Oh god, guys, I am so sorry. I genuinely am. I didn't mean to leave it this long, I promise, but I did. I thought I'd finished it! Woops. And if you can ever forgive me, I'd be really grateful. I suppose I should try to make it up to you with the final chapter.

Oh and just to clear things up, I don't own the characters, they belong to Richelle Mead, so I have no idea if this information is accurate, but let's just say it is :D

August 28th. The holidays were nearly over. We were preparing to travel back home after a couple of weeks in Baia. The past few days had been spent recuperating after the attack and trying to tie up any loose ends. Olena was well again, the spirit users having successfully removed the compulsion from her mind, and she was well on the way to becoming her usual motherly self again. Unfortunately, we still had no leads on where Spiridon and Robert had gone. It seemed so distant after the events following the Strigoi attack, but we knew that we couldn't let them get away with this crime. I'd called the Court and told them to keep a look out for them, and they'd sent a couple of guardians to Omsk and Novosibirsk to keep going; after the attack, we couldn't let any from our entourage out of our sight.

Adrian and Lissa had also been exploring the bond. Both had found it extremely frustrating when accidentally falling into each other's heads, particularly Adrian.

"It's so different to our bond," Lissa had grumbled at me one evening. "I'm not used to falling into somebody else's head."

"Think how I feel! Suddenly I've got a teenage girl, the Queen, listening in on my thoughts. Hasn't anybody heard of privacy?" he exclaimed. I had chuckled at the pair of them, assuring them that they'd figure something out in time, but I knew that I'd have to help them research when we got back to Court.

So that led up to today, when I woke up at the exceptionally early time of nine o'clock to surprise Dimitri. After asking his mother, I found out that it was definitely his birthday. I'd had to wiggle it out of her, as Dimitri had apparently ordered her not to tell anyone. The only loophole in their deal was if I found out beforehand, which, technically, I did.

I'd visited the local shops, but nothing had been very suitable, and there wasn't enough time to travel to Omsk to buy anything decent. Oksana had a selection of cards which she kept in a box for occasions like that, so she let me borrow one. I wrote a private message inside, signed it with a flourish and sealed it with a kiss. I'd bought something small from the local store, just to assure that I'd got him something, and promised myself I'd get something nice when we got back to America.

I sat on the sofa in the living room, squished between Viktoria, Olena and Sydney, despite it only being a two-seater sofa. Lissa, Christian, Sonya, Karolina and Paul were sat on the other sofa or crouched on the floor. Adrian and Sydney were still in bed. Separately, I presumed. There was a creak on the stairs and I sat up straighter, my palms suddenly clammy as I held the small present in my hand. The door cracked open and we all leapt up.

"Happy Birthday!" we yelled together and made our way to the door. Dimitri stood there, bewildered, his eyes wide and his dark hair messy with sleep. I smiled, my eyes crinkling, as his eyes found mine and I took in his adorable appearance. He smiled at me for a second and then turned his eyes accusingly to his mother.

"I told you not to tell anyone!" he told her, but I could still hear the grin in his voice. He was pleased that we'd done this for him. That was the way Dimitri worked; he sacrificed his own happiness just to make sure nobody else went out of their way. I knew that, deep down, he really appreciated this sort of surprise.

"I didn't!" Olena defended herself. "Rose figured it out by herself." He spun back around to mock glare at me and I smiled bashfully, holding out the envelope. He took it from me slowly, examining it.

"Rose, you didn't have to get me anything." I shrugged.

"I wanted to get you something," I replied simply. "Because you deserve it. And because you were going to get me something." A small smile flickered at the edges of his lips before he pressed them together. Dammit, Rose, why did you have to bring that up? I thought to myself, but everybody ignored it.

Dimitri slid his finger into the envelope and tugged it open gently, sliding the card out. He bit back a smile at the overly smiley person on the front of the card, the only one Olena had that was in English, and flipped it open. Glittery stars fell out of it onto the floor and Olena tutted. I sent her an apologetic glance, not having thought about the problems. My gaze quickly travelled back to Dimitri, however, as he read my card. When Christian tried to peer over his shoulder, Dimitri quickly closed the card, a secret smile on playing on his lips. He looked up at me and we both shared a private moment, the two of us thinking exactly the same thing, feeling exactly the same perfection.

I nudged him out of our mini-daydream and he fumbled in the envelope for the $10 book token I'd bought him.

"Thank you so much, Roza," he said, reaching his arms out and wrapping me up. I inhaled deeply and smiled into his chest, the scent of last night's lingering aftershave and his natural smell mingling in the air. "It's lovely."

"I'll get you something better when we get home."

"I don't need anything better when I have you." I heard Christian retch behind me and giggled as Lissa slapped him playfully, stepping back from Dimitri's arms.

The rest of the day passed smoothly. Olena cooked us a wonderful meal, Dimitri's favourite black bread included, and Mark and Oksana came to visit. Dimitri seemed to have forgotten all about his wish to keep his birthday private, which suited me fine. I was just so glad to see him cheerful. It was as if all the weight had been taken off of our shoulders for a day. We could forget about our past, forget about all the lingering questions, and enjoy ourselves.

Around 7pm that evening, a couple of us were watching a silly television program. Viktoria was supposed to be translating it for us Americans, but she decided to mix it up a bit, so we determined that the game show host was having eggs for breakfast and the two contestants, despite having never met before, were married. At least, in our minds they were. The boys were playing cards in the corner.

I heard a cough from beside me and turned to see Dimitri standing in front of me seriously. I frowned at him.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, anxious all of a sudden, remembering that I hadn't been very on guard all day. He nodded, though, and I relaxed my shoulders, still watching him warily. I felt the weight of the family's gazes on us and I shifted awkwardly under their scrutiny. Dimitri slowly sank to the floor, my eyes following him the whole way, until he was resting on one knee on the floor.

No, I told myself. It won't be that. Don't be stupid, Rose. Don't get your hopes up.

"Rose," Dimitri murmured, slowly moving a hand to his back pocket and retrieving a small black box. I felt my breath catch as he looked up at me with that earnest gaze and I read the truth in his eyes. My heart thundered as I tried to stop my voice shaking.

"Where did you get that? Isn't it time you tell me these guardian secrets of yours?" I teased, both of us chuckling as we remembered the time he'd bought me the lip gloss back at St. Vlad's.

"Well, this time I just got it from the jeweller. Nothing so special about that." Yet it was special. It was so, so special. I swallowed nervously as Dimitri wobbled slightly and regained his balance.

"Roza," he began, staring deeply into my eyes until I was bathed in chocolate. Focus, I reminded myself. Stop dwelling on memories when you've got this in front of you, moron! "Roza, I have been trying for a long time to figure out how to put this. I may not be the most eloquent of men, but I like to voice my feelings to you, and only you, when I feel it strong enough to be deemed necessary. And I have never felt anything quite as strong as this. The love I hold for you is consuming me, it's part of me now. It would be impossible to deny it now like I used to. Roza, you are my reason for existence. You give me strength. Without you, I wouldn't be here today. I wouldn't be the man I am if I hadn't met you. You changed my life and I thank you so much for that, and all I want is to love you and cherish you and worship you forever and always." I felt tears prickle in my eyes as I bit my lip, staring at Dimitri.

"Roza." He flipped open the black box and I admired the glinting ring inside. It was as I'd expected from Dimitri. Nothing big, yet worth so much. Worth more than anything in the world.

Time seemed to stop, and all I could hear was the velvety way he said my voice, my Russian . Waiting for him to ask the question. Waiting for us to bind ourselves. Just...waiting. A heartbeat away.

"Will you marry me?"

And, even though I'd been expecting it, I felt myself gasp, I felt heart swell, I felt my lips part into a smile.

"Yes," I whispered, "yes, I will marry you, Dimitri." The most exquisite smile broke out on his face, his eyes sparkling and warm as he got to his feet. I leapt up from my seat and flung my arms around him, a tear spilling over the edge of my cheekbones and trickling down to my jaw as he wrapped himself around me. Warmth emanated from him as I squeezed him tight.

"Yes," I couldn't stop repeating myself, my voice growing in strength as I continued to talk, "Yes, Guardian Belikov, Dimka, darling, yes, 100% yes. I love you so much, Dimitri. So much." Even Christian didn't interrupt as we embraced, the two of us locked in a moment that I knew I would remember forever.

Dimitri let go of me for a second, standing back and holding out the box. He took the ring out, holding it up to the light for a moment, and I felt another tear leak out of the corner of my eye as I held my hand out. He took it gently, as he'd done so many times before, stroking my palm before carefully sliding the ring onto my fourth finger. He kissed the ring, kissed my hand, and then swooped me up in his arms, pressing our lips together, and I felt tears of his own drop onto my face as we smiled into each other's lips.

When we eventually broke apart, I turned to face Lissa, who was almost in my arms immediately.

"Congratulations, Rose!" she squealed, holding me tight and admiring my ring. We received love and good wishes from everybody and spent a happy hour sitting with the family, the two of us virtually inseparable, until heading upstairs for bed, unwilling to let go, even for a second.

As I lay in bed that night, Dimitri's arms around me as he slept peacefully, I stroked his hair and thought to myself. We were going to get married. He'd said, 'will you marry me?' Who knew how far away the marriage was? I was excited at the prospect already, and I knew Lissa would be raring to prepare for it. I smiled to myself as I turned the thoughts over in my head.

Mrs Roza Belikova.

And so, that's it! The final Final Countdown (ha I'm not funny). Thank you so much for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it! And I'm so sorry it took ages for me to complete.

If anybody's still interested, there will be a sequel up on my page within the next hour-I'm not sure how long it should take to appear, but I uploaded it the same time as this. It's called 'Blood Debt' and should hopefully explore more of the problems shown in this, but it's not a necessary read.

Thanks again! :D

Muse-icfan756

xx