Ivan's Point of View
"How bad do you think this is going to get?" Sophia asked, sitting nervously on the bed.
We were in the guest room next to Rose and Dimitri and had been listening to them argue for the last 20 minutes. Clearly they had varying opinions on how this should have been handled.
*Flashback*
After Dimitri had stormed out the first time, I thought it was in everyone's best interest to follow him; so I did. That's how we ended up in the guardians lounge, raiding the fridge for their leftover beer. The place was pretty deserted for the holidays, hence the reason Vika felt confident enough to get down in the middle of the gym floor. And although I'd never admit this to D, I had to give the girl props for creativity…
"What the hell was she thinking? He's her teacher!" Dimitri shouted, flopping down in one of the fluffy lounge chairs.
"Weren't you Rose's teacher?" I asked, knowing full well I was probably playing with fire. That's the thing about alcohol; it makes you bold…and stupid.
"I was her mentor. There's a difference." He explained coldly before taking a long swig of his beer.
"Semantics." I told him, waving my hand dismissively. He was just about to argue when someone cleared their throat in the doorway.
After his ridiculous "It's not what it looks like" speech, Dimitri had stormed out of the gym, but not before ordering Victoria to put on her damn clothes and go to her room. He didn't even bother dignifying the half-naked dude with a response. But now, said half naked dude was bravely and foolishly walking into the lion's den.
"Guardian Belikov, may I have a word with you…in private." He added after glancing over at me.
"That's not really in your best interest. If Ivan leaves the room so does my incentive not to kill you… on account of the lack of any witnesses." Dimitri told him, causing me to chuckle and choke on the beer I was trying to swallow.
"Look I know what you must be thinking, but it wasn't what it looked like."
Seriously dude, your gonna try that line again?
I looked at Dimitri out of the corner of my eye and saw his jaw was clenched.
"Really? Well that's a relief. And here I thought it looked like you were having sex with my underage sister on a dirty gym floor. My mistake." Dimitri spit back, with a healthy dose of Rose like sarcasm. That girl was definitely rubbing off on him, in more ways than one!
"Don't you think that's a bit hypocritical given your own history?" The idiot asked Dimitri.
"Excuse me?" Dimitri asked, shooting up out of his chair.
Bad move Pal…
"I'm just saying it's no secret that you had your own affair back at St. Vladimir's. Victoria told me."
Dude, he did not just call Rose an affair. Here it comes.
"Rose and I weren't having an affair! I was her mentor, not her teacher. I was only 4 years older than her, not to mention that we fell in love. Can you say the same? Do you love my sister? Because I've got to tell you, from where I'm sitting that seems highly unlikely! How old are you anyway?" He shouted, practically foaming at the mouth.
One more dumb word out of this guy's mouth and he was toast.
"My age isn't important right now. What's important is…"
"HOW OLD?" Dimitri cut him off, moving to stand directly in front of him.
"27" He admitted, unable to meet Dimitri's eye.
Oh shit.
And that's when Dimitri hit him.
And when he was done, he hit him again.
Part of me knew I should probably stop him before this got out of hand, but the less rational part of me knew that if I had walked in on my baby sister getting pounded by a guy 10 years older than her, I'd probably need to get a few hits out of my system too.
Of course I had overestimated my ability to stop Dimitri once he got started, and let me tell you it was a lot harder than it look. The man was beast, and I'd have had better luck trying to lift a car. Fortunately for everyone involved, Rose showed up.
Rose's Point of View
"What were you thinking, you could have killed him!" I shouted, not even bothering to keep my voice level. The scene I had walked into in the guardians lounge was appalling and I don't think I ever want to see that side of Dimitri again.
"I was thinking the man was 10 years older than Victoria and having sex with my baby sister!" He shouted back. He was sitting on the bed icing his disgusting, bloody red knuckles.
"Victoria is going to kill you." I told him, knowing full well how she felt about Sasha.
t was the reason I had gone looking for Dimitri in the first place. After talking to Victoria about him, she begged me to try and get her brother to see reason. I wasn't exactly thrilled about the age difference either, but people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and as someone who's spent the last few years hiding their relationship I wasn't really in a position to judge.
"Not if I kill her first." Dimitri mumbled under his breath, wincing as he shifted the ice pack on his hands.
He was a sad sight.
I wanted to keep yelling at him, but I knew that wouldn't get us anywhere. Instead I walked over to the bed and took the ice pack out of his hands.
"Dimitri, look at me." I ordered, willing him to meet my eyes. He was hesitant at first but eventually complied.
"You of all people know that we can't help who we love. And I know you don't want to hear this, but Victoria love's him. Whether or not he loves her back, who's to say. But you're not going to find the answer by pummeling him. Yes he is older, and yes it's inappropriate. But think about how many time's people have said the same thing about us, and now here you are doing the same thing."
"She's my little sister Rose, how can you expect me to be okay with this?" He asked with tortured eyes.
"I expect you to be okay with it because you love her. And you love me. And because you scared the crap out of me down there and I never want to see that side of you again." I told him and he winced slightly when he realized what he'd done.
"I'm sorry Milaya, I didn't mean to scare you." He apologized, kissing my forehead tenderly.
"You know I always knew you were a bad ass Comrade, but that was just insane. If I hadn't been so terrifying it would have been totally hot…" I chuckled, watching as he raised one eyebrow in question.
I leaned forward to press a chaste kiss to his lips, and laughed when he pouted, clearly wanting more.
"Nah Uh Comrade, you've got more important things to do." I told him, trying to wiggle out of his death grip.
"What could possibly be more important than this?" He asked, trailing his lips down my neck and beginning to suck on my collar bone. I knew I should be fighting this, but I didn't call him a God for no reason.
"Dimitri…" I whined, in a half ass effort to deter him, but thankfully he kept going.
"Think of this as my first stop on the Dimitri Belikov apology tour." He murmured against my skin as he made his way back up my neck. The second he found my sweet spot I relented.
"Fine. But don't think you're off the hook." I told him, pulling back sternly to look at him.
"Yes Milaya." He told me, before returning to his tantalizing ministrations.
After Dimitri and I had sufficiently made up, I decided a walk around the campus would do me some good. I wanted to get to know my current surroundings and I was eager to explore the world of St. Basils.
With Dimitri busy making amends, Sophia had insisted on accompanying me and we wandered around idly, recalling some of our own favorite memories from the academy. St. Basils wasn't that different from St. Vlad's and I found the place oddly comforting, like coming home.
Most of the campus was a ghost town thanks to the holiday break, and the only bodies we ran into were those of the guardians on patrol. Even the head master wasn't due back for a few days. After about an hour of exploring my stomach growled in protest and with a chuckle Sophia dragged me towards the cafeteria.
The cafeteria itself was fairly typical but it was what I found inside that surprised me.
Sitting alone at long rectangular table was a beautiful little girl who couldn't have been more than 5. She had curly light brown hair and the most mesmerizing teal blue eyes. The moment she looked up and met my gaze my heart broke.
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked her tentatively, trying to wipe away the streaming tears on her tiny cheek.
She just shook her head no.
"Can you tell me what's wrong?" I asked, looking to Sophia for help. The poor thing was crying so hard she had started to hiccup uncontrollably. Not really sure what else to do, I scooped her up in my arms and cradled her to my chest.
"SHH да Milaya." (Shhh, it's okay Milaya.) I murmured. It always comforted me when Dimitri said that, and seeing as how we were in a Russian academy I figured the girl probably spoke the language.
"Вы говорите по-русски?" (You speak Russian?) She asked, her little teal eyes getting bright.
"I'm sorry sweetheart, I'm afraid not. But my boyfriend does, and it always makes me feel better." I told her with a smile.
"Do you speak English?" I asked, after realizing she might not even understand what I was saying.
She nodded her head and smiled. It was a beautiful smile, and my heart warmed.
"My name is Rose, and this is Sophia." I said gesturing to my silent friend beside me. "What's your name?"
"Francesca." She whispered so lightly I could barely hear her.
"That's a beautiful name." I told her, and she beamed brightly at my praise. "Can you tell me what's got you so upset Francesca?"
Her smile faltered some and her little lip began to quiver. Once again I took her gently in my arms and started to stroke her hair. After a couple of minutes she seemed to relax.
"I miss my friends." She told me, looking down at her shoes. "They all went home for holiday."
Poor baby.
"What about your family?" I asked gently, hoping not to set her off again.
"I don't have one." She admitted, looking up at me sadly.
I didn't know what it was about this little girl, but something about her called to me. She was so small and all alone, and it reminded me of all the times I spent missing my own family before I found the Dragomir's. I had been lucky enough to find a best friend like Lissa and a family that was kind of enough to take me in. But this sweet little girl didn't have anyone, and the thought alone broke my heart.
"You know, I was just about to find my boyfriend and get us something to eat. Would you like to join us?" I asked, watching as her little teal eyes grew brighter. She was just about to nod excitedly when she thought of something.
"Is your boyfriend nice?" She asked suspiciously and I couldn't help but laugh at her overly serious expression.
"He's the nicest person I know." I told her. "Well except for my best friend Lissa."
"No offense Sophia!" I told her quickly and she laughed.
"None taken."
"Can I meet Lissa too?" Francesca asked enthusiastically.
How could I refuse such a face?
"Well of course!" I told her, taking her tiny little hand in mine.
With everything that had gone so monumentally wrong in my life, something about helping this little girl just felt right. Maybe I was getting in over my head, and maybe bringing an innocent 5 year old into my crazy life was a bad idea, but as she looked up at me with those sparkling teal blue eyes, I decided I didn't really care. Francesca needed me, and I'd be damned if I wasn't going to help.