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Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 6

RPOV

Weeks flew by and soon I'd gotten into a routine of classes and then going over to Dimitri's house to babysit his kids. I loved my job. Dimitri's kids were amazing and so sweet. Inna had come around eventually and she was starting to open up.

I was glad about that, because for a moment I'd feared for my job when she'd told Dimitri I'd been in his room. But the day afterwards she'd apologized and since then everything had been going very well.

Until now.

Well, everything was still going great with the kids, but not with me. Once again, I had problems with my laptop and I had no idea how to fix it. My laptop was going so damn slow and I had a paper due to tomorrow. I really needed to finish it tonight, but how things were going now, I had my doubts if I could finish it in time.

"Goddammit!" I cursed. Luckily, the kids weren't around to hear me cussing.

"Something the matter, Rose?"

I almost jumped ten feet in the air when I heard his voice. "Fuck, Dimitri! You scared the crap out of me."

He chuckled. "If I'd known you'd be swearing so much, I would have thought twice about hiring you," he teased.

"Yeah, well, it's too late now," I said grinning.

He arched an eyebrow. "I could still fire you."

"You wouldn't," I said, crossing my arms. "I'm the best babysitter ever and you know it so you won't fire me."

"I don't know about that. Where are my kids?" he said, trying to look stern, but he was smiling.

It was Thursday night and that meant Dimitri went to gym with his friend, Ivan, and would be home later than usual. He'd gone out for drinks after, too, with Ivan so he was even later home tonight. I'd already put the kids to bed, like he'd asked me this morning.

"Sound asleep in their beds," I answered with a smile.

"Good," he said as he dropped his bag onto the floor. "Now, why were you cursing? Is there something wrong?"

"It's my laptop," I said scowling. "It's going too damn slow. I don't know why. I really need to finish this paper, but if it keeps going on like this…"

"Want me to take a look?" Dimitri offered.

I suddenly realized that he was a computer expert. Why hadn't I thought about that before? He could probably fix my problem easily.

"Yeah sure," I said. "If you don't mind."

He came to stand behind me and leaned over the laptop. My heart started beating slightly faster when I realized how close he was standing beside me. His face was next to mine as he looked at the screen and I could smell his aftershave, which, might I add, smelled delicious.

I didn't know what it was about him, but since day one I'd been attracted to him. There was no denying in that. I mean, he was totally hot, so how could you not be attracted to him? But it wasn't just the good looks that made me like him. I'd gotten to know him better over the past month and he was really kind and sweet and a very generous person. And the way he interacted with his kids, how much he cared about them, it was just so-

"There you go," Dimitri said, abruptly interrupting my thoughts about him. "It's fixed."

I blinked. "What? You fixed it already?!"

"Yeah, there wasn't a real problem, actually. You just had a lot of useless processes running in the background, which made your laptop slower."

"Oh okay," I said frowning. I had no idea what he was talking about. "Thanks, comrade."

He glared at me playfully and I grinned. I'd come up with that nickname a few weeks ago and when I realized he didn't like it, I'd started using it more frequently to tease him.

"You're welcome," he said at last, smiling reluctantly.

He was still standing very close to me and I didn't like how his proximity affected me. He didn't seem to have a problem with it, though.

I immediately scolded myself for thinking he might have a problem with it. Of course he didn't have a problem with it. He was still grieving over his wife. He obviously wasn't thinking the same things as me. I wish I wasn't either, but damn, it was hard.

I looked down and suddenly noticed he wasn't wearing his wedding ring anymore. Did that mean that he wasn't grieving anymore? But his wife had only died two months ago… He couldn't have moved on already, could he?

I wondered when he'd taken his wedding ring off. Had it happened just recently or had it been longer and I just hadn't noticed all this time?

I shook my head slightly. Why was I even thinking about this? It was none of my business and I really should be concentrating on something else right now instead of him – my paper, for example.

"Thanks," I said again, realizing a little too late I'd already said that. He gave me a funny look, but didn't say anything. I started to get up and he finally stepped away from me and my laptop. "I should go. It's already getting late and I really need to finish this."

"Okay," he said. "You know, next time you could just tell me if you have a lot to do for school and can't come over to babysit. I would've tried to find another solution or I would've come home early so you could work for school properly."

"No, it's fine," I said quickly. "I love spending time with your kids. They're amazing. And my paper is almost finished. It was just my laptop bugging me."

Dimitri gave me a small smile. "Well, if you have any other problems with your laptop in the future, tell me and I'll help you out."

I smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you."

He walked me to the door and opened it for me. He frowned and I immediately knew what was bothering him.

"Seriously, it's okay," I said. "I don't mind walking home in the dark."

"But I do mind," he said. "I know it's just a short walk, but what if something happens? I wouldn't be so worried if you had a car or if someone walked with you. I would drive you, but I can't leave the kids here on their own."

"Well, if you give me a raise, I might be able to buy a car," I said jokingly.

"I just might, then," he responded smiling.

My eyes widened. "No, I was just joking. I don't need a raise." I glanced down at my watch. "I really need to go now, Dimitri. Good night."

"Good night, Roza," he said softly.

I gave him a small smile and turned around to leave. I didn't know why, but sometimes he used my Russian name. At first, I hadn't even known Roza was my name in Russian so I'd asked him about it. He hadn't explained why he called me that sometimes, he'd just told me it was my name in Russian. I didn't mind him calling me Roza. In fact, I liked the sound of it – especially when it came from his lips.

I mentally scolded myself again. I really needed to stop thinking about him in that way. It was really starting to frustrate me. Why, oh why, did I have to be attracted to an older guy who had three kids?! Why wasn't I attracted to someone my age?

I'd just reached my dorm room when my phone started ringing. Quickly, I took it out of my jeans pocket and answered the call.

"Hello?" I said as I opened the door to my room.

Avery was sitting on her bed, flipping through a magazine, and didn't even look up as I entered.

"Rose?"

I frowned. Why was Dimitri calling me? I'd just seen him. Had I forgotten something at his house? I hoped not, because I didn't want to walk all the way back.

"Hey," I said slowly, "what's up?"

"I just wanted to know if you got home safely," he said.

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't keep the smile off of my face. "Yes, Dimitri. I'm perfectly fine." He let out a sigh of relief. "Seriously, stop worrying so much. You already got three kids to worry about. I think that's enough."

"I can't help it," he said softly. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

Goddammit, why is he so sweet?!

I put my bag down and sat down on my bed. "Why? Because you won't have anyone to watch over your kids if something happens to me?" I teased.

"No, of course that's not the reason. You know I – shit. I got to go. Liam's got a nightmare again," he said.

I frowned. "Oh. I hope he'll be okay. See ya tomorrow."

Dimitri disconnected. Sighing, I put my phone on my nightstand. Poor Liam. Dimitri had told me Liam often had nightmares since Tasha's death. He never wanted to talk about what he was dreaming exactly, but it had to be bad if he woke up crying almost every night. Hopefully, it would get better soon.

"So," Avery said casually, finally acknowledging me, "how's the babysitting going? You got lucky yet?"

I looked at her quizzically. "What are you talking about?"

She arched an eyebrow. "You really seem to get along with the kids' father. I was just wondering if you had gotten hot and heavy with him yet. I mean, he's always calling you so I thought…"

I stared at her, incredulous. "Excuse me?!"

She smirked. "I take that as a no."

"Where the hell is this coming from?" I exclaimed, jumping up from the bed.

Avery wasn't fazed. Ignoring my question, she said, "I wonder, though, what his wife will say when she finds out how close you've become to her husband."

"Not that it is any of your business," I snapped, "but his wife passed away. Dimitri and I are just friends." Sort of, I guess, I added silently. "He isn't looking for a relationship and neither am I. I'm only there to babysit his kids. That's all."

She shrugged. "If you say so."

"Why do you even care?" I growled.

"I don't," she said calmly. "But I think Christian will if he knows you and Dimitri are getting close. I mean, he's related to Dimitri's wife, right? I mean, was related to Dimitri's wife." She grinned wickedly.

I clenched my jaw and counted to ten in my head, trying to calm myself down before I did something stupid, like punching her in the face.

"We aren't getting close," I said at last. "And for someone who doesn't like to hang around us, you sure know a lot about my and Christian's life! Are you spying on us?"

"I'm your roommate. I don't need to spy," she said. "I hear everything you and Christian talk about when he comes over and I'm here."

"Well, we won't be discussing anything here anymore," I spat.

We didn't talk the rest of the night and the next morning, I was still in a foul mood because of what Avery had insinuated.

The annoyance must've been clear on my face, because when I finally arrived at Dimitri's house, he looked at me, one of his eyebrows raised, and said, "Good morning. Got up on the wrong side of bed?"

I faked a smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

He chuckled. "So, did you finish your paper in time?"

"Oh yeah," I said. I'd actually had to get up early to finish it, because I hadn't wanted to finish it last night after my fight with Avery. Clearing my throat, I said "So, is Liam ready for school?"

Dimitri nodded. "He's in the hallway. I should leave now, though. I don't want to be late for work."

I stepped aside so he could get past. "Have a nice day."

He opened his mouth to say something, but then Liam came running down the hall and into my arms.

"Rose!" he exclaimed. "Guess what? Daddy's taking us swimming tomorrow!"

I smiled. "Oh, that seems like fun."

"Yeah! You want to come with us?" he asked eagerly.

I glanced up at Dimitri, who was standing at his car, looking at us. "Umm… I don't think that's such a great idea, Liam," I said carefully. He looked at me, disappointed. "Your dad probably wants to spend some time with you alone."

"Dad wouldn't mind if you'd come with us." He turned to look at Dimitri. "Right, Daddy?"

Dimitri looked up at me and smiled. "Sure. At least, if you want to. You've probably had enough of us already," he said jokingly.

"Please, Rose. Please come with us," Liam begged, tugging at my hand.

I smiled at him. "If you really want me to, I'll come with you."

"Yes!" he cheered.

"I really need to leave now," Dimitri said. There was still a small smile on his face. "I'll pick you up tomorrow at two in the afternoon. Is that okay for you?"

I nodded. "That's fine."

"Great," he said before getting inside his car and backing out of his driveway.

I waved at him and then turned to Liam.

"Let's get you to school," I said, taking his hand.

He was still grinning, excited for tomorrow. I wish I could be just as excited as him, but for some reason I was a little worried. Could Avery be right after all? Was I getting too close to Dimitri? We might be friendly with each other, but he was still my boss. Was I crossing a line?

Stop worrying, I chastised myself. It's just swimming. Besides, he said it was alright if I came.

"Don't forget, Rose," Liam said as I dropped him off at school. "Tomorrow at two in the afternoon."

I smiled at how eager he was. "I'll be there," I promised.

He smiled widely and then ran to his friends, yelling a goodbye over his shoulder. Sighing, I turned around and quickly walked back to campus. I had a class in half an hour and I didn't want to be late.

So Dimitri and Rose are getting closer. How do you think their trip to the swimming pool will go? :P

Please leave a review and let me know what you think of the chapter! Have a nice day/evening! ;)