Thank you for all the reviews! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 5

RPOV

When professor Meissner dismissed the class, I packed up my stuff and followed my fellow classmates outside. Glancing at my watch, I saw that I had still some time to bring my books back to my dorm room before I had to pick up Liam from school.

"Rose!"

I groaned inwardly when I heard him calling for me. Instead of stopping, though, I kept on walking. I pushed through the crowd of students, but I wasn't fast enough. Adrian caught up with me and put his hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

"Hey, what's the rush?" he said, grinning at me.

"I'm in no rush," I said, shrugging his hand off of my shoulder. "I'm just not in the mood to talk to you."

He frowned. "Why not?"

"You totally embarrassed me last night," I hissed.

"Last night?" He looked confused, but then realization hit him. "You mean at the pizza hut?"

"Yes! Seriously, were you saying all those things on purpose?" I asked angrily. "There were kids with us, you know! They did not have to see you flirting. I'm lucky I didn't get fired." I knew I was probably overreacting right now, but I still thought Adrian could've been a little less like his usual self. "Who knows what Dimitri thinks about me now."

"Oh, come on, I wasn't flirting at all," Adrian said and another grin spread across his face. "You know, I didn't realize you had to babysit the daddy too," he teased, winking.

I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't babysitting. We were just having dinner."

"Oh, you becoming part of the family now?" he said, raising his eyebrows. "I wonder what the mommy thinks of that."

I frowned. "That's not funny. The mother's dead. She's Christian's aunt, by the way."

Adrian's grin disappeared immediately. "Oh."

"Yeah," I said, glaring at him. "So don't make any jokes about it. Especially not when Christian's around."

He nodded, completely serious now.

"I have to go and pick up Liam from school," I muttered. "I'll see you later."

"Okay, Rose," he said.

I gave him the tiniest smile, glad he wasn't joking around anymore – and that he was using my actual name this time instead of some stupid pet name.

"Bye Adrian," I said.

Sighing, I started walking again and when I rounded the corner, I bumped into something – or rather, someone. Startled, I took a step back.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the girl I'd collided with said as she bent and started picking up her books.

"No, it was my fault. I wasn't looking," I said apologetically as I helped her with her books.

She looked up, giving me a small smile, and I realized she was Lissa, the girl Christian had a crush on. Oh man, if he were here right now…

"Thanks," Lissa said. Hesitantly, she added, "You're Rose, right?"

I blinked, surprised. How did she know my name? "Uh, yes. How do you know…"

"A friend of yours, Adrian, mentioned you a couple of times," she said. "He pointed you out in the cafeteria one time so that's how I know who you are…"

"Oh," I said.

We stood up and looked around awkwardly. Before I could figure out what else to say, she said, looking a little shy, "You're friends with that black-haired boy, right? I don't know his name, but… I see you two a lot together."

I smirked. So she had noticed him. Good. "You mean Christian? Yes, he's a good friend of mine," I said, nodding.

"Just…friends?" she asked hesitantly.

"Definitely just friends," I confirmed quickly.

She smiled. "Oh." She glanced down at her watch and her eyes widened. "Oh! I have to go," she said before hurrying away. "Bye!"

"Yeah, me too," I muttered to myself as I looked down at my own watch.

It was too late now to return to my dorm. I'd have to go straight to Liam's school if I wanted to be there in time. I half ran half walked the last hundred feet towards the gate of his school. He was already waiting on the playground, a teacher by his side. As soon as he saw me at the gate, he ran toward me, a big grin on his face.

"Rose!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

"Hey buddy!" I said, taking his small school bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

We made some small talk on our way home. When we got there, he immediately settled himself on the couch to watch cartoons.

Now that he was quietly sitting in front of the TV, I decided now would be a good time to study so I took my books out of my bag and sat down at the table.

When Alisa and Inna came home from school, Liam jumped up and suggested we'd play hide and seek. Alisa agreed immediately, but Inna was harder to convince. She still didn't like me very much and I knew she'd rather just go to her room, but in the end her brother and sister won her over.

I covered my eyes and counted until fifty while they scurried away to hide. I searched the basement and ground floor first, but when I didn't find them there, I went upstairs.

I'd only ever been in Alisa's and Liam's room. When I'd checked their rooms and found nothing, I went back to the hallway and looked at the other two doors. I knew one of those doors led to Dimitri's bedroom. I just didn't know which one. I had to check them both, though, in case they were hiding in there.

I opened the door closest to me and stepped inside. I noticed immediately this was Dimitri's room. There was a four poster bed, but other than that the room was plain. There was a closet, a nightstand and an adjoining bathroom, but there were no pictures or anything personal, except for one of Dimitri's terrible western novels on the nightstand.

I'd always found it strange there had been no pictures of him and his wife in the house. I'd figured he must keep them in his room, but there was no picture of Tasha, no picture of them as a couple, just pictures of the kids. I wondered why. Was his wife's death so painful for him he couldn't bear to even look at a picture of her?

"What are you doing here?"

Startled, I turned around to find Inna standing in the doorway, her arms crossed and a cold look on her face.

"I, um, I thought you might be hiding in here," I said.

"This is my parents' room," she said scowling. "You're not supposed to come in here!"

"I'm sorry," I said, biting my lip. I didn't mean to upset her. "I didn't know."

"Whatever," she said shrugging. "I don't want to play this game anymore."

She turned around and stalked out of the room.

"Inna, wait," I called after her.

She kept on walking and went into her room, slamming the door shut. I winced involuntarily and let out a sigh, leaning against the wall. Damn. I'd screwed up.

"What happened?"

Alisa suddenly stood beside, a concerned look on her face.

"I think I've made your sister a little bit mad," I admitted, looking at her.

She gave me a sympathetic smile. "She'll come around."

I nodded and sighed again. "So… You want to help me find Liam?"

Alisa nodded and we went in search for him. After checking every room in the house and we still hadn't found him, I was starting to panic. Where the hell could he have gone?

"He might be in the attic!" Alisa suggested.

I nodded and followed her to the attic, praying Liam would be there. Dimitri was going to go mad if I'd lost him so he'd better be in the attic.

"Liam, are you here?" I said, flicking the lights on. The attic was full of boxes, covered in dust. It was obvious no one ever came up here. "Liam?"

Alisa tugged at my arm and pointed at a big closet in the corner. The door was ajar. Quietly, I walked to the closet. Before I could open it, Liam jumped out and threw himself onto me. I let out a scream, my heart hammering in my chest, and Liam and Alisa both started laughing.

"God, Liam, you scared the hell out of me!" I said, taking a deep breath to try and calm my racing heart.

"Gotcha!" he said giggling. I started tickling him and he squealed in my arms. "No, don't!" he said, laughing, as he tried to escape.

"Now it's not funny anymore, huh?" I said grinning.

"Nooo!" he said, laughing like crazy. "S-stop! I need to pee."

I immediately stopped and said, "Don't pee in your pants, please."

He grinned. "I was just joking."

And then he ran off.

I groaned and quickly went after him. I had a feeling this was going to be a very long afternoon.

DPOV

"So, how's it going with the babysitter? Do the kids get along with her?"

I opened the door and walked out of the gym. Ivan followed me out and walked beside me, giving me a questioning look.

"It's going great so far. Inna is a little stubborn, though," I said frowning. "But I'm sure she'll come around."

"What's she like?" Ivan inquired. "Is she hot?" I shot him a look and he grinned. "What? I'm just wondering."

I sighed and slowly put my bag into the trunk of my car, taking my time to answer. "She's, uh, okay," I said, trying to sound casual.

Ivan raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

I shrugged and averted my eyes. "Yeah, I mean… She's nice and, well, she takes good care of my kids when I'm not there…"

I opened the door and climbed into the car, waiting for Ivan to get in.

"You didn't answer my last question," he said after he'd closed the car door.

"What question?"

"Is she hot?"

Very. Not that I was going to tell him that.

"She's beautiful, yes," I answered reluctantly as I started the car and backed out of the parking lot.

"How old is she?"

"Twenty," I responded.

"Oh," he said smiling. "Do you think she likes older guys?"

I glared at him. "Don't even think about it, Ivan," I warned.

"What?" he said, giving me an innocent look.

"You're not going to ask out my kids' babysitter," I said.

He frowned. "Why not?"

"Because she's too young for you."

"If she's okay with dating older-"

"I said no," I cut him off.

He gave me a surprised look. "Whoa, calm down, Dimitri."

"Sorry," I muttered. "It's just… You know how you are with women, Ivan. You get tired of them after a couple of days. I don't want to be in the middle of it when it doesn't work out. And I certainly don't want to have to find a new babysitter because of that."

"Alright. I get it," Ivan said, holding his hands up in surrender. He sighed. "She's off limits. But can I at least meet her?"

I arched an eyebrow. "You think I'm stupid? If you come over, you won't be able to stop yourself from flirting with her."

He let out another sigh. "Fine then."

We didn't speak after that, but when I dropped him off at his apartment, he said, a sly grin creeping onto his face, "You know, I wonder if that's the only reason you don't want me to see her. Maybe you just want to keep her to yourself."

I stared at him for a moment, unable to say something, and his grin grew even wider. I started to say something, but he cut me off, "I'll see you next week."

When I got home fifteen minutes later, I found Inna sitting in front of the TV. She looked up and smiled as I walked into the living room.

"Hey," I said smiling. I looked around, noticing she was the only one here. "Where is everyone?"

Her smile disappeared. "Rose is putting Liam to bed and Alisa is taking a shower."

"Oh okay," I said, putting my duffel bag down on the floor. I glanced at the clock. I'd come home a little later than usual. I hoped Rose didn't mind. "So-"

"Dad, I need to tell you something," Inna interrupted.

I looked at her, suddenly worried. "Is there something wrong, milaya?"

"Rose went into your bedroom today," she said. "I saw her."

I frowned. "Why would she do that?"

"I don't know. I think she was-"

Someone cleared their throat. I looked up and saw Rose standing in the doorway. She looked just as beautiful as every other day. Even in plain jeans and a T-shirt, like she was wearing now, she managed to look absolutely fantastic. Her hair was down and, as I stared at it, I wondered how it would feel like to run my fingers through it.

"Hi," she said quietly, snapping me out of my reverie.

"Hey," I said, quickly averting my eyes from her.

Inna hurriedly walked out of the room, not looking at Rose as she passed by.

"I wasn't snooping around in your room," Rose said quickly. "We were playing hide and seek and, well, I thought they might be in there – I didn't even know it was your room until I opened the door," she rambled. "Inna walked in just then and probably thought I was snooping around, but I wasn't. Honestly, I wasn't-"

"It's fine, Rose," I said, interrupting her gently. "It's just a misunderstanding. Don't worry about it."

She let out a sigh of relief. "Oh. Okay."

"I'm sorry for being late," I said, giving her an apologetic smile. "I guess I lost track of time."

"Oh, that's fine," she said shrugging. "I know you go to the gym every Thursday so I don't mind staying later than usual."

She started walking towards me and my eyes widened as I tried to figure out what to do. Should I take a step back? Should I just stay where I was? That's when I realized she wasn't actually walking towards me but the couch. I relaxed and looked at her as she put her jacket on.

I glanced out of the window. It was already getting dark. I didn't like the fact that she had to walk back on her own to campus. I'd rather drive her there so I knew she'd get home safely, but I couldn't leave my kids alone.

It seemed like she knew what I was thinking, because she suddenly said, "It's okay. I don't mind walking back to campus."

"But it's already dark outside," I said frowning.

She shrugged. "I'm a big girl," she said winking. I gulped and she smiled. "Good night, Dimitri."

"Good night," I said, following her to the front door. "And be careful."

Her smile widened. "Of course."

I watched her leave and then closed the door, sighing. I walked upstairs and checked on Liam. He was already sound asleep. Careful not to wake him, I kissed his forehead and quietly stepped out of his room.

As I walked down the hallway, I noticed that the lights were on in Inna's room so I knocked on the door and waited for her to open it. When she didn't, I knocked again and walked in. She was sitting on her bed, listening to music. When she saw me, she pulled out her earbuds and got up.

"Did you fire her?" she asked.

"No, of course not," I said.

She scowled. "But she was in your room!"

"She was looking for you guys," I said, leaning against the wall. "Because you were playing hide and seek. That's why she was in there."

Inna looked away guiltily.

I sighed. "Do you really hate her that much that you want me to fire her because of something so silly?"

"I don't hate her," she said, still not looking at me.

"Well, you sure don't seem to like her either."

She didn't say anything.

"Rose isn't that bad, you know," I said, taking a step towards her. "Can't you give her a chance and try to be nice to her? For me?"

"I guess," she mumbled at last.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around her. I kissed the top of her head and murmured, "Thank you, milaya."

I realize things are going slow between Rose and Dimitri, but I feel like I can't rush into things. They haven't known each other for that long and they need to become closer before something can happen between them. But don't worry, it will happen. Just be patient :P Hope you understand :)

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it! Have a nice day/evening! ;)