DIMITRI'S POV

I laid in bed, picturing the two of them up in her room together. I'd watched them outside talking, even listened to a bit of what had been said. She'd told him the entire story. How Lissa and her had become bonded, the trouble she'd been having with darkness. She told him everything and I had to pry it out of her, and find out half of it on my own. It was safe to say that I was completely and totally…. Jealous. It was horrible that I… a twenty four year old man was jealous of a teenage friendship, but I was. I knew they could have something that Rose and I could never have and that was what made me jealous. I finally got up, not able to stand still anymore, and walked out back to the track. Why was it that I was sent this beautiful creature that I couldn't even really have a relationship? How was that fair? It was like she was sent here to tease me. What did I do to deserve this kind of torture? I walked out and sat down on the sidewalk, staring out into the twilight sky. The sun was just setting behind the trees, turning the sky a light orange and pink. I sat there, thinking of them probably in her room, cuddled up talking about all the problems she had. He'd probably stroke her face and tell her that she was strong enough to fight it and she was perfect, and telling her how amazing she was, and then he'd kiss her. My skin crawled. I stood up, pacing the sidewalk. Why was it I felt this way? I've never had anyone affect me this much in my life. Not even Tasha, my ex-wife had affected me this much. That was sort of the reason she was my ex-wife, but that's moot point. As I paced, I heard footsteps approaching.

"What are you doing up this early?" She asked. Her voice brought goosebumps to my skin. Roza.

"Couldn't sleep… I could ask you the same thing."

"Same. I mean… I slept a little… but-." She started, shrugging.

"Are you okay?"

"I guess." She murmured. I could see there was something on her mind, but I wasn't sure she was ready to tell me.

"Rose?" I asked, softly. She shook her head.

"It's just me. I'll be fine. I just needed some fresh air, but… you look like you want to be alone… I'll go back inside." She started to turn and walk back to the house, when I touched her arm, and shook my head.

"Don't go…" I said. Then, I realized how idiotic I sounded. "I mean… I don't want to be alone… I just came out for some air too. You don't have to leave." I mended.

"You sure?" She asked.

"Positive." I said, feeling slightly relieved that she wasn't leaving. She stared at me for a second, and attempted to raise an eyebrow.

"Why couldn't you sleep?" She asked, sitting down on the sidewalk.

"I… I don't know." I lied. She nodded.

"Mhmm." She muttered.

"What?" I asked, naively.

"I'm not an idiot, Dimitri. I don't know when you're going to figure that out."

"I don't think you're an idiot. I think you're brilliant." I told her. She looked up at me, and smiled.

"I am, aren't I?" She said, smugly. I laughed, causing her to chuckle with me. I sat down next to her, and stared off into the horizon. "The sunset was never as pretty at the academy."

"It's more open here." I said.

"It's more beautiful here. I miss Lissa, but this place is so pretty." She told me.

"You going to miss it when you go back to the academy?" I asked her, praying that she gave me the answer I was seeking. She turned to me, and met my eyes before stating words that I knew were meant for me and me alone.

"More than anything." She said, staring deep into my eyes.

"This place isn't going to be the same without you." I said, breaking our locked gazed.

"It's still three or four months away. We'll worry about that when the time comes." She murmured. She sounded so old and wise when she said that, it sort of caught me off guard.

"I guess you're right." I said. A silence fell and the air around us became extremely still.

"How are you?" I finally asked her.

"I'm doing good." I'll admit, this wasn't the answer I was looking for. I wanted something less happy, now that we'd established there couldn't be anything between us. The silence fell again. I put my face in my hands and took a long deep breath. "How are you, Dimitri?"

"I'm fine." I answered. I looked over at her, to see her eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Now, tell me the truth."

"What do you mean?" I asked, knowing she was seeing through me.

"Look me in the eye and tell me there isn't something wrong." She said. I looked down. Every part of my being, wanted to deny it. I wanted to be fine. I didn't want this to bother me so much, but it did. When I turned to look at her, I watched her eyes land on my mouth, before moving up to meet my gaze.

"It's me… I'll be fine." I assured her. She stared at me for a second, and I found my eyes wandering down her face. I found my way back to her eyes, grudgingly. She finally stood up.

"I should go get ready for practice." She said.

"Yeah, I keep forgetting it's morning." I said, stupidly. She nodded.

"I'll see you later." She told me, before starting towards the house. I didn't miss the final glance she threw behind her before she made it to the door. In her eyes in that moment, I saw so much. I could see how much she wanted to run back to me, to throw herself into my arms…. Or maybe I was just seeing things. I knew now that she was gone, I'd have to do something to occupy myself and my mind or I'd let it run away with me again. I went inside and grabbed the mats, and took them out to the track, along with the dummies and stakes. That only took up about thirty minutes of my time, and I still had another hour till we were set to practice. I sat back down on the sidewalk. What the hell was wrong with me? Rose was a child. I'm a grown man. It's inexcusable for me to feel this way about someone as young as Rose. You would think with my high morals and what not that that would affect me, and make me realize how wrong it was for me to feel this way about her, but there wasn't a fiber of my being that was against it. Every time I thought of all the things wrong with it, I came up with even more things that were right. I didn't know how I was supposed to go about my feelings or where to even begin to sort them out. All I knew was that I wanted her… I wanted her more than I wanted anything…. Ever. I ran the track a couple times, and stretched when I saw her walk out. She looked at me, and then back down at her feet.

"Well hello again." I said, trying to lighten the mood. She nodded.

"Hey."

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. She said, sitting down on the mat, and stretching. I stood up and readied things, before we started practice. She staked a few times, and then I moved the dummies for us to work on combat a little bit more. I should have known this was a bad move. All I'd wanted for the past few days was to kiss her, and now… here with the skin on skin contact, I couldn't help but want to kiss her that much more. I took her down twice and she took me down once, and it was only because I got distracted. Atleast that's what I told myself. I honestly believed she was becoming good enough to take me down. We went around one last time, both of us neck and neck. We exchanged blows for the longest time, and she even took me to the ground at one point, but I managed my way back up. She knocked me to the mat again, and managed my hands away from my chest, 'killing me.' We sat there for the longest time, her straddling my waist, staring down into my eyes. It was a compromising position and if anyone was watching right now, we were royally screwed, but in that moment all I could focus on was her eyes. She drove me wild.

"Dimitri." She murmured, her voice causing goosebumps to rise on my skin. She leaned down first, initiating the kiss. I just closed the distance, reaching up and pulling her mouth down to mine. The kiss started off sweet and innocent, but turned into something heady and deep before we realized what was happening. Rose pulled away, and stood up, staring down at me. She looked like a deer in headlights. She reached up and touched her lip gently.

"I'm sorry… I don't know-." I shook my head and closed my eyes tight as I forced myself to stand.

"Please… please don't apologize." I said.

"Dimitri, you know that we-."

"I know, Rose… but I can't help the way I feel about you." I said, the words pouring out of me like water.

"What am I supposed to say, Dimitri? Where are we supposed to go from here, because there's only one way I see this ending, and that's with both of us hurt, and there being nothing either of us can do. I've got Lissa to worry about… I can't afford to worry about this too."

"Rose, we can do this. We'd make it." He said.

"What about when I go back to the academy? What about when Lissa and I move to court, or she goes to college? What about all the adults who are going to freak out because I'm seventeen and you're twenty four? Why do I have a feeling you haven't really thought this out at all." She said, placing a hand on her hip. She was speaking, but her eyes were contradicting ever word she said.

"I know I haven't thought it through and you know why? Because I don't need too. I know you feel the exact same way Rose, and don't tell me different. I can see it in your eyes that you could honestly care less about any of that… because all you want is to be with me too." I said, my voice on the edge of pleading and yelling.

"You don't know anything." She snapped at me.

"Oh yeah, then how do I know when you're angry, you hit things? When you're sad, this wrinkle forms right in the middle of your forehead. You love doughnuts, you love your best friend Lissa even more, you've been hanging out with Landon, you told him your story about Lissa and the darkness. You care more about others than you do yourself, you're beautiful, and everything I want to be…. I see in you." I said. "And if you didn't feel the same way…. You wouldn't kiss back so convincingly." When I met her eyes, I suddenly felt bad. It wasn't hard to see the pain that was now filling them.

"You don't know anything, Belikov." She growled.

"I know you better than you think."

"Stop pretending to understand me. Stop trying…. Period. This won't ever work. You need to get that through your skull now, Dimitri… I'm sorry." She said, before turning away from me.

"You're giving up to easily."

"There isn't anything to give up on." She called over her shoulder. I would have flinched at her harsh words, but her voice broke at the end giving away that they'd upset her. I watched as she disappeared inside, never sparing a glance back. I turned and swung on one of the practice dummies, growling as my fist connected. What had I done?

A/N: Hope you guys are happy. I've had people grilling me forever to write a Dimitri's point of view, so there ya go. :D