Thank you very much for the reviews, follows and favorites! :)

Lots of you think Dimitri and Tasha's marriage wasn't all that well and another big part of you thinks they weren't married at all. I like all your theories about them, but you will have to wait a little longer to find out the truth ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 3

RPOV

"I got the job!" I squealed, wrapping my arms around Christian's neck from behind. His head shot up, surprised, and he half turned to look at me.

"Seriously?" he said as a grin spread across his face.

I nodded and smiled, plopping down next to him on the bench. "Yep."

"I told you it would be okay," he said, nudging his shoulder against mine.

"You forgot to tell me something, though," I said, still smiling.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" he asked.

"How freaking hot Dimitri is!" I exclaimed, slapping his arm playfully.

Christian gave me a weird look. "You think he's hot?"

"Uh yeah," I said, giving him an incredulous look. "I mean, have you seen him? Jeez."

"I have seen him, yes," Christian said, rolling his eyes, "but I'm not into guys so…"

I grinned. "No. You're into her," I said, nodding at the blond girl who stood a few feet away, chatting with her friends. He blushed and glanced away. "Is that why you're sitting here all on your own? Are you spying on your crush?"

"I'm not spying," he mumbled. "And she's not my crush."

I raised my eyebrows. "You've liked her since the moment you saw her walking into the cafeteria."

Christian was about to say something, but then a few people passed us by so he waited until they were gone, in case they could hear us. He always got paranoid whenever we were talking about his crush. He didn't want anyone to hear us talking about her.

"That's not true," he muttered. "I – I don't like her. I just think she's pretty."

I shook my head, chuckling. "You can deny it all you want, but I know you like her."

Christian glanced at the girl again and sighed.

"You know, she's not going to notice you if you keep sitting here like this," I said. "Go talk to her."

"No way," he protested. "I can't do that. Not when she's with her friends."

"Fine," I said shrugging. "You could try to find out her name, though. Do you know someone who's in one of her classes?"

"Adrian is," Christian said scowling, "but I don't want to ask him."

"Okay. Then I'll ask her name for you," I suggested.

"No, he'll know you're asking it for me."

I sighed, exasperated. "Chris, you got to do something!"

He glanced at his crush again and sighed. "Fine," he grumbled.

"Cool," I said grinning. "I'll ask him when I see him."

After a while, we decided to grab some dinner. We walked to the parking lot and as we drove towards the pizzeria, Christian started asking me questions about the interview. I answered them all happily, glad I'd finally found a job I actually liked.

The next day, I ran into Adrian when I was on my way to Dimitri with my schedule. He slung his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his side.

"Long time no see," he said grinning. "How are you, pumpkin?"

"Pumpkin? Seriously?" I rolled my eyes and pushed him away. "You're going to have to do better than that if you want to get into a girl's pants."

"But I already got into your pants so I don't need to impress you anymore," he said smirking.

I elbowed him in the stomach. "Yeah, please don't remind me of that horrible mistake," I muttered.

Adrian was actually my ex-boyfriend. We'd started dating when we'd met at college last year and we'd broken up a couple of months later. We were still friends, though. But in moments like this, I wondered why.

"Back then, you didn't think it was a horrible mistake," he said winking.

"Let's just stop talking about it, okay?" I grumbled.

Adrian shrugged and lit a cigarette. "Fine. Where are you going?"

"Well, actually I got this new job as a babysitter," I answered. "I'm going over now with my schedule so we can work something out."

He made a face. "Why would you want to babysit? It sounds boring."

I groaned. "God, Adrian. Don't you know me at all?"

"Sure I do," he said grinning. "I know you inside and outside."

I glared at him. "Remind me why we're friends again," I muttered.

"Because you love me and can't live without me," he said dramatically.

I snorted. "Yeah right. Anyway," I said, changing the subject, "I need to ask you something. There's this girl in one of your classes. Tall, blond hair, green eyes. She's got lots of friends always hanging around her… Sounds familiar?"

"You mean Lissa Dragomir?" he asked, taking a long drag from his cigarette.

I shrugged. "I guess."

"Why are you asking? Are you playing for the other team now, Hathaway?" he said, winking and nudging my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes. "No. I was just wondering…"

"You were just wondering," he said slowly. Then he grinned. "Are you asking this for Ozera?"

"I'm not-" He raised his eyebrow at me and I sighed in defeat. "Yeah, it's for Christian. But he didn't want you to know it's for him so please don't mention it."

"Don't worry, cupcake. I won't tell a single soul," he vowed.

"Ugh," I said, giving him a little push, "stop giving me nicknames."

"Why?" he asked, throwing his cigarette butt on the ground. I scowled, but he didn't notice. I'd told him so many times before he should throw his cigarettes in the trash, but he never listened.

"They're lame and I'm not your girlfriend anymore," I said. He looked at me with fake hurt and I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I've got to go. Talk to you later."

"Okay. Good luck with the babysitting!" he called.

"Thanks!" I grinned at him and then turned around, making my way to Dimitri's house again.

DPOV

I was just helping Alisa with her homework when the bell rang. Alisa looked up, a grin spreading across her face.

"Is that Rose?" she asked excitedly.

"I think so," I said smiling as I got up and made my way to the door. "We'll finish your homework later."

I got to the door, but before I could open it, Liam ran up to me and started clinging to my leg. "Is that our babysitter?" he asked.

I'd told him about Rose last night and, thankfully, he'd taken the news well, just like Alisa. Only Inna needed some convincing. Hopefully, she would come to terms with it soon.

"Yes, it's her," I said. "You curious to see her?"

He nodded shyly and I picked him up in my arms before opening the door with my free hand.

"Hello, Rose," I greeted as I stepped aside so she could come in.

"Hey Dimitri," she said cheerfully. Then her eyes landed on Liam. "And you must be Liam, right?" she said, smiling at him.

Liam glanced up at me and I nodded, encouraging him to say something. When he just kept looking at me, I whispered, "Say something to her, Liam."

Hesitantly, he looked at Rose and said shyly, "Hi."

Rose's smile widened. "It's nice to meet you, Liam."

He turned away from her and buried his face in my neck.

I gave Rose an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, he's a little shy."

"That's okay," she said, waving it away.

"Alisa is in the living room," I said. "She's very excited about having a babysitter."

"Oh really?" Rose said. "I'm glad to hear that."

I led her to the living room, where Alisa was sitting on the couch. As soon as Rose entered, Alisa jumped up and started talking to Rose excitedly. I smiled as I watched them interact for a while.

Suddenly, Liam whispered in my ear, "She's pretty."

He was staring at Rose in awe, his mouth hanging open slightly.

I chuckled. "Yes, she is," I agreed.

To be completely honest, she was really beautiful. Her beauty had struck me the moment I'd opened my door and invited her in for the interview. She looked a little exotic, with her tanned skin and dark features.

"Dimitri?"

I blinked. "Huh? What?"

Rose laughed and held out a piece of paper for me. "I said, I brought you my schedule."

"Oh. Right," I said, quickly averting my eyes from her. I hadn't realized I had been staring at her. How embarrassing. Luckily, it didn't seem like she'd noticed. "Liam, Alisa, would you mind going to your rooms for a bit while I have a word with Rose?"

I put Liam down and Alisa grabbed his hand, tugging him towards the door.

"And please keep an eye on him for me, Alisa?"

She nodded, smiling.

"Thank you, milaya."

When they'd left, Rose said, "You have very sweet kids. Is your eldest around? I'd love to meet her, too."

I smiled. "Thank you. Inna is not here; she's at a friend's house. She'll be back soon, though, so if you want you can meet her then."

I prayed that Inna had accepted the fact that she was going to have a babysitter and that she wouldn't start throwing a tantrum as soon as she saw Rose.

"Okay, that's fine," she said smiling. She held out the piece of paper to me again. "So, um, my schedule."

"Right," I said. "Let's sit down and I'll see if I can work around your schedule."

We'd just come to an arrangement when the bell rang again.

"That's probably Inna," I said as I got up. "I'll be right back."

When I opened the front door, I was surprised to see Inna wasn't the only one standing there. Christian stood next to her, his hand resting on her shoulder.

"Look who I found, wandering all on her own in town," he said.

I frowned. "What's going on? I thought you were with Lizzie, Inna?"

"I was," she said, shrugging Christian's hand off of her shoulder.

She pushed past me and walked inside.

"Hey, where are you going?" I said when she started to make a bee line for the stairs. "Why were you in town? You said you were going to Lizzie's house."

"I already told you I was at Lizzie's!"

"Then how come Christian found you walking on your own in town?!"

"Lizzie needed to leave with her parents. They were going to some place," she said shrugging.

"Why didn't you call me? I could've come to pick you up," I said frowning.

She shrugged again. "I can come home on my own. I'm not some little kid anymore."

"You can't just walk by yourself in town! What if something had happened to you?!" I couldn't believe Lizzie's parents had just let her leave on her own. They could've at least called me so I could've come to pick her up. "Why didn't you ask Lizzie's parents if you could call me?"

"They asked me if I wanted to call you, but I said it was fine," she responded.

"Inna, don't you know how irresponsible that was? You're only ten, not-"

"If I'm old enough to take the bus on my own, I'm old enough to walk home alone!" she interrupted.

She crossed her arms and looked at me defiantly. In that moment, she reminded me a lot of Tasha. She was practically a younger version of her mother. The same looks and the same attitude.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down before I'd say something I was going to regret. "Let's talk about this later, okay? Rose is here. Please go say hi to her."

"I don't want to-"

"Go say hi to Rose," I repeated. I turned to Christian. "Would you like to come in?"

"Uh, sure," he said, a little hesitant. "I wouldn't mind seeing my other cousins again. Are they here?"

I nodded. "They're upstairs." He smiled and made his way to the stairs, but I stopped him. He gave me a questioning look. "Thanks for driving Inna home. I owe you one."

"It's not a problem," he said, waving it away.

Just then, Rose walked into the hallway. "Hey, is everything alright here?" Then she noticed Christian. "Oh, Chris," she said, clearly surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?"

Christian smirked. "Came to see my cousins. What are you doing here?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know why I'm here."

He chuckled and then went upstairs.

I turned to Rose again. "So, this is Inna, my eldest," I said.

Rose smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Inna."

"Yeah, you too," Inna muttered. Then she turned to me. "Can I go now?"

I sighed. "Fine. But this conversation is not over, okay?"

"Whatever."

She ran upstairs and I heard her door slam shut.

"I'm sorry about that," I said. "Normally, she isn't like that, but ever since her mother died…" I looked away and cleared my throat. "She's a lot more stubborn than she used to be."

"It's okay," Rose said softly. "Losing someone you love is never easy. But it'll get better eventually. Just give it some time."

I looked back up at her, a little surprised, when she placed her hand on my arm in a comforting gesture. Just like yesterday, when I'd shaken her hand, I felt a current run through me, like a bolt of electricity. Her eyes widened slightly and she quickly pulled her hand away. I wondered if she'd felt it, too.

I opened my mouth to say something, not wanting things to become awkward, but just then, Christian came walking downstairs with Liam and Alisa in tow. Liam was on his back, laughing, and Alisa was clinging to his arm. They adored their older cousin and I knew Christian adored them too. It was obvious in the way they interacted with each other.

"Here we are," Christian said as he put Liam back on his feet. He looked up at us and grinned. "So, is everything settled?" he asked, slinging his arm around Rose's shoulder and pulling her to his side.

Rose's eyes flicked to me and I smiled.

"Of course," I said.

"Well, good luck, Dimitri," Christian said smirking. "She can be quite the handful. I hope you know what you're getting into." That comment earned him an elbow in the ribs from Rose. "Just kidding, Rosie," he said winking.

"You're so funny, Christian," she said sarcastically as she pulled away from him.

"Would you like to see my room?" Alisa asked excitedly as she stepped forward and grabbed Rose's hand.

"Sure," Rose said smiling.

As they went upstairs, I walked back to the living room and Christian followed me inside, leaning against the wall.

"So… Is Rose your girlfriend?" I asked nonchalantly whilst clearing the table so Alisa could continue with her homework.

"No," Christian said immediately, making a face.

"Why are you looking like that? She can't be that bad if she's your friend," I joked.

"That's the point. She's my friend," Christian said, "and nothing more." I arched an eyebrow. "She's not my type," he said shrugging.

So beautiful and kind wasn't his type? Okay…

"Why are you asking?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought…"

"No, no," he said quickly. "We're just friends."

Rose and Alisa came back downstairs a little while later. After talking everything through with Rose one last time, she left with Christian. I closed the door, relieved I'd found a suitable babysitter at last.

So, you liked the chapter? It's obvious Dimitri is attracted to Rose, huh? :P

Please leave a review and tell me what you think of the chapter ;)

Have a nice day/evening! :)