When I woke up the next morning, Dimitri had his arms wrapped securely around my waist, holding me to his chest. I turned my head and looked up to find him gazing down at me. I smirked.

"Have you been watching me sleep?" I murmured.

"I have."

"That's creepy." I said, simply. I smirked up at him. He rolled his eyes at me.

"It was romantic until you stated it was creepy. Way to ruin a moment, Roza." He muttered. I giggled.

"It's one of my best qualities." I admitted. He leaned down and kissed me, his lips barely brushing mine. It left me hungry, and wanting more but I refrained.

"Morning." He murmured.

"Morning." I sighed, and snuggled closer to him. "Can we just stay here forever?" I murmured. He chuckled and kissed my forehead.

"As much as I would love to stay here in bed with you forever, no. We have to get going soon." He informed me. I knew that. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"I don't want to go back."

"I know." He said, simply. We both eventually rolled out of bed, and got dressed. I got a quick shower and got ready as Dimitri loaded the rest of our things into the van. When I got out, the room was empty. I groaned, and threw my bag over my shoulder before walking out the door. Dimitri was standing in the parking lot on the phone. I opened the back door of the van and threw my bag in, before turning back to Dimitri. He snapped his phone closed and walked over to the van.

"You ready?" He asked. I nodded.

"I think so. Let me check and make sure we got everything." I walked back into the room and checked, flipping off all the lights. Before walking out, I stood in the door way staring at the room that had been my own little version of heaven last night. As I stood there, his arms wrapped around my waist.

"We're going to make it." He murmured in my ear. I turned and nodded.

"I know. Let's go." We got in the van, and he drove around to the front of the hotel, turning in our key and checking out. When he got back in the van, he reached over and took my hand.

"You ready for this?"

"As ready as it gets." I assured him. He brought my hand up and kissed my knuckles. He nodded once before pulling back out onto the road. "Who were you on the phone with?" I finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Eddie."

"Does he know where you went when you left?" I asked. I'd been seriously curious ever since Dimitri showed up at court.

"He knows I went after you."

"Does he know why?" I asked, automatically panicking.

"No! God, no. Eddie thinks you ran off because everything you were dealing with got to be too much, and it was all getting to you. I told him we got into an argument, and that was the last straw, you left with Adrian. He thinks you left out of anger towards me and everything else." He explained. I just nodded.

"I can work with that. How much trouble am I in for when I get back?" I asked.

"None. I'm head Guardian. If Eddie feels you need to be punished, he has to take it up with me." Dimitri said, simply. I just nodded. We drove for awhile, and the van fell silent. Neither of us spoke, although I could tell the silence was bothering him. Finally, I built up the courage to ask a question that had been bugging me since we left.

"You were married before?" I asked. He was hesitant in answering. I wondered why.

"I was." He said, simply. Was that it? That was all I got? I wasn't about to give up this easily.

"How long?"

"About two years." He said. I attempted to raise an eyebrow at him, but he never looked at me.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Why are we talking about this? It isn't a big deal. I was married… it didn't work." He said, harshly. I flinched. He looked over at me this time. "Look, Rose… I'm sorry."

"I'm just curious. I understand though. You don't want to talk about it." I turned and looked out the window, not speaking again. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Dimitri started speaking.

"I was married for two years, but it just didn't work out. She was great, and beautiful, and everything I thought I wanted, but I realized that wasn't where I belonged. I felt strangely out of place once we were married. I stayed as long as I could, hoping the feeling would pass, but it never did. When I told her, she gave me the choice. I left." He said. I just stared at him, but suddenly… I became sincerely afraid. What if that happened with us? What if it was all fine now? We were happy? We'd hide everything and it'd be a secret, and then when we were finally able to be together… really be together, he'd get bored and leave me too. Move onto the next little brunette that strolled into his life. "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing..." I answered, simply.

"Roza, is something wrong?" He asked.

"No." I almost whimpered. That gave me away. I was scared, scared out of my mind that he'd leave me too.

"Don't make me pull this van over, Roza." He snapped, authority in his voice. I didn't speak. I knew if I didn't respond, he'd pull over and that was exactly what I wanted. He whipped the van into a vacant parking lot. The moment the van stopped, I was out the door, walking away. I just needed a minute to clear my thoughts. Of course, I wasn't going to get longer than twenty seconds, because he was now strolling towards me. "What's wrong? I tell you what you want to know, and you stop talking to me." He wouldn't do that to me, would he? Just up and leave me when he got bored.

"What if the same thing happens with us?" I asked, my back turned to him. I couldn't face him.

"What are you talking about?"

"What if you get bored with me? What if when we are finally able to be together, you don't feel like you belong with me anymore? What if you feel out of place with me? Then what? You'll leave me too." I said.

"Roza… look at me." He said. His voice was teetering on the edge of pleading and pain. I turned slowly and met his gaze. He took a few steps forward, closing the distance between us. "I love you. I'm never going to get bored of you. I knew there was more out there for me. I felt like she didn't know me, like no matter how hard I tried that she'd never know the real me. I feel like I can be myself around you more so than I have anyone else in my life. You are where my future is, Roza and I'm never going to leave you. Things are going to get hard, yes. It might not always be the way we want it, but we'll make it. We're strong. We're survivors. We will survive this, and we'll be together. A normal, happy, dhampir couple. It's all I've wanted, ever and I found that in you." I just stared at him.

"Feelings change, love fades; people die or move on to bigger and better things. The way I see it, if you stay with me… I'll only be taking things away from you." I admitted.

"My feelings for you are never going to change. If I doubted us for even a second, I wouldn't have come after you. I would have let you stay with Adrian, and go back to the academy and never seen you again, but I didn't. When you disappeared, it was like half of me left with you. I can't take that again, Roza. I'm not giving up on this. I'll fight for you."

"You're sure… This… That I'm what you want?" I asked.

"I'm more sure about this than I've ever been about anything in my life." He promised me. He offered me his hand. "Trust me?" I hesitantly placed mine in his, allowing him to pull me to him.

"With everything." I whispered. I laid my head against his chest and listened to the soft rhythm of his heart beat.

"Come on, we've got to go or we won't make it back by sun down."

"Another hotel stay?" I asked, excitedly. He chuckled.

"As much as I'd enjoy that, no. I promised Eddie we'd be back today, and I don't think I have the cash for that." I sighed and nodded. He led me back to the van, and opened the door for me, shutting it and walking around to get in. Once we were back out on the road, the silence ensued once again. I wondered what his wife looked like. She was probably older and beautiful. She obviously wasn't enough to keep him interested, and I was perfectly okay with that, because that meant I got him all to myself. The ride was excruciating, but we finally arrived back at the estate. I grabbed my bags out of the van, and started inside.

"If anyone gives you any crap, send them to me. Please, stay out of trouble." He begged before I got to the front door.

"I'll see what I can do." I walked in, and smiled. As much as I hated being away from Lissa, it felt good to be home. I took two steps in the door, and Eddie emerged. He took one look at me, looked at Dimitri and nodded once.

"Good to have you back, Hathaway." He said, snarkily. I smiled to the best of my ability. Dimitri said stay out of trouble, Rose. I took a deep breath.

"It's good to be back. I'm sorry I disappeared. I just needed…. A break." I lied. He just nodded once.

"I understand. Just remember, you've got a little less than a month. You better train hard."

"I will." I promised. I turned to Dimitri. "I'm going to go unpack, and get ready for bed. Thank you… for coming and picking me up."

"No problem. I expect you out on the track bright and early tomorrow morning, understand?" I groaned and nodded.

"Yes sir." I picked up my bags and started upstairs. The moment I entered my room, I dropped my things and collapsed on my bed. I thought I'd been done with this place for good, but it was easy to see now, things were just getting started.