Again, thank you for the reviews. Always happy to get your responses. So here's the new chapter. Enjoy and leave a review!

RPOV

Chapter 3

I had never been a believer in God, heel or heaven. But in the last ten hours or so my beliefs had been seriously tested and changed.

It felt like my own personal hell had been created for me.

After Lissa had given me the dreadful the news that Dimitri had been shot, I had slipped into ultimate panic mode. I had packed within literally three minutes and then Eddie had driven Lissa, me and Christian to Court. But again luck was definitely not on my side. The road to Court had been blocked due to heavy snowfall. And we had to take a longer, excruciatingly uncomfortable forest route. It had taken us six hours for us to get here and for the last two hours I had been pacing frantically in the waiting area outside the ER.

The doctors wouldn't let me see Dimitri but I had caught little snippets of the current situation. He had been bleeding profusely because the bullet had hit a major blood vessel and had slipped into a coma about five hours ago and the doctors were debating whether or not to put him on life support.

After hearing this, all of Lissa's attempts and calming me down had gone down the drain. I felt numb. Empty and hollow on the inside. My last words to Dimitri on the phone went through my head. I never want to see you again. Oh god, why the fuck had I said that? A strong sense of regret suffocated me. I had cut it off with him, told him in the heat of the moment that I hated him, when in fact I loved him more than anything.

My chain of thought was broken by a young nurse tapping me on the shoulder. "You're here for Dimitri Belikov right?" She asked in an overly sweet voice that made me want to choke her.

"Yes." I answered; hope building up in me while I prepared myself for the worst.

She nodded. "You can visit him now. One at a time please."

I didn't even wait for her to finish her sentence before I bolted to Dimitri's room. I came to a halt before his door and braced myself. I ran my hands through my tangled hair, trying in vain to tame it. Then I gently opened his door and stepped in, closing it just as quietly behind me.

I had seen Dimitri once before in a hospital bed when Tasha had attacked him with fire but never had I seen him like this. The strong, protective Dimitri that I knew lay on the bed looking fragile and actually breakable. His tall frame which usually showed confidence and strength looked strangely and unusually weak.

Then I noticed that there was also a doctor in the room. He had looked up when I had entered the room and was silently waiting for me to finish my inspection. His nametag read Dr. Simon Pierce.

"Is he going to be alright?" I asked, wanting my voice to be strong but it came out all shaky and broken.

Dr. Pierce offered a kind smile. "We can't say just yet but we aren't going to put him on life support, that's always a good thing. But his vitals don't look too good right now and he has lost a lot of blood."

I nodded, not completely absorbing the information. After that the doctor left me alone with Dimitri. I sat on the hard, uncomfortable metal bench next to the hospital bed. I took his large hand in my smaller one, finding it void of its usual warmth. I clutched on to his cold, unresponsive hand while I rested my head next to his arm on the bed and for the first time in almost nineteen years, I bawled like a little baby.

Yes we had hit a rough patch. An extremely rough patch and things had gotten pretty nasty but he couldn't just be taken away from me like this. As I sat there crying my eyes out, one thing was clear to me. If I lost Dimitri, I would probably lose myself too.

DPOV

As soon as I turned my back on the subject of my interrogation, I felt a brutal pain as the bullet sliced its way through my chest. Then I felt nothing. As my vision got blurry, I saw a lot of faces crowd around me, they were all talking but I couldn't make out what they were saying. Then I slipped into unconsciousness.

After that as the haze in my brain finally cleared a bit, I heard the faint, distant beating of a heard monitor. There was also an unbearable pain in my chest. And then I fell back into oblivion.

The next time the haze cleared, I heard two people talking. I couldn't make out what exactly they were saying but there was something about life support, blood loss and then again the dark abyss sucked me in.

When the fog cleared the next time, my hand was entwined with another, soft, small hand that even in this state was all too familiar. Roza. Her head was next to hand and I could hear sobbing and she was saying something but I couldn't concentrate enough to comprehend what she was saying.

I wanted so badly to open my eyes. To squeeze her hand. To console her. But again I lost myself to nothingness.

RPOV

One week later…

Dimitri still hadn't woken up although the doctors said that he was recovering at an impressive rate and it shouldn't be too long before he wakes up from the coma. His cheeks had regained some colour and his heart beat was stronger than when I had first come in.

I has skipped school for the past one week and stayed by his side most of the time. Even at the times when Lissa forced me to go get some sleep I just wouldn't be able to and I mostly ended up showering quickly before returning to his bedside. By this time it would be an understatement to say that I was worried sick.

Lissa had also stayed at Court for the past week but she had been incredibly busy in meetings and whatever else it is that queens do. But she still visited whenever she could. Christian was also here a lot. Turns out Dimitri and him had indeed become pretty good friends. Hell, I might even call them besties.

I groaned as I slipped off my clothes and waited for the water in my shower to turn hot. I had become seriously stiff from sitting on that hard bedside bench in the hospital.

The shower did little to soothe me but I stepped out after a couple of minutes and pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a white tank top. I put on a Lehigh sweatshirt on top and was just finishing my coffee when my phone buzzed on the kitchen counter of my apartment at Court.

Putting the mug in the sink, I grabbed my phone hastily. It was Lissa. I sighed.

"Yes Liss?" I asked.

"Rose, I was down at the hospital visiting Dimitri and he's just woken up. He's asking for you." Oh my God! Finally. I took a deep breath as if a huge weight had been lifted off of me.

I didn't even wait for her to say anything else before I hung up and sprinted to the hospital. It was on the other side of Court but I made it there in less than four minutes.

I dashed through the hospital corridors and flew into Dimitri's room, making Christian stop mid sentence and smirk. He was himself again.

"Well I guess I'll leave you two alone now. We'll talk later." He said and I swear to god for some inexplicable reason, with every word he said there was a growing desire in me to punch the shit out of him.

On his way out, he stopped next to where I stood and smirked again.

"Behave, you two."

Oh hell, man. Enough already. "Fuck off Chrissie."

He muttered something unintelligible and finally left.

My gaze finally fell on Dimitri. His soft brown orbs, which I hadn't seen for months, were silently, almost cautiously assessing me. They widened a bit when they met my eyes. Yeah, the crying had left them slightly red and the dark shadows under my eyes had become more prominent.

Then those beautiful eyes lowered again, looking at everything else in the room but me. He was probably waiting for me to explode.

Instead I walked over to his bed and sat down next to him, facing him. I grabbed his hand tightly in both of him. This obviously surprised him as he looked at me then at our entwined hands and then back up at me again.

"Hey." I said softly.

His lips curved up ever so slightly but other than that he remained quiet.

I opened my mouth to say something but instead Dimitri tugged on our entwined hands, pulling me into an embrace. I carefully avoided his chest and leant my head against his shoulder as my arms wrapped tightly around his neck. His hands were tight around my waist.

"Is this okay, is it hurting you?" I whispered softly in his ear.

"No Roza. Not at all." He whispered back. His voice is slightly scratchy and had a rasp to it. God, it's been so long since I've been with him like this. Peacefully, not arguing or fighting.

Then as if he could read my mind he said something I'd been aching to hear for months. "I'm so sorry Milaya. So, so sorry." And I know he's apologizing for the last six months that we've been apart.

I pull back a little but still keep my arms around him. "Well as good as it feels to finally hear you say that, sorry isn't going to fix it this time Dimitri."

"I know baby. I know I'm going to have to work for it and I will gladly do so for as long as I have to because the thing is Roza, I can't picture my life without you in it." His voice is determined and confident this time. His words move me to my core because I feel just the same way.

I smile widely. "Good. We also have tons to talk about but that can wait." Then I pull him in for a long deep kiss which leaves us both breathless.

As we break apart I again hear the words that I wanted to hear for so long. "I love you so much Roza." He whispers.

"I love you too." Then I give him a quick peck. "But you're not getting me back with a couple of mind blowing kisses. You're still going to have to work for it, you know."

He chuckles softly. "Oh, I know."

"Very, very hard." I say just to tease him a little.

He laughs and it's weak yet beautiful sound. "Yes love, I know."

"Good now that that's settled, I need some sleep."

"Don't leave Rose." His voice is torn.

I grin at him. "Who said anything about leaving?" I ask I pull off my sweatshirt and crawl into the narrow hospital bed beside him.

I lean my head on his shoulder and put an arm around his waist gingerly. "Is this fine?"

"Yes love, it's absolutely perfect."

And then I fall asleep in Dimitri's arms after more than three months and for the first time in weeks, I sleep peacefully and soundly.