Drabble:98
POV:Third Person

Almost 2 years after Rose graduated did she returned to St. Vladimir's. As a guardian, a Royal Guard at that. She was accompanying Lissa on her annual visit to the school, and that morning, while Lissa conferred with the higher officials and board members of the school, Rose had been invited to talk to a class about her experiences out in the real world.

And it had to be Stan's class. Old habits die hard, because here she was, late again, rushing across the hallways towards his class. Reaching the door, she paused for a breath, smoothing her ponytail and straightening her clothes before entering the room. Immediately, every eye turned towards her, students and guardians alike, and whispers broke out across the room. Some things never change…
While she assessed the room, Stan broke into a Cheshire-Cat grin, pausing in his introduction of the other guardians from Court (who'd also been drafted to share their experiences).

"Ah, Hathaway, still running late I see."

"Sorry, Guardian Alto, I had to escort the Queen to the Administration building." She replied coolly. Rose, in fact, did nothing of that sort. But Stan didn't need to know that, did he? Ignoring Dimitri's eye-roll at catching her lie, Rose settled against the wall, next to Meredith.

Stan gaped at her a moment before slowly asking, "Did you just call me Guardian Alto? Guardian?" Rose performed an eye-roll this time. A few moments passed before he spoke again. "Ladies and gents, please mark this day in the calendar as the day when Hathaway finally called me by my title."
Rose frowned at him, repressing scathing comments, while the students snickered and the guardians struggled to maintain their composure. Unable to show her sassy side, Rose decided to glare at Dimitri, whose eyes were dancing with mirth, even though his face remained impassive.

After the laughter died down, Stan continued. "Okay, children, I would finally like to finish introducing you to our honorable guests this afternoon, who will attempt to teach you about real-life encounters with strigoi. Try to learn something from them. And Hathaway, please stop ogling Belikov, it was already annoying when you were 17, it's even more exasperating now."

Rose actually bit on her lips to keep from unleashing retorts and Dimitri broke into a grin.

"As if you were any better, Belikov", Stan scoffed, clearly enjoying himself. "You were always following her with your eyes, wearing that lost-puppy expression."
"You-you knew?", Rose asked, surprised. By now, the students were shifting their gaze from Stan to Rose and back, like in a tennis match. Prime-time-entertainment. As always.

"Anyone who knew what to look for knew.", Stan jibed gleefully. "You were as subtle as a circus elephant. Quite hard to ignore, really."
Rose opened her mouth and closed it again a few times, pulling off a convincing portrayal of a fish before succumbing to silence. Her patience was harried, but she still had some self-control left.

But Stan was relentless, clearly on a mission to instigate her. "What? No witty quips? My, you really have grown up, Hathaway! Kudos to Belikov for taming you!"

This time, Rose's patience ran out. "Goddamn it, Stan!", she burst out, frustrated. "I was trying my best to behave and be professional, but you can't appreciate that, can you? No, you have to-"

"And there she is!", Stan interrupted her tirade gleefully. "Students, it is my honest pleasure to present Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway to you, one of the most promising guardians I have ever had the honor of instructing. Rose, come up here and make us proud."

Rose stared at him incredulously a moment, sighing and shaking her head, before moving to the front of the class, accompanied by smattering applause. She'd let him have his one-up…for now.

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