ALS2: Camping Trip Chapter 9, a vampire academy fanfic

I'm so sorry, but I wasn't able to update because... oh wait, you aren't my teachers (hopefully, cuz that'd be weird! :3) so I won't make up excuses. But I'm back into VA now, so it's all good.
To make up for it, here's a long chapter. Some of it will be repeated- I think it's important to have this scene from both R's and D's POV, but it's still long even without that repetition.

Me: I don't own Vampire Academy.

Rose: Duh! Not even Richelle keeps her readers waiting this long! I thought The Fiery Heart would be out before you updated!

Me:... You forget I have power over you in my stories. Be careful, or I'll send you to a Justin Bieber concert and have Dimitri for myself.

Rose: :O Bitch. You wouldn't.

Me: We'll see...

Anyway, enjoy the fluff :D

RPOV

10 minutes later, we started walking again. After half an hour, we started to climb a small hill. When we reached the top, I saw a log in the centre of the top of the hill.

We sat down, and as far as I could see, the forest stretched into the distance. The sun was really close to setting now, and when it did, we would have the best view.

Whilst I had been admiring the scenery, Dimitri was rummaging through the rucksack. He pulled something out of it, and handed it to me.

It was a box of my absolute favourite donuts. "Comrade! You are my favourite person in the world, you know that, right?"

He half-smiled. "Yes, Roza. Though the way you say it makes it sound like anyone who gives you donuts gets the privilege of that title."

"Well, duh. Everyone knows that food is the key to a girl's heart." I replied.

Just as we finished the donuts, the bottom edge of the sun dipped beyond the edge of the horizon. I leaned into Dimitri's side, and he wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close, and we watched the sunset together.

As the sun dropped lower, so did the temperature. When I started to get a little cold, Dimitri noticed, and moved me so that his duster was around both of us, and I was pressed against his warm side, with my head resting on his shoulder and one hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating. We hadn't had a lot of time alone together recently, so I was making the most of this.

We talked for a couple of hours, admittedly broken by frequent kisses, until the forest was dark around us, save for the light of the full moon that bathed the trees in a silver light. It reflected off a silver stream in the valley below that I hadn't noticed before, and a pair of owls called to each other in the night.

After a quiet patch where we had just been sitting enjoying each other's warmth, Dimitri was the one to break the silence.
"Roza?"

"Mmm?" I answered. I felt his heartbeat quicken beneath my hand and wondered why.

"I love you." He said.

"I love you too, Dimitri."

His heart quickened even more. What was going on?
He moved away from me, and pushed off the log onto the grassy ground below, kneeling in front of me.

Wait, what the..? He was on one knee. He reached into his duster pocket, and pulled out a black velvet box. Was he..?

DPOV

We had been sitting in silence for a few minutes when I knew that my time was now. I quickly ran through what I was going to say in my head, and when I was sure, I spoke.
"Roza?" My voice came out slightly nervous, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Mmm?"

"I love you." At least if nothing else I said made sense, that would.

"I love you too, Dimitri."

This was it. I knew I shouldn't be nervous, but despite Lissa's assurances, I still wondered if she was ready for this, or wanted it at all. Rose had said in the past she didn't want to get married until there was a '2' in front of her age, and I respected that. Even if she said yes, we didn't have to get married right away. I would be fine with a long engagement.
I moved down onto the ground, and got down on one knee. I watched as the look of confusion on her face changed as she realised what was happening, though I couldn't tell what the emotion that replaced it was. I took a deep breath, and started.

"Roza, you are everything to me. I love you so much; I have never felt like this about anyone or anything before. When I'm with you, it doesn't matter where I am, and I could be anywhere in the world and happy, as long as you're beside me. I could be in paradise, but if you weren't there, I would never stop searching for a way out." Well, there went my short, well-planned speech. I was rambling a bit, something I rarely did. I carried on anyway.

"You have saved me, Roza, in every way possible. You have saved me from living a life that I never realised I didn't want, from living in the darkness simply because I had never seen the sun. You saved me from a life surrounded by other people, but never really caring about any of them. You saved me from going through life, trusting no one except myself.
You've saved my life in battle so many times, because you were fighting beside me, and I knew that you always had my back, just as I had yours. You saved me because you gave me something to fight for, greater than just my own life or the lives of the people around me." This had to be one of the longest speeches I had ever given, but like the shaking of my hands around the ring box, I just couldn't stop. Roza's eyes were glistening, like she was about to cry. I hoped that was a good thing.

"You saved me from eternity as a monster without feelings, in a way that shouldn't have been possible. You saved me afterwards, from myself and the ever-present guilt I felt. You brought me back to the land of the living, and taught me how to live again. You never gave up on me, even when I said the words that I regret more than anything else I have ever said or done. I will never give up on you, Roza, and my love for you will never fade." I had finally said nearly everything now. I opened the ring box, and her gaze left my face for the first time since I had started speaking. She stared at the ring for a few seconds, before looking back up at me. The tears that I had seen shining in her eyes fell silently, and I instantly reached up to wipe them away with my thumb.

"I am only myself when I'm with you, I can let my guard down that I keep up against the rest of the world. I'm complete when I'm with you; I swear every time I touch you, I feel you. Spirit users tell us the same thing, that our souls match, that we complete each other, that we are not meant to be apart, and I know this is true. I have known it from the beginning."

One last shaky breath.
"Rosemarie Hathaway, will you marry me?"

She smiled the most breathtaking smile I had ever seen, and a few seconds later she answered me.
"Yes." She breathed. I slid the ring onto her finger, and she twisted her hand slightly, letting the moonlight reflect off it. I brought her hand to my lips and kissed it gently.

Then she started laughing and threw herself off the log, knocking me backward onto the ground.
We were both laughing now, I was just so happy. I couldn't believe that I was going to get married. I had never imagined anything like this in my wildest dreams, never knew that love could be this strong.

We stopped laughing at the same time, but the smiles stayed on our faces. She was pressed against me, arms locked around my neck, mine holding her small, strong body close to mine as possible.

I pushed a piece of hair away from where it had fallen across Roza's beaming face, tucking it behind her ear. This allowed the moonlight to reach her fully, causing her normally golden-brown skin to glow silvery. Earlier I had thought that she couldn't possibly look any more beautiful, but I had been wrong.

Right now, wearing my ring on her finger, smiling because of the things I had said and promised her, she was radiant, and I realised that every time I looked at her would always be like the first time, that she would always surprise me in some way. The best thing was, she was looking at me the same way.

She smiled even wider, and I got the feeling that she knew what I was thinking. Leaning down, she softly pressed her lips to mine. It was like fireworks going off, like our first kiss all over again, but this time, it was all us.

I forgot instantly that I was lying on the hard ground with stones pressing into my back, and that it was cold outside of the confines of our embrace. Roza whispered against my skin. "I love you, Dimitri. This is perfect. Thank you, I love you."

I pushed her jacket off her shoulders, and she moved her arms so that I could take it off, before she removed my duster. More clothes came off, but I wasn't cold, and Roza's skin was warm against mine.

I breathed her name over and over, like a promise, like a prayer, and she whispered mine in return.
Just us, alone where no one knew where we were, made it feel like our first time in the cabin. Magical, beautiful and perfect.

After we had finished, I pulled blankets out of the bag that I had forgotten about earlier, and we lay beneath the stars, staring up at the night sky. I used to wonder what was out there, if there were other worlds like this one. After all, we belonged in a different world to the rest of the things on this planet, yet we existed. Humans spent their time looking for things out across the universe, missing the other world that was living right alongside theirs.

But now, I didn't care about what was out there, it didn't matter anymore. My whole world was asleep in my arms, and I had found what I was looking for.

RPOV

Dimitri started to speak, his voice shaking slightly.
"Roza, you are everything to me. I love you so much; I have never felt like this about anyone or anything before. When I'm with you, it doesn't matter where I am, and I could be anywhere in the world and happy, as long as you're beside me. I could be in paradise, but if you weren't there, I would never stop searching for a way out." Despite the waver in his voice, and the fact that his accent was stronger, a sure sign of nerves, I could tell that he truly meant every word that he said, and it made butterflies take flight in my stomach. Was he...

"I had never expected to fall in love, never intended to, as I meant to spend my life saving others'. When I met you, everything changed. They come first was not true anymore, I could never put anyone else before you. When I went to find you that night, and bring you back, it was not only 2 teenage runaways that I brought back. I had found everything that I never knew I wanted, everything that I had never thought to ask for was right there in front of me, and before I could stop to look and think, I was falling in love with you.
You have saved me, Roza, in every way possible. You have saved me from living a life that I never realised I didn't want, from living in the darkness simply because I had never seen the sun. You saved me from a life surrounded by other people, but never really caring about any of them. You saved me from going through life, trusting no one except myself." I flashed back to the time as , when he was the only one that realised that there was something serious going on with me, when I was seeing Mason's ghost. He had told me I could trust him, and when I had asked if he trusted me, he hadn't hesitated to say yes. That had been an important moment for us.

"You've saved my life in battle so many times, because you were fighting beside me, and I knew that you always had my back, just as I had yours. You saved me because you gave me something to fight for, greater than just my own life or the lives of the people around me." The emotion was so plain in his voice, something that he only ever showed around me, that I felt my eyes fill with bittersweet tears. I was happy that he thought of me that way, but it was sad to hear what he thought he would be without me.

I tried not to flinch as I remembered the words, which thankfully I succeeded in doing. He had only been trying to keep me safe, and after everything he had been through, it was understandable. He had told me before how much he had hated himself even as he said them, and as soon as he saw how he had hurt me, he had wanted to take them back even if he believed them at the time, but I had left too quickly. He had wanted to apologise the next day, but after seeing the bite marks on my neck, he thought I was okay without him. Everything about that day was generally messed up, but it had all turned out perfect in the end.

"I will never give up on you, Roza, and my love for you will never fade." I couldn't hold back the tears any longer, and they rolled silently down my cheeks, the tracks they left behind becoming instantly cold.

Dimitri opened the box, and inside I saw the most beautiful ring ever. The band was platinum, and there was a seriously big diamond set deep into the metal, further held in place by more platinum. It was simple, and perfectly me. I realised that he had got it fixed so that the stone wouldn't get knocked out if I was fighting, and the band was thin enough that I would be able to turn it round and still punch things without having to take it off. The thought that he had put into this just made me cry more, and Dimitri silently reached up and wiped the tears away. Where his thumb brushed my skin the cold was chased away, leaving a tingly warmth behind.

He took a deep breath that shook, making me wonder if he was unsure as to what my answer would be. He needn't have worried.
"Rosemarie Hathaway, will you marry me?"

When he finally said the words, I couldn't help the hugest smile that spread over my face. I had never thought that I would hear that question from anyone, much less from someone I loved as much and was as amazing as him.

I knew I had always said I wanted to wait until I was at least 20 to get married, and had still believed that right up until I saw the ring. I realised that by putting an age on it, I made it sound like a chore, something to put off. Like I'd be losing something, instead of gaining this amazing man as my husband.

Hearing his love for me, seeing the nervousness on his face, watching him take this risk, I knew there was no way I could say no to him.
And I didn't want to.

"Yes." I answered, quiet as a breath. Carefully he took the ring out of the box, and I noticed an engraving on the inside of the band. I'd ask him about that later. But right now, he slid the ring gently onto my finger. It was a perfect fit, and I hadn't realised how worried about it not fitting I had been until now- I always hated it when that happened in films, and it was always a bad omen. I should have known better; Dimitri was way too organised and efficient to slip up on something like ring size.

I admired the way the diamond glowed in the moonlight; He caught hold of my hand again and kissed it, sealing the promise.

Suddenly all the pent-up emotions of shock and happiness burst out of me in a laugh, and I jumped off the log, locking my arms around Dimitri's neck. I must have caught him by surprise, as he fell backward, and I landed on top of him. He joined in my laughter, and when I looked into his eyes, I saw they were shining like they never had before. This was my Dimitri, that so few people ever got to see, and I was so grateful that I had found him. So glad he'd made me realise that this was what I wanted.

As I thought this, we both stopped laughing, and instead smiled like loons at each other. I didn't care that I probably had the craziest grin on my face, it matched his. Pressed together like this, we were in our own little world, and nothing could touch us. I leaned down to kiss him, and so continued the best night of my life.

:') Mah bebbehs getting engaged :')
Fangirl problem: referring to Dimitri as my baby, but still wanting to have his babies. Oh well, won't think too much about it :P

Review and Dimitri will propose!