these chapters, I read through the story again and definitely agree with you, Dimitri was very out of character. I've done my best to try to return him to his normal self but as I'm sure you can understand it's quite difficult. I hope you like what I have done with the story, as there aren't too many options of where to go with it: P Please let me know what you think. And thank you to russianlover17, 7VampireEclipse, Speaking-the-Truth (Anonymous), x-shadow-x-kisses-x, LoveLiesAndLust, alexa (Anonymous), HPmadness12, ChellaVampa, BETTI (Anonymous), ZippyGal, my 2 guys, Terisa Nicole (Anonymous), (Anonymous), LissasGuardian756 and PrincessRedfern so so much for reviewing my story. It's very encouraging to know that people are reading it, and it's nice to receive constructive criticism. So THANK YOU! :D xxxx