Did I really need this?

My heart had been taken over with my words. All I could think was that I wanted – no, needed – him. But those weren't the words that played on my tongue.

"I wish…" I mumbled. "I wish I never met you, or Adrian, or…anyone. I wish it was just me and Lissa again. It was hard, but at least it didn't drive me to insanity."

He looked at me in subtle shock. "You wish you never met me?"

He sounded so heart broken.

I sniffled. "I wish you'd never broken my heart." I mended.

I slammed the door open, dragging my suitcase out easily. I jabbed the key in the back of the Prado and opened the 'boot'. I shoved my belongings into the back and leaned against the door.

"Roza-"

I would have told him off again. I would have told him he could never see me again. He could go to his mother and live with her for the rest of his miserable life. But I couldn't say any of that. I wouldn't have meant it. I'd been lying to much these days anyway.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, and let me tell you, I lost it.

I ducked under his hand faster than you could blink and shoved his chest. He stumbled back into the house, looking at me with shock. He pushed himself off the house, a small dent now sat there. Tears streaked my face as I turned back to the Prado.

But my eyes didn't stay there for long. I turned back to him softly.

"This is driving me insane, Dimitri. Every turn I make, there's always something bad there. I thought I could handle it…but I just…I can't do that. I can't think straight. If you're around…you'll get it too. I don't want that for anyone."

"Dimka Belikova." A voice smiled.

I turned around to see Denis grinning as he came down the short stretch of road. I would have smiled at his expression when he saw me push Dimitri, but when he saw my face, his face instantly fell.

"I would have thought you would run into each others arms, the way that Dimitri was talking about you when he rang us up."

I slammed the back door shut. "Not in the mood, Denis."

He frowned. "You guys going somewhere?"

"Not him. Me. I'm doing my own thing from now on." I interrupted Dimitri's failed attempt at going with me.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at Dimitri. "And you're okay with this?"

"He doesn't have to be." I answered for him. "He doesn't own me."

I walked around the front of the vehicle and popped the front open. I filled the water in the windscreen wipers and checked to make sure the car was ready for quite a beating if necessary.

"A girl who knows what she's talking about when it comes to cars," Denis sounded impressed. "You know how to pick them, Dimka. To bad you don't know how to hold onto them."

I rolled my eyes and threw a dirty rag filled with greasy and other slimy substances into his face. He picked it off with two fingers and smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back at him.

After slamming the bonnet down, I dusted off my hands.

"So where are we going?" Denis asked.

I stared at him. "I'm going alone, Denis. I'm going to drag you into this. Enough people want to kill me…if you're seen with me…"

"We're coming with you, Roza," Dimitri's voice was smooth but demanding.

I twirled around slowly. "Oh really? Don't you want to go see your mother? You made enough danger here; you could at least do what you wanted to do."

"I was here to see you, Roza. I'm sorry, but the attack on the court…they shouldn't have tried anything that risky. They wanted you. I couldn't help myself."

"Maybe you should have tried harder." I told him harshly. "It sounds like you gave up."

He nodded. "I did."

"Well this is a lovely moment." Denis interrupted. "But we have to end it. We're coming with you, Rose."

"And if I get killed? If I die? I know both of you well enough to know that you wouldn't just say 'stuff it' if you saw me die. I'm not going to kill anymore people."

"Anymore?" Denis raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't kill her!" I yelled.

"Whatever." He held his hands up, palms facing forward.

Dimitri's eyebrows buried together, a bad sign when your hiding something. I avoided his eye contact, keeping my eyes on Denis.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "You're not trying to kill this person at all, are you?"

I kicked myself mentally. "What makes you say that?"

"I know you, Roza. What's going on? What else is there?"

"I know who did it, okay?" I burst out. "Dashkov. Somehow he got a hold of a Strigoi gang. It all leads to him…"

"Kind of like all the evidence leads to you?"

I stared at him. "This is different."

"How?"

"It's…! It's…! It's bloody Victor Dashkov for crying out loud! Of course it him."

He didn't seem convinced.

"But what else are you going after?" Denis pushed.

I smiled. "It's none of your business cause none of you are coming."

I walked towards the truck.

"Oh no you don't." Denis picked me up by my waist easily. I screamed in protest, but he just ignored it. He set me down and looked at me. "I'm not prepared to let you out after dark."

"You don't have to be! You're not my Dad! You're not my Brother! And by all hecks you aren't my boyfriend!"

"You're right. I'm not your father, and neither is Dimka, but we quite easy access too him if we ever needed him."

"You'll just call him anyway." I noticed. "Even if you do come."

"We would be delighted to join you, thanks for the offer." Denis said sweetly and climbed into the Prado.

"Hey!"

Dimitri smiled sadly at me.

"Dimitri please! Don't do this. I don't want you to get hurt…There are enough people wanting to kill you here."

"I'm not just sending you out there by yourself." He argued.

"So let me go with Denis."

He laughed humorlessly. "Ah, no. He's the equivalent of Adrian with a stake. Bad combination."

"I can do this-"

"Roza, please."

Those two words were all it took for me too give in. No matter how much I try to kid myself that I wasn't in love with him, the truth was, I would always be in love with him.

I nodded.

I was going insane. Hey, it was their faults if they wanted that too.

Denis insisted on driving, and I refused to be taken out of the equation in the back seat, so I was left in the passenger seat, staring out the window, craving to see Lissa. What if I couldn't do that anymore? What if I got the headache again? It's not like I could call Oksana anymore.

I twisted the pendant that hung around my neck in my fingers.

"So where too?" Denis asked lightly.

I thought about it for a moment. They didn't know what was going on. Maybe I would tell them if they stuck around for the ride. I decided to start from the beginning.

"To Las Vegas." I saw Dimitri stiffen in the back seat. "Where it all began."

Denis grinned broadly. "This is so much better than combat training."

I decided to risk it. There was no way anyone would, could, survive with my lonely thoughts for the trip. Just getting to the airport was going to take an hour or two.

I slipped into Lissa's mind, noticeable to Dimitri. When I opened my eyes, I saw everything she saw.

The ruins of the Court.

They had really done some damage on the place, I had to admit. Things were mostly rebuilt, but still, I don't know what it was, but it didn't look right. Maybe the sun didn't shine on it the way it used to, or the grass wasn't as green. Maybe the birds didn't sing as loud, or the wind didn't blow free. There was something odd going on here, but it was still beautiful.

"They cause so much commotion just to get Rose. Why?" she asked Adrian who was standing next to her. "Why is she always so important? It's not fair on her!"

Adrian squeezed her shoulders. "There's always a price for being the best."

"That's the thing," she argued, "she never wanted it, so why does she have to pay?"

"It's the way of life." He said miserably. "Now the Belikov's gone to get her, I know god damn well what's gonna happen."

It was Lissa's turn to comfort him. "You never know with Rose."

He shrugged. "You'd know her best."

She smiled. "Yeah, I do."

We parked out in the bushes when darkness rose. We should only be waking up, for security reasons, and we stayed up for as long as we could, but one by one, we grew tired.

We lit a fire outside our tents, an addition that Denis had packed in the Prado before we left, along with a few other necessities that I would have totally forgotten.

We had no marshmallows, which was okay. Disgusting little things. But it would have been nice to have something to talk about, or do, while we sat around the fire. I had barely said anything ever since we arrived, or even got in the car.

We decided that I should be the first to switch to a vampires normal 'daylight' hours. I had insisted in my few words that I wouldn't sleep anyway, and wouldn't be much help tomorrow.

When Denis hit the hay, Dimitri followed quickly, taking a long glance at me. I tried to put on my best smile for him, but it was covered in thought and set him off. He smiled back, our bidding goodnight. He stalked off into his tent.

And once again, I was left with my thoughts. I was completely lost for Lissa and my times. All I knew was that it was dark here. I couldn't feel anything from her unless I actually got sucked into her head.

I hugged my knees on the ground, looking out into the forest. Bad things lurked, but no Strigois apparently. Not by my senses.

But there was always the chance that Victor was out there.

Everything was getting to me. All the fear. All the sadness. All the unfamiliarity. It was taking over. I had held it in fairly well over these past couple of weeks, even in the months.

And I broke down. I didn't want to see anything or anyone.

No one except Dimitri.

I needed him. I couldn't kid myself anymore. I needed him. I loved him.

And I had pushed him away.

My eyes were dry, but small sobs etched on my throat. It felt like I couldn't breathe. The weight of the world was on my shoulders. I was all alone out here, and I really needed someone.

I would never know how Dimitri knew I needed him.

Wordlessly, he walked up to me, dropping down right beside so I could lean into him. He stroked my hair and shushed me as I dry cried into his chest. It wasn't a cry; really, it was just stress and fear pouring from my chest instead of my eyes.

Yeah, Rose Hathaway feels that sometimes, not like anyone cared.

People thought of me as an indestructible machine that could just keep fighting and fighting. They took that too far, thinking that I would keep fighting and fighting for the opposite team.

They were all killing me. Or trying to at least.

"It won't stop, will it." I guessed in a murmur. "It'll just get worse and worse until-"

I bit myself off. I couldn't say it.

Until they kill me.

He rubbed my arm. "I don't know, my Roza. I don't know."

I sniffled. "I'm sorry," I murmured back.

I felt him smile. "No, I am. You were right. I did just expect everything to go back the way it was with an apology. I never thought-" he seemed loss for words, even though they were pouring out of his mouth. I wondered if he actually knew what he was saying. "I never knew how much I needed you."

I leaned in closer to his chest.

"I love you, Dimitri. I'll never be able to tell you that enough."

He squeezed me in his arms. We leaned back so we were lying on the ground, his chest was my pillow.

He kissed my forehead for a long time, squeezing his eyes shut.

"I love you, Roza. I'll make it stop. I promise."

He didn't know exactly what he was promising.

Hey :)

I made it longer than I normally would, just for you guys! 2,172 words. :) You're lucky am I'm in a good, romantic writing mood. My original idea was for her to knock him off and run away.

So don't expect this to last forever for now. I could still kill him off…oh I am evil ha-ha.

But I thought it was about time we had some Rose/Dimitri action going on so….

Oh and also! SAVE DIMITRI BELIKOV! Group page has now officially changed it's name thanks to Spirit Bound! We have had a vote on there, and now it is called SAVE DIMTRI BELIKOV'S HEART! Come and join! And be sure to add me as a friend! I'm the creator of the group if you're looking for me!

Tell me what you think.

Love you all! :)

Lauren