Hi everyone :)

I realise that Abe's element is actually Earth (though he did seem like a fire user. But Earth is even cooler :P). I'll change it when my brain begins to function properly again. It's a good thing this chapter was pre-written, cuz after reading The Fiery Heart... I can't even... I just... It's like... oh I give up.

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy, because I am not Richelle Mead. If I were, then I wouldn't have to wait until the summer for Silver Shadows... :'O

DPOV

Rose had just left with the rest of the girls to go shower, and the older Guardians had already gone back to their tent. This left Christian, Adrian, Eddie and I on our own by the dwindling fire. I had to ask now.
"Christian, why does Rose not want to do anything for her birthday? It's like she'd trying to block it out altogether."

He looked sheepish. "I... Lissa made me promise I wouldn't tell why, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure."

I gave him a look that I had learned off Rose when I was keeping something from her, which said she'd find out eventually.

"Dude, that's creepy. You spent waaay to much time with Rose." Adrian commented, and Eddie laughed. I ignored the comment.

"Christian, please. Just tell me as much as you can. If I know what the problem is, then maybe I can help fix it."

He looked doubtful. "I'd imagine it's because her last birthday was so incredibly shitty."

Pain stabbed my heart as I thought about the timings; her birthday was a week after the attack, a week after I was taken. "I can understand that, but if her 18th was so bad, why doesn't she want to make sure this one is better."

Christian shrugged, and Eddie looked clueless. It was Adrian that answered me, sighing. "I don't think it's the anniversary of her birth she's trying to forget."
Understanding flashed in Christian and Eddie's faces.

Eddie spoke. "Dimitri, you might just wanna let this one slide. Adrian's right, it's not going to be easy on her."

I looked around the group of people, concern for my Roza clear on their faces. I felt irrationally jealous that they knew something so important about her that I did not. But it was because of my concern for Roza that I asked my next question.

"Please. What happened on Rose's 18th birthday that is haunting her this year?" Silence. "I don't want her to be alone in this, and you know as well as I do that she'll suffer silently. I know it has something to do with me being taken, but that's not the whole of it. After what she's been through in the last year, she doesn't deserve to still be plagued by it. Tell me what else happened that day, please." I was practically begging now, and was prepared to get down on my knees and beseech them if need be.

Fortunately, that wasn't needed. Eddie turned to the others.
"She'll kill us." He stated.

"If Lissa doesn't get to us first." Christian added.

"Oh, grow a set." We all looked at Adrian in surprise. He turned to me.
"You sure you want to know? Because you won't be able to rid Rose of her burden, but you may be able to share it."

I nodded, though wasn't entirely sure what he was talking about.
He stood, and faced me.
"When your soul was lost, so was a part of hers. One year ago, Rose set out to destroy that missing part, but in doing so, left behind another piece, leaving her broken."

Spirit, I realised. Adrian was in one of his poetic, rambling moods. He sat back down with a bump, swaying slightly. Eddie helped support him, as I thought over what Adrian had just told me. Realisation hit me like a punch in the face. I looked up.

"It was the day she left the Academy to find me."

They nodded. Christian had some more to add. "And she left Lissa behind. None of us knew she was leaving, or why. Lissa caught up with her just as she left the front gate, and confronted her."

Eddie looked down. "Rose never told us that she was leaving. We only knew after Lissa came and told us, and she was not happy. I think she said something to Rose before she left, which she regretted later."

Christian nodded. "Lissa begged her not to leave, and when Rose said that she had to, Lissa said that she was betraying her, and breaking her promise never to leave."

My poor Roza. Torn between the two most important people to her, and she made the choice to come after me, leaving Lissa, who told her she'd chosen wrong. Only for me to come back, and tell her the same thing.

Adrian cut in again, interrupting my dark thoughts. "Promises, promises. A promise was broken, leaving Rose alone. To keep one promise, she had to break another. A choice that left the Rose wilted, with broken thorns, heading towards death that promised light, shrouded in darkness. Sworn to kill, sworn to protect, destined to do neither, but still the Rose won."

We all stared at him blankly. Adrian shook his head, before repeating; "You promised never to leave her, but you did. Because of this, Rose had to keep the promise she made to you that if either of you were turned, the other would kill them, but to do this she had to break her promise to Lissa that she would be her Guardian and protect her. She wanted to kill you so that you'd be free of the darkness, but instead she used light to restore you. Duh."

Oh, now that made more sense.
There was silence for a minute.

"I... she never told me. She should have told me."

Christian looked at me pityingly. "She didn't want you to blame yourself for something you couldn't control."

Another silence.
"There's one more thing that makes this worse." I added. They looked at me, urging me to continue.
"When she turned 18- that was when we were going to tell you about us. Because then it would be legal for us to be together, and we wouldn't be putting you in danger by making you keep the secret. And then Lissa did end up finding out then, but in the wrong way."

I dropped my head into my hands, feeling terrible. I could completely understand why Rose didn't want to remember that day. I remembered what Adrian had said about our promise, and thought about the very real possibility that it had been her and not me turned, and that I would have had to hunt Roza.

I wrenched myself away from these thoughts as fast as possible; they hurt too much to bear. I knew then what I had to do. I sat up, and spoke with determination.
"I know that Rose doesn't want to do anything for her birthday, and usually I would go with anything she says that she wants, if it will make her happy. But if she refuses to celebrate it this year, then will next year, or the year after be any better? I refuse to let her birthday become tainted by something else, until it becomes no more than the painful reminder of a terrible day. Rose taught me how to live again, and helped me move past the guilt. I swore then that I would spend the rest of my life trying to make her as happy as she makes me every day."

The guys looked at me in surprise, and just a little admiration. Eddie spoke first. "So what do you suggest, Dimitri?"

I wasn't entirely sure on that part yet. I was making this up as I went along. "We are going to make this birthday the complete opposite of her last one."

They nodded encouragingly, and I continued, though I did not have a clue what I was going to say until I said it. I tried to think of Karolina's 18th party, and plan around that. "She is going to be surrounded by her friends, I will not leave her side, and she is going to get loads of awesome presents that can clutter up our room. She is going to have the most fun she has had in ages, surrounded by other people doing the same thing, at a party she will probably refuse to go to at first, but attend anyway. Rose can get dressed up with the girls, in a ridiculously overpriced dress that she will probably only wear once. Most of all she will not be alone."

They thought for a minute. Eddie spoke first. "Sounds like a plan. Who's organising what? I already got Rose a present, but I'll put in some money for another one. I only didn't get her much because I knew she was avoiding it."

Adrian nodded, agreeing with what Eddie had said.

I continued. "Christian, when you and Lissa are in your tent tonight, you will be secretly looking for presents online. I'm sure she's already got Rose something, but she knows her the best. Somehow get Mia and Sydney in there with you at some point to choose what they want to buy. I know they would have got stuff already if Rose had actually reminded them, or told them in the first place, when her birthday was. Eddie and Adrian, write down whatever else you want them to get."

They nodded, and I turned to Eddie. "You have to think of some activity that we can all do in the evening that will be fun, and most importantly, make Rose laugh. Check the facilities they have here, I know that they sometimes have karaoke nights and things like that. There's nothing planned for Saturday night, but see if they have any equipment we can borrow.
I need you to get Mia to organise something to get rid of all the girls for a couple of hours, so we can set everything up. Hair, makeup, whatever. Just get them off the site, and take Janine and Alberta as their Guardians. Mia will also need to organise something for the girls to wear to the party."

"OK, I got that." Eddie smiled, and I was pleased that no one was objecting to what I was saying.

"Adrian, I need you to sort out the party."

He grinned. "Well, you came to the right guy, Cradle Robber. No one can throw a party like Ivashkov."

I also had a feeling that nobody could get thrown out of a party like Ivashkov. "So, you need to find somewhere to hold it, and put whatever Eddie is going to get. You'll also need to get food and drink."

He cut in. "Buy food for Rose? Give me the most expensive and least satisfying job, why don't you? Feeding Rose is like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in the side! It'll never be full!" He exclaimed dramatically. No one laughed.
"Well, I thought it was funny." He mumbled.

I carried on from where I had been before I was so rudely interrupted.
"Then, when you and Sydney go to pick up Sonya and Mikhail tomorrow, pick up everything that has been ordered today, plus the food and drink you need to buy when you're there.

Adrian muttered something that sounded like; "As if there'll be any room left in the car once Lissa and Mia have finished shopping."

I took that as conformation that he would do it.
"And I will be coordinating everything and keeping Rose distracted whilst you do all your jobs."

"What? That's not fair!" Adrian shouted. "Why can't I do that and you do the shopping?" I raised one eyebrow and waited for him to realise what he'd just said whilst the others laughed.

"Oh, right, yeah. Sure, you keep Rose 'distracted'. I'm happy with the food shopping." He said, embarrassed.

Eddie snorted. "Sydney got you well trained there, didn't she Aids? I suppose you're going to cook the food and then clean up afterwards?"

"Yeah. And I bet he does it all in a French maid's outfit!" Christian added.

We were all still laughing at Adrian's expense when the girls came back.
"What's so funny?" Roza asked me. I tried to compose myself.

"Adrian in a French maid's costume." My composure slipped, and I started laughing again. The girls all joined in, except Sydney.

"So that's where my Halloween outfit went!" She said accusingly to Adrian, which set us all off again.

When I went to bed that night, I lay there staring at the walls of the tent and the shapes I could see moving behind the canvas, and waited for Roza to join me. I thought back to those nights at the Academy, when I had been in my room, thinking of Roza in hers, just in the building opposite mine. So close, yet so far. I couldn't risk her place here or her future with Lissa just to go see her, but I wanted to so badly.

I had always liked my own company, and never expected to be someone who hated sleeping alone. Really, it wasn't about sleeping alone; it was about sleeping with her. And most of the time, sleeping was all I wanted. Well, maybe not all I wanted, but still. After I had finished replaying my favourite memories of her, I would close my eyes and imagine that I could feel her arms around me, small body pressed close against mine. And as I fell into sleep's embrace, in my dreams, I would be falling into Roza's, as she owned my dreams as surely as she owned my heart.

I was pulled out of my memory of a memory by the very thing I had been remembering wishing for. The small camp bed dipped under Roza's light weight, and I opened my arms to her, which she quickly slipped under. I tightened them around her waist, pulling her to me, and she pressed herself even closer, burying her face in my chest.

I moved a hand up her back lightly until it rested at the base of her neck. I noticed that she was wearing my T-shirt, and I smiled. It was too hot for me in this tent, so I had left my shirt off. I didn't surprise me that she had it on; she often wore my clothes if she couldn't be bothered to get her own. Most often, she couldn't find her own, as they were thrown into some forgotten corner, or under some piece of furniture. I'd pretend to be annoyed when she walked around the apartment wearing one of my sweatshirts that reached her knees, but secretly loved it, and I think she knew it, too, and that was half the reason why she did it. She was wearing my clothes, she was mine, and anyone who saw her like that would know it. Of course, the ring on her finger said the same thing in a more obvious way, but it still wasn't as cute/incredibly sexy as seeing her walking around in one of my shirts that the short sleeves hung almost to her elbows and the hem hit her knees.

The night of the lust charm, when I had lent her my sweatshirt, she had never given it back. Once, I had gone to her dorm room back at the academy to wake her up when she was late for practice, and the door was unlocked. Thinking she was up and awake, I had opened the door a crack, only to find that she was fast asleep on the bed, wearing my sweatshirt. Had anyone walked passed then, I was pretty sure the huge smile on my face would have given everything away. As it was, no one did, and I had left Roza sleeping, locking her door properly behind me, and going back to my own room for the remainder of our practice session.

It had only taken a minute to relive that memory, and I had the strangest feeling that Roza was thinking of a similar one.
I looked down at her, trying to capture this moment, this feeling of completeness, forever. In the same heartbeat, Roza looked up at me, and smiled, and I knew she definitely had been thinking the same thing.
I brushed a strand of hair off her face, and it felt like silk. I loved her hair, but not when it was covering her face, which was just too beautiful to be hidden. I bent my head and kissed her full, soft lips, tasting vanilla and raspberries and chocolate, no combination of which was quite right, but was just Rose.

"I love you Dimitri." She murmured against my lips. My heartbeat picked up a little, just like it did every time she said that. It seemed that in staying still for months, it wanted to make up those lost beats, and did so when my favourite words were spoken by my favourite person. I was so lucky to have her, after everything that we had been through.

"I love you too, Roza."
She smiled, and rested her head back on my chest again, and I stroked her hair until her breathing evened out.

After she was asleep, I sent the all-clear text to Christian, and heard him and Lissa whisper quietly. I had seen the light of Lissa's laptop on for a while, but she must have been looking on her own, as there had been no discussion.

Now that I was alone, well, as alone as I ever wanted to be ever again, I had time to think about Roza's birthday.
It was so sad to think that her 18th birthday had been ruined, but there was nothing I could do about that. If there was anything I could do to go back in time and change things, or just tell her that everything would be okay, I would. But there was nothing I could do. As I had promised her, and myself, I would spend my life trying to help her forget the pain that I, and others, had inflicted on her.

Though a birthday was relatively trivial in the grand scheme of things, it was more about the point that I was proving, that I wanted her life to be perfect in every way. Roza should never have to go without anything, and if it was in my power to give it to her, then I would. Always.

...Because we need some fluff right now.

Review and Dimitri will think you're cute/incredibly sexy ;)