Hello everyone and thank you so much for your reviews once again. You all blow me up every time!

I left the last chapter in a cliffy and even I had to admit that it was kinda lame. No, seriously! It was like all of you guessed what's next! But guess what, there's something more to it and you'll find it out in this chapter.

So, without any further delay, let's get on with it! Enjoy!

Rose was asleep. She knew it because she was dreaming. She was sure that it was a dream because it was too good to be real.

She was in a room she didn't recognize. The most beautiful room she had ever seen! It was so pretty that it could rival any of Queen's chambers. Not that she had actually seen the place but it certainly looked like it. It wasn't just beautiful because of its rich and expensive décor, but the place felt warm, inviting and clearly well loved.

The plush couch had a quilt thrown haphazardly in its corner, as though someone – or maybe two someones – had been cuddling underneath it. And while the room wasn't messy exactly, there were scattered objects – books, framed photos – that indicated this room was actually used and wasn't just for show.

Rose walked over to a small bookshelf and picked up one of the framed photos. She nearly dropped it when she saw what it was.

It was a picture of Dimitri and her. They stood arm in arm, leaning their faces to make sure they both got in the shot. She was grinning broadly, and he too wore a joyous smile, one that she loved to see him in. Beyond them, in the background was the scene of a market place. They were in a city she didn't recognize.

But that was not what had elicited such a surprise out of her. It was the big rock stilling in her finger. She was wearing an engagement ring and a plane wedding band. Through their intertwined hands, she saw Dimitri wearing a similar ring. They were married.

"There you are! I was looking for you all over the house."

A voice startled her and she put the photograph back on the shelf. She turned around to see Dimitri walk into the room.

He wore jeans and a casual white T-shirt that fit the lean muscles of his body perfectly. His hair was down loose and slightly damp, like he'd just gotten out of the shower. He held two mugs and chuckled when he saw her.

"Still not dressed?" he asked shaking his head. His voice gave her shivers down the spine. The good kind of shivers. This had to be a dream! But it seemed so real. So true that she wished she wasn't dreaming and all of this was reality.

"They're going to be here any minute."

She looked down and saw that she was wearing a plaid pajama bottoms and a tank top.

"Who's…who's coming?" she asked a bit confused.

"Lissa, Christian and Bea. For the brunch." he answered a bit confused. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" she said.

"You don't look like it. Let me call the doctor…" Dimitri said reaching for his phone in the nightstand.

"Where are we?"

"What?" Dimitri stopped in his tracks staring at her dumbly as if to say 'is that even a question?'

"Where are we, I mean right now." she said feeling butterflies in her stomach as she waited for his reply. She had a fair idea where she was, but she wanted to hear it from him.

"What's wrong with you? We're in Pennsylvania, in our home. Don't you remember?"He asked.

"I do!" she lied flushing crimson as Dimitri raised his eyebrows in confusion at her odd behavior.

"Who's Bea?" she asked again.

"Beatrice. Lissa and Christian's daughter. Our godchild?"

Rose shook her head. "Roza," Dimitri was standing right in front of her now. He put a hand on her waist and trailed another one to lift her chin.

"Hey." Rose looked at those beautiful chocolate orbs which stared down at her in pure adoration. "Tell me. Aren't you feeling well?"

Truth was, she was feeling better than she had felt any of these days. It felt like a dream that had come true. It was one of her deepest desires – sharing her life with Dimitri as a partner with her best friend close by and seemingly happy in her own life. Rose felt overwhelmed.

"I don't remember, comrade… Is this a dream?" she said softly.

"What? What is it that you don't remember?"

"All of this," she gestured around her.

"Oh Roza…" he said softly. His hand returned to her hip and he pulled her in a tight embrace. "I love you, sweetheart. We graduated from St. Vladimir's six years ago. I requested you as my guardian and we came to live here in the court. I proposed you last year and we got married six months before. You don't remember any of these?"

Rose shook her head in negation. "That picture," Rose pointed to the book shelf. "Where are we?"

Dimitri rubbed her cheek, "St. Petersburg. That's where we went on our honeymoon. It was your idea."

Honestly, Rose had no idea but figured whatever he said was true. She looked again in the soulful eyes of her lover, or husband as she should say now. Without a word, he leaned down and kissed her. Slowly and passionately. The kiss was alive. It burned within her soul , as her lips pressed more eagerly into his. She felt the connection, the one that told her there was no one else in the world except for her and him.

And she never wanted the feeling to end.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

A sharp sound pierced through the air, breaking Rose's dream world and transporting her back into reality. In her bed in the dorm room with Dimitri.

Dimitri….

"Comrade… switch off your phone!" she said irritated at the incessant ringing.

Few moments passed but there was no sign of anyone switching the damned device off! Rose searched for Dimitri in her stupor to nudge him awake but came up with air as there was no Dimitri on the other side of her bed.

Her senses came up at alert as she scrambled on her bed, wide awake now. The phone rang twice before it went into the voice mail.

Dimitri must've left his cell phone in a hurry. She mused.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, her eyes flew to the table calendar in the nightstand. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. She missed wishing Dimitri birthday!

Rose wanted to slap herself at her carelessness. But then again, if she hadn't been too disturbed by Janine's visit, she probably wouldn't have forgotten. She ran to the small cupboard at one side of her room and yanked the door open, throwing the clothes carelessly while looking for the gift she had got her comrade for his nineteenth birthday.

There it is! She spotted the box and picked it up, opening to find the belonging still intact. She smiled hoping he would like it. It wasn't particularly expensive, but she had put a lot of thought on it.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

The ringing of the cell phone again broke the silence in the air. Rose walked to the nightstand where the phone was kept.

Ivan. The caller Id read.

She contemplated on whether or not she should pick it up. She knew Ivan was Dimitri's best friend. Maybe he was calling to wish him too?

Deciding on it, she picked up the device and swiped her finger right to accept the call. Before she could say anything,

"Димка! Вы ответили!"

Rose had no idea what he was saying. He could be wishing him 'a happy birthday' or cursing him for all she knew. But judging by his tone, it was neither. He sounded….relieved. And very very drunk.

"Excuse me. Dimitri actually forgot his phone with me. He is unavailable at the moment…"

"Of course," the voice replied with a humorless chuckle. "Why would he pick my phone after all?"

He said that in English, but with his heavy Russian accent along with his drunken slurring, Rose had a hard time processing his words. But one thing was clear to her. Something was wrong.

"I didn't mean it you know!" Ivan's yelled, totally unaware of the recipient on the other side.

"What…what didn't you mean?" Rose asked, not sure where this was going.

"I didn't want to fight with him. I was just looking out for him. I don't want him to get hurt!" Ivan slurred. It seemed as he was in the verge of breaking down. Rose's heart raced as the prospect of Dimitri being hurt in any way.

"Who's hurting him?" Rose asked.

Ivan chuckled and mumbled something in Russian.

"Ivan?"

"Dimka himself!" he yelled again.

"Wha…why would he?"

"He fell in love! My best friend fell in love!" Ivan chuckled. His words became more slurred.

His next words were spoken in whisper, as if he was telling some secret. "With a Dhampir! Roza is her name. Roza"

Rose's breathing caught as she caught the drift of the conversation she was having. Ivan and Dimitri had a fight. About her presumably. This was thing she had feared.

She had caused a dispute between two best friends, brothers as Dimitri and Christian had told her. Her heart constricted at the thought but she compelled it to calm down. It wasn't that she thought that their relationship would be hearts and roses. They were bound for difficulties and she wouldn't let her love lose so easily.

"I'm sorry." Ivan's spontaneous apology surprised her. "I'm so so sorry. I shouldn't have said that. He loves her. I know he does. He told me and I was...I was so…" and he broke down.

Rose for the love of god, couldn't form a reply. What should she say anyway?

"Tell him please." Ivan sobbed. "Tell him, I'm sorry."

A hard lump formed in Rose's throat as she heard him weeping. "Ivan, its okay." she said softly trying to console him.

"No it's not!" he cried. "I shouldn't have said all those things. If he doesn't want to come back to his family, it's his decision…I...I..." and he started mumbling incoherently in Russian.

Still sobbing, he hung up. Rose stood there, in the middle of the room, holding the now silent phone to her ears, processing all the conversation in her head.

Dimitri had an argument with his best friend because of her and he didn't even tell her about this. How could he? Hadn't they promised that would go through all of this together? Then not telling her shouldn't even have been an option!

Angry and a bit hurt, she decided to talk to him, more like confront him about this. They can't keep going on if they don't trust each other enough. Though Rose doubted that 'lack of trust' was the reason, but still! Pulling on the first clothes in sight, she threw her hair up in a pony tail and went out to look for him.

"Dimitri!" Rose called out angrily marching to where she found him, sitting on of the back aisles of the library. She noticed the surprised look in his face as he saw her approach him. His features were contorted into one of confusion.

"Roza.."

"How dare you?" she said through gritted teeth. "How can you hide something like this from me?!"

Rose got straight to the point. There was no reason to beat around the bush now! She saw the horrified look on his face and it confirmed that he had indeed had been hiding it from her purposely.

"Rose, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."

"Sorry? You're sorry?" Rose sneered. "I'm your girlfriend Dimitri. I shouldn't come to know of these things through an outsider!"

Technically, Ivan wasn't an outsider. He was his friend, but still.

"Outsider?" he asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"Ivan!" Rose said.

Curses flew from Dimitri's mouth both in English as well as Russian as anger and betrayal ran through his eyes.

"Wait, how did you talk to Ivan?" he asked, his eyes wild with a myriad of emotions in them. Anger and fear dominating them all.

"With this." Rose threw his phone at him. Dimitri caught it just before it landed on the floor. "Yes, you forgot your phone on the nightstand when you left in the morning!"

"Roza…" he started.

"No Dimitri." Rose said a bit calmly now. Anger wouldn't solve this, she mused. He must be hurt too!

"How could you possibly not tell me that…."

"I wanted to!" he said.

"But you didn't, comrade." Rose sighed. "Don't you trust me at all?"

It seemed like someone had slapped Dimitri had across the face. Trust her? He trusted her with his complete heart. The only reason he was hiding the truth was because of his own insecurities. It had nothing to do with her.

"We had decided remember, no secrets? and yet you didn't trust me enough with this. We're supposed to be a team. I love you. I'm not going to leave you just because you had an argument with your friend."

"Wait…argument? What are you talking about?" he asked confused. As far he remembered, he hadn't had any argument with any friend that night. What was she talking about?

"The argument you and Ivan had, about me." Rose said. Realization dawned on him as he recalled the argument he had with him a day before yesterday.

"He was totally drunk and he told me that you had a fight with him because he said something about me. That's what I'm talking about."

"Oh..." Dimitri's features transformed into one of relief, but Rose didn't notice.

"He's your best friend comrade! He seemed so miserable. And he was sorry. He kept on saying that. You should talk to him."

"Ah, yes…Yes I will talk to him, first thing in the morning tomorrow." he promised, smiling down at her.

Rose sighed as he gathered her in a hug.

It couldn't be expressed in words, the relief Dimitri felt when he discovered that Rose had not yet discovered his secret. He knew it was wrong to feel so relieved about lying but he couldn't help it.

He gathered her in an embrace, holding her warm body close.

"I'm sorry Roza." he sighed. "I was meaning to tell you about this. I thought I would tell you when we were alone, but your mother kinda…." Dimitri wasn't lying on this one. He had every intention of informing Rose of their fight but Janine's unexpected visit had blown it all.

"Oh!" Rose said. Her ears turned red in embarrassment. Here she was getting uselessly angry on Dimitri for keeping something from her, when the actual one's at fault were she herself and her mother.

"I'm sorry, comrade. I didn't mean to get angry at you…"

"Shhh… You did nothing wrong." he said before pressing his lips to hers catching her by surprise.

When they finally detangled, Rose looked at him again. "Why did you leave so early today?"

"I heard some movement outside the room. I figured it would be the matron, so I slipped out as soon as possible." he explained. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I forgot to give you this," Rose pulled out the box from her behind. "Happy birthday, comrade!"

Dimitri for the better part of it looked surprised.

"You remembered?"

"As if I would ever forget." Rose snorted. Dimitri looked touched.

"Open it! What are you waiting for?!" Rose said pointing to the small box in his hand.

"You didn't have to do this, you know."

"Stop talking and open it!" Rose said rolling her eyes at him.

"Alright…." Dimitri said pulling out the ribbon on the top. The box was small, not bigger than a handful. He opened the decorated cardboard box and looked at the content with fascination.

"It's a key chain." Rose said, seeing him fingering the metal chain.

Dimitri knew what it was, of course. He had seen a plenty of key chains in his life but this one – this seemed special.

The metal chain had wooden ply cut out in the shape of a heart, dangling from its end. Perfect and neat. But that wasn't what had caught his attention. It was the inscribed words.

'Роза и Димитрий. Навсегда!'

It was carved out in perfection. Dimitri's heart soared as he read the words over and over again and he understood the sentiment behind the gift.

"Where did you get it?" he asked in amazement.

"I got it online. They said they could custom carve it. Lissa helped me with the words though…Are they correct?" Rose asked.

"They are." he said.

"So, do you like it?" A drift of nervousness laced her voice as she waited for him to answer.

He looked up at her, grabbed her face and kissed her hard. Rose was surprised at his reaction, but wasn't complaining. No sir!

"I love it!" he gasped out, kissing her again. "It's perfect, just like you!"

Rose blushed and kissed him back, relieved that he liked it.

"I love you, comrade."

"I love you too, Roza."

…..awww aren't they sweet?

So I added the dream part above and if you haven't already noticed, it is similar to the vision Avery manipulated to Rose in the Blood Promise. I had always liked that part, cuz it showed one of Rose's deepest desires. Even after being bound by her soul, she still dreamed of living together with her love. So, I figured this Rose, who isn't charged with the duty to protect Lissa would definitely have that dream. Was I right?

Liked it? loved it? Hated it?

Leave me your reviews. Tell me everything!

Love,

Lara.