I never imagined that Dimitri and I would get a full two weeks off for our honeymoon. I was ready to accept maybe a few days, a week at most, but, as a wedding gift, Lissa and Christian told us that they were giving us two weeks. We were surprised, how could we not be, but so unbelievably grateful. You didn't get many opportunities in our profession to have a vacation so this was more than we could have ever imagined.

However, as grateful as I was, I was a little hesitant to take so much time off. Obviously I wasn't Lissa's only guardian as she was the Queen of the Moroi world but I was the one who knew her the best so I was pretty important. If taking two weeks off would endanger her then there was no way I was going to do it.

"Are you sure, Liss?" I asked. "I don't think taking that much time off is a good-"

"We're sure, Rose," she said, smiling softly at me. "You and Dimitri deserve to have this time off with each other. We've got enough guardians."

"Really?"

"Really."

I was still hesitant when Dimitri and I were lying in bed that evening but, to my surprise, he wasn't.

"She's right, Roza," he said, brushing a stubborn lock of hair out of my face. "She and Christian have enough guardians for us to take some time off. They'll be safe."

"I know, but I don't think any guardians have ever taken so much time off before. It feels wrong."

Dimitri smiled that gorgeous fond smile at me before leaning in closer so I could see his entire face.

"That's because no guardians have ever been in love like we are. It's basically uncharted territory, and maybe for normal Royals it would be a different story, but Lissa has a whole guard around her at all times, meaning Christian does, too. It's okay to let yourself have time off sometimes."

He punctuated his speech with a kiss then pulled away just enough to speak again.

"And anyway, just imagine the two of us in Hawaii, laying on the beach and relaxing for two whole weeks. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Nice? "It sounds perfect."

He brought me into another kiss then and that's where our conversation of the night ended.

I had to accompany Lissa to an event the next morning so Dimitri assured me he would take care of booking our flights and accommodation. I wasn't going to argue against that, I trusted him and knew I wouldn't have to worry about a thing. He was one of the most organized people I'd ever met so this wouldn't be an issue for him. I, on the other hand, would not be so great at it. My philosophy was to jump into things without too much thought or preparation so if I was in charge we'd likely arrive at the airport like 10 minutes early and hope there was a flight. Yeah, it was a good thing I wasn't handling this.

I received a message from him when everything was booked, letting me know we'd be leaving that Friday, in four days. I felt a rush of excitement at the news but forced myself to calm down as I was supposed to be focusing on Lissa. I was lucky I was even able to sneak my phone along with me today, I didn't need anyone thinking I wasn't taking my job seriously.

Although it had been almost four years since I was cleared of my murder charge and started guarding her, I knew that some people were still on the fence about me. No one dared to say anything, of course, but I definitely got some less-than-friendly looks from some royals. I'd learnt to live with it, though. I mean, I was Rose Hathaway, when did I ever care what people thought about me?

Also, with my best friend being the Queen, I knew nothing would happen to my career.

I was insanely grateful for the opportunity to guard Lissa as I'd always been destined to, and the perks that came along with it. Especially this extra-long honeymoon. I just couldn't wait.

—

As we were leaving just past one p.m., the middle of our vampire night, Dimitri surprised me by leading me out to one of the guardian-sanctioned cars and informing me of a slight change of plans.

"Instead of flying to Hawaii from here, I thought we'd make a little pit stop and fly out from there after," he explained as he loaded our bags in the trunk. I was very confused at the sudden admission but also highly intrigued as to where we could be going.

"Where?" I asked, racking my brain to think of places we'd discussed going before.

Dimitri just smiled at me and shook his head. "Surprise."

He wouldn't even let me see what he typed into the GPS, leaving me glaring at him from the passenger seat. I did not like being left out of the loop and he knew that very well. Surprises were not my thing.

"No point looking at me like that, Roza, I'm still not going to tell you," he said, a half-smirk on his lips.

For the next hour I gave him the occasional glare to show that I was unhappy with the arrangement but, as usual, it was impossible to stay mad at him. Especially when he reached over and put a hand on my thigh, his warmth sending shivers down my spine, I relented and slipped mine under his, lacing our fingers together.

"I'm guessing this means we're not taking turns driving," I said.

"No," he replied. "Don't worry, I won't need to take a break."

"Is it a long drive?"

"Yes, but we won't need to stop for too long."

"How long?"

He shrugged noncommittally and I figured that was the only kind of answer I was going to get so I let it go. Well, as much as I could anyway. That was definitely not my strong suit.

—

I must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I knew it was way past midnight and I had absolutely no idea where we were. Taking a look at Dimitri beside me, I noticed that he still looked wide awake and like driving for twelve hours straight wasn't bothering him at all.

"How long now, comrade?" I asked.

"A few more hours," he replied. "Need to stop for anything?"

"I could go for a snack."

Likely already knowing my answer, Dimitri immediately pulled off the highway and into the nearest twenty-four-hour convenience store. He hopped out to fill up the car with gas so I grabbed his credit card and headed into the store to grab some snacks. I knew that he would be fine with anything I wanted to eat so I grabbed some bags of chips, a couple of chocolate bars, and some caffeine-filled drinks to keep us going. Even though it was technically the middle of our day, we'd been awake for over twelve hours and despite the fact that we were guardians, we still got tired. If we were going to be on the road any longer, we would need something to get through the day.

Back in the car, Dimitri gave me a grateful smile and a soft kiss when I handed him his black coffee.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive for a bit?" I asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"No, I'll be okay," he said. "Just relax, we'll get there soon."

"This trip better be worth it, comrade. It is seriously cutting into our having sex on the beach time."

That must have taken him off guard as he barely managed to stop himself from choking on his surprised laugh.

"We're not having sex on the beach, Roza," he said, amusement evident in his eyes.

"Oh, just you wait and see. I can be very persuasive." I gave him a sly smile before turning and pointing out the windscreen. "Now, drive. We don't need to lose any more time."

—

Just a few hours later, a sign appeared letting us know we had entered South Dakota. Not remembering any reason we would be stopping in South Dakota, I assumed it would be another drive-through state. That was until Dimitri pulled off the highway. I turned to give him a confused look which only heightened when I saw the slightest hint of excitement on his face.

"What's in South Dakota?" I asked.

"I would've expected you to have caught on by now," he said, sounding both amused and delighted that I still had no idea where we were going. I tried racking my brain to remember if we'd ever spoken of South Dakota but came up short. If we had, it must have been in passing and not made a lasting impression.

Misreading my thinking for anger or upset, Dimitri reached over and put his hand on my leg again. "Only a little longer," he assured me. "You'll remember when we get there."

And he was right.

As soon as we pulled onto the final road and I saw our destination, everything fit into place. Us on the run, in the library, passing the travel book between us. It was the moment we both realized we still loved each other after he was restored when we were trying to distract ourselves from the troubles at hand. I'd opened the book to this destination and we'd had a good laugh about it, mentioning that we'd be open to visiting it. I couldn't believe he remembered.

I could feel his eyes flicking over to me occasionally to gauge my reaction but I couldn't find any words to say to him. I was in shock, in awe, and quite amused. When I finally could vocalize my reaction, it was a laugh. I noticed the tension fade out of Dimitri as my laughter continued until he was chuckling along with me.

"I can't believe you," I said as he pulled into the parking lot.

"Now you know why I kept it a surprise," he said, grinning at me.

I rolled my eyes at that, still thinking he didn't need to, and hopped out to take a better look at the building. I heard Dimitri get out after me and a few seconds later, his arms wrapped around my shoulders. I laid my head on his shoulder and lifted my eyes to look at his face with a smile.

"'The Corn Palace', huh?" I said.

"I've been wanting to bring you here since that day in the library. I know we only talked about it as a joke but...something about it stuck in my mind. As soon as I proposed I knew I wanted to add this into the honeymoon."

"Well, let's go in and look around, then."

The Corn Palace was everything I could have hoped for. The entire outside was covered in murals made of corn and each one was more intricate than the last. I was in disbelief that people actually took the time to make these murals. It seemed like a waste to me, of both time and food, but it was cool nonetheless.

After taking a good look at the exterior of the building we made our way inside and I immediately burst out laughing. The sound startled everyone around us and a few of them shot me dirty looks but I didn't care. Not when Dimitri wrapped his arms around me again, laughing along with me.

"Everything you imagined?" he asked.

"Oh, everything and more, comrade."

We walked around the inside of the, for lack of a better word, randomly put-together multi-purpose area, taking in all the sights, and giggling to ourselves. I made Dimitri take a picture of me in front of pretty much everything I saw and by the time we got to the gift shop, his phone probably had 30+ new pictures. I couldn't wait to see them later, maybe print some out to stick on the walls of our bedroom.

Scanning the gift shop, I immediately clocked a rack of shirts and ran over, barely able to contain my excitement. I flipped through them and when I found the one I wanted, held it out for Dimitri to see with a grin.

"'My best friend went to the Corn Palace and all I got was this lousy t-shirt'," he read. "Do you think Lissa's going to wear that?"

"I'll make her. Just you watch, it's going to become part of her royal uniform." She wouldn't understand why I got it or why we even went to the Corn Palace but she was getting this shirt anyway.

We spent probably around an hour looking around, there wasn't all that much to do, and I don't think I stopped smiling once. Even once we'd left and were back in the car, I was still grinning to myself, admiring the miniature Corn Palace magnet I had in my hand. It was the stupidest thing I'd ever seen, but I was so excited to put it on our fridge and remember it forever. I was definitely going to use it to hang up one of the pictures of me and Dimitri from today.

I lifted my head when I felt Dimitri's hand on my thigh and found him smiling softly at me, a fond look in his eyes.

"Did you enjoy it?" he asked.

"More than anything," I replied. "I love you, comrade."

"I love you, too, Roza."

I leaned over the gear shift and slid my hand into his hair, bringing him into a kiss. After a couple of quick, innocent ones, he pulled away and reached over to buckle his seatbelt.

"Now, ready for two weeks of uninterrupted lounging on Hawaiian beaches?" he asked.

"Oh, you bet I am."

I was already picturing it in my head: drinking non-stop cocktails; tanning; swimming; having sex on the bea-

"No sex on the beach, Roza," Dimitri interrupted. I looked at him in shock; how did he know what I was thinking?

He smirked. "I know you, I recognized that look on your face."

"Whatever," I grumbled. He could deny it all he wanted but I knew him, too, and he could never say no to me. "Alright, comrade, let's get our honeymoon on!"

Author's Note

I had to do this, I just did. I hope you liked it! Should I do a part two of the Hawaiian honeymoon?