Thank you very much for the reviews! :)

Some of you were wondering if Rose is going to be attacked on her way home. Don't worry, it's not going to happen. Dimitri is just being overprotective ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 11

RPOV

On Saturday, I went to Alisa's birthday party with Christian. Together, we'd bought her a present. It was a large bag with a fun ballet theme. It was also in her favorite color, pink. I thought it would be nice for her to use when she went to her dance classes. At first, I wasn't sure if she'd like it, but her face lit up with a big smile after she'd opened her present.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, attacking me with a hug. She let me go to hug Christian too. "Come on, everyone's in the living room," she said, tugging us towards the door.

We entered the living room, which was decorated with balloons, serpentines and other decorations for Alisa's ninth birthday. A couple of her friends were there and her family, of course. Ivan was there, too.

Though Dimitri had told me a little about his family, I'd never met them before. Now they were all here and, boy, were there a lot of them. Dimitri had three sisters. Viktoria, the youngest was nice and very social. She was just a year younger than me. I took an instant liking to her. Sonya and Karolina were both older than Dimitri. Karolina, the eldest, had a son, Paul. He was the same age as Inna.

Olena, Dimitri's mother, was very kind, just like the rest of his family. His grandmother, Yeva, didn't seem to like me, though. Or maybe she just didn't like strangers. Whatever it was, I figured I'd better stay out of her way. Dimitri's father wasn't here. He was traveling for work. It reminded me a little of my mom, who was also always traveling. Not for work, though, but for fun.

Even though, they'd all moved to America years ago, Olena's and Yeva's accent was much stronger than Dimitri's. I actually doubted if Yeva could speak English, because I only heard her grumble in Russian a few times.

"Thanks for coming," Dimitri said when we were alone. Everyone else was still in the living room, but Dimitri had gone to the kitchen to get the cake. I'd volunteered to help him. "Alisa's really happy you could make it. So am I."

I couldn't help but smile. Something fluttered in my stomach as I looked up at him. He smiled at me fondly and I felt a blush creep onto my face. Quickly, I averted my eyes.

"I couldn't miss her birthday party, could I now?" I teased, hoping I sounded casual. Changing the subject, I said, "Your family is nice. Are you guys close?"

He smiled. "Yeah, pretty much. I don't get to see them often, but we're still close."

"How come you don't see them that often?" I asked.

He shrugged. "No time. And, well, it's not like they live nearby. The drive is at least two hours."

I frowned. "Why'd you move out here then? Why didn't you stay closer to them?"

"Tasha wanted to move here," Dimitri said.

"Oh."

"Yeah. It was another attempt to try and make her happy." He shrugged again. Clearing his throat, he said, "So, did your mother ever call you back?"

I nodded, grimacing. "She did. But she wasn't too happy," I muttered.

Yesterday, she'd finally called me back and chewed me out for ruining her vacation. Apparently, I'd stressed her out by calling her every other hour. I'd retorted that if she'd called me back right away, she could've enjoyed the rest of her day, but she wouldn't have none of that. And then she'd told me she didn't want to be reminded of anything that had to do with my father. She'd told me she had moved on – with her new boyfriend – and that I had to move on, too. Ouch.

"She didn't appreciate my calls," I told Dimitri. "Apparently she doesn't miss my father at all."

"I'm sure that's not true," Dimitri said gently.

I snorted. "Well, she told me different."

Dimitri put his hand on mine and gave a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry. If you ever want to talk about it… I'm here for you," he said softly.

I looked up at him and gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

He smiled back, still holding on to my hand. I don't think he realized it.

"Hey, is the cake almost ready to be served or what? I'm starving!"

Startled, we both looked up at Ivan, who was standing in the doorway. Dimitri finally let go of my hand and quickly turned back to the counter.

"Yeah, I'm coming," he said.

I followed Dimitri back to the living room with the second cake. Ivan was smirking at us as we returned, but mercifully he didn't say anything. I didn't know him all that well, but I knew him well enough to know he liked to tease and make inappropriate remarks about Dimitri and me. I didn't know how, but it seemed like he knew I liked Dimitri a little more than I should. It made me feel a little uncomfortable. Whenever Ivan made such a comment, Dimitri just rolled his eyes so I don't think he felt the same way as me. I guess he was just annoyed that Ivan sometimes teased him about me.

I made sure to sit far away from Dimitri. I noticed him looking at me a few times. I refused to get excited about that, because it was probably just because he was still a little worried about me. Luckily, Viktoria sat down next to me just then and started chatting, effectively distracting me from Dimitri.

DPOV

"She seems like a really nice girl."

Startled, I straightened up and glanced away from Rose. I'd been leaning against the wall, watching Rose talk to Viktoria.

"Huh? Yeah, she is nice, I suppose," I said casually.

"Well, you ought to know. She's babysitting your kids," my mother said, chuckling.

I glanced back at Rose. Liam had climbed onto her lap and she wrapped her arms around him. He said something to her and she laughed, ruffling his hair. I smiled.

"They seem to like her, too," Mama mused.

I nodded. "Yeah, they do. Liam adores her."

"And you?" she questioned.

I shifted uncomfortably. "W-what do you mean?"

"Well, if the look on your face is anything to go by, you clearly adore her too," she responded, smiling at me knowingly.

I blushed furiously. "I… I don't," I stammered.

"You never looked at Tasha the way you are looking at that girl," she continued as if I hadn't said anything. "That must mean she is special. If that's true then don't let her slip away."

She gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze before walking over to Karolina and Sonya, who were having a discussion over something trivial.

I looked over at Rose again. Liam was still on her lap, eating chocolate cake, while Paul was sitting next to her, studying her carefully.

"You know, your mother is right."

Fuck. Reluctantly, I looked away from Rose and looked up at Ivan. "You were eavesdropping?"

"No, of course not," he said grinning. "I just passed by and couldn't help but hear…"

I sighed and walked into the kitchen, away from all the noise and away from Rose. Ivan followed me inside and closed the door.

"Nothing can happen between her and me," I said.

"But you want something to happen?" Ivan questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"No," I said slowly. He smirked and I shrugged. "It doesn't matter anyway. She's babysitting my kids. I can't-"

"What does that matter?" Ivan interrupted. "Your kids love her."

"I know, but it'd be too complicated," I said. "And then there's still the age difference…"

Ivan rolled his eyes. "You aren't that much older than her. That's just a lame excuse."

"It's not an excuse," I argued. "It's-"

I cut myself off when the door opened and my mother walked in. "We are leaving. Is everything okay here?" she asked, looking from Ivan to me.

"Sure," I said, forcing a smile. "I'll walk you out."

I thanked my family for coming and promised them I'd visit them with the kids during winter break. Shortly after, Ivan also left. He had a date and didn't want to show up late. When Alisa's friends had gone home and the party was over, I noticed what a mess they'd made. Great. I would have to do a lot of cleaning tomorrow.

"I should go," Christian announced, getting up from the couch. "I've got somewhere to be."

Rose smiled at that. "You going to Lissa?" she said in a teasing voice.

Huh. This was new. "Who is Lissa?" I asked.

"No one," Christian said hastily.

Rose grinned. "Lissa is his soon-to-be girlfriend."

I crossed my arms and smirked. "Oh really? How come I've never heard about her before, Christian?"

To my surprise, he blushed. "It's not that big of a deal. We're just going out on a date," he said stiffly. That made Rose laugh and he shot her a glare. "So if you'll excuse me now…" He started for the door, but then stopped and looked at Rose. "You coming or what?"

Rose glanced at me for a brief moment and then said, "Um, I think I'm going to help Dimitri clean up."

I wanted to protest that she didn't have to help me, but I cut myself off. If she wanted to stay a little while longer, who was I to say no?

Christian gave her a weird look, but then shrugged. "Alright then."

"You don't have to stay here and help me," I said when we were alone. The kids were upstairs, doing their own thing.

"Oh, that's okay. I don't mind," she said shrugging. "I wouldn't know what to do else anyway."

"You don't like to go out?" I asked as I walked back to the kitchen with the empty glasses.

"From time to time," Rose said as she followed me and put the plates in the sink. "I don't go out anymore as often."

"Probably because babysitting my kids is taking so much from your time?" I said, feeling a little bad about it.

She smiled. "Maybe," she teased. Then she sobered up and shrugged. "No, it's just… I don't know. I don't think it is as fun anymore."

We talked a little more as we cleaned everything up. When we were done, I thanked her for helping me. She started to put her coat on and I desperately tried to think of something to make her stay. I didn't know why, but I didn't want her to leave – well, I knew why, I just didn't want to admit it.

"What are you doing tonight?" I blurted out.

"Um, I don't know," she said, a little sheepish. "Why?"

"Would you…" I cleared my throat and tried again. "Would you like to stay for dinner? Since it's Alisa's birthday, she gets to choose what we eat. She already told me she wanted pizza and I know that's your favorite food…" She gave me a funny look and I realized I was rambling. "I mean, it's just an idea… You don't have to… I just thought-"

Rose smiled. "Okay."

I blinked, momentarily confused. "Okay?"

She laughed. "Okay. I'll stay for dinner. If that's what you want – and the kids, of course."

"Of course they'd want you to stay for dinner," I said.

"Great. Cause I'd love some pizza," she said jokingly.

I smiled at her, relieved. "Good. I'll go…order the pizza."

I went to the kitchen and when I came back ten minutes later, Rose was sitting on the couch with Liam on her lap again. They were both laughing over something. Liam had his arms wrapped around her neck and rested his head on her shoulder, looking up at Rose adoringly. I smiled. I think he had a crush on Rose.

Well, he isn't the only one, I thought involuntarily.

Shaking my head, I turned away from them and went upstairs to tell Alisa and Inna the pizza was ordered and that they should come down soon.

Half an hour later, we were all eating pizza in the living room. The kids were all happy, which I was glad for. They'd all been devastated when their mother had died, but since Rose had come along, they'd started to feel happier – even Inna. It had taken her awhile, but, at last, she'd grown fond of Rose.

I wondered how things would've gone if Rose hadn't been here every day for us. It would've definitely not been as good as now. Really, as I looked at the happy smiles on my children's faces as they listened to Rose telling a joke, I realized I had a lot to thank her for. She'd saved my family and I would forever be grateful for that.

I hope you liked the chapter. Please leave a review and let me know what you think ;)

Have a nice day/evening! :)