I'm so, so sorry it took me so long to upload this! I've been busy trying to get back into the swing of things now that I'm back home. And for those of you who are wondering...yes, the Smoky Mountains are beautiful, and quite a change from the flat Midwest cornfields that I'm accustomed to.

This is the last chapter before the *epilogue*, and thank you to Mori Belicov Hathaway for the idea for this pairing!

Mia + Ambrose

"Girl, you need a man," says Rose in her best impression of a ghetto accent.

Jill cracks up, and Mia glares.

It's their girls' night out, and here they are, sitting in a restaurant in the middle of the mall, talking about Mia's love life (or, more accurately, the lack thereof).

"Really? I had no idea!" she says dryly.

Sydney smirks. "Mia, even I have a boyfriend."

"You're not helping," she replies darkly.

Rose snorts and shares a meaningful look with Lissa. "I think we know what needs to be done, right, Liss?"

The queen smiles and turns to Mia. "You, my friend, are in for a treat."

"I can't believe," Mia huffs, "that you roped me into a blind date."

Rose smiles. "Don't worry. I got a hot guy for you. Well, actually, Lissa did, but that's not the point."

Mia looks at her dubiously. "Are you sure he'll like me?"

"Positive."

"Because this is a first impression thing, you know."

"He'll have a good first impression."

Mia purses her lips. "Rose, what was your first impression of me?"

"That you were a jealousy-prone ten-year-old and that Aaron might have become a pedophile during the two years Lissa and I were away," she replies brightly, without missing a beat.

Pause.

"Oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't have said that. I love you, Mia!"

Mia glares at her.

Rose looks at her phone. "Whoops, gotta go. It's time for your date, and anyway, Dimitri's expecting me." She gets a dreamy look on her face when she mentions the Russian.

Mia practically shoves her out of the door of the movie theater. "Go, before your fantasies turn X-rated. I don't need to know!"

Rose smirks. "Have fun!"

"Um...are you Mia?"

The woman in question turns to see...holy Jesus Christ, is he for real?!

Damn boy, you are HOT.

Thank God, she does not say this out loud.

"I—yeah."

The guy—probably a Dhamphir, since he lacks the pale, tall, slim figure of a Moroi, and she can't imagine her friends setting her up with a human—fidgets and sticks out a hand awkwardly.

"Hi. Um, I'm Ambrose."

Mia cracks a smile. "I would say, 'Hi, Ambrose, I'm Mia,' but I think we've already established who I am."

Ambrose seems to relax a bit.

"So, since we're at the movies...what do you want to watch?"

"I don't know, what do you think?" she replies.

"Ted looks pretty funny."

She grins. "Oh, I know, right? I love comedy!"

"I think we've found our movie, then," he chuckles, managing to look even hotter, if that's even possible. Mia swoons internally.

When it's over, they stand outside the theater talking.

"So, do you want to do this again sometime?" he asks.

"Yeah, that sounds great!"

He pulls out a sharpie—who knows why he brought it?—and scribbles something down on her hand. A shiver runs up her spine when he touches her.

When she looks at her hand, it's got a string of numbers on it. His number, she realizes.

"I gotta run before Court closes up, since the whole Strigoi threat is making all the royals paranoid, but I had a great time," he says, smiling at her.

She smiles back. "Yeah, that was a lot of fun."

They stare at each other for a moment.

"Okay, I really do have to go now," he says, then winks and grins. "Call me maybe!"

Mia falls asleep smiling that night.