Drabble:151

When he'd been assigned Dimitri as his personal guardian, Christian was still recovering from the shock of finding out that Tasha had murdered the Queen, and framed his friend Rose for it, and Dimitri's only concern was Rose, who had undergone intensive surgery and was unconscious.

So, the day Dimitri took his oath as Christian's guardian, neither of them really wanted to be there. The officiator conducted the ceremony at his own pace, as Dimitri-looking quite disheveled-and Christian-looking pale and sleep deprived-fidgeted. Dimitri wanted to rush back to his Roza as soon as he could, and Christian wanted nothing better than to return to his own rooms.

As soon as the ceremony was over, Christian fled to his room, with Dimitri escorting him swiftly and distractedly, his concentration fixed on his cell phone, where Eddie had promised to call, as soon as Rose showed any signs of waking up.

Christian had dismissed Dimitri then, and Dimitri had rushed back to continue his vigil beside Rose, with orders from Christian to not return till Rose had woken up and was well.

Christian did his own mourning for Tasha in private, grieving the loss of the goodness of his sole relative. He didn't need or want any company, and who did he really have left, after Tasha? He kept to himself, not answering calls or the door, when the rest of the St Vladimir's gang or the other members of his clans (who wanted in with the new Queen's consort) came to him, and he hardly ever ate or slept, coaxed only to indulge in both minimally by Lissa.

Then a day came that Lissa came to him, freaking out and sobbing over her impending coronation and Rose's comatose condition, and her worry over him, Christian had vowed to try to act more humanly, if only for her sake.

He started by catching breakfast with Adrian-who was drunk out of his mind, and then visiting a respectable tailor to find a suitable dress shirt for Lissa's coronation. He also visited Rose, and asked Dimitri to come visit him if he needed to talk or vent, and Dimitri repeated the same offer to him (which was by far one of the awkwardest conversations of Christian's life), but he stayed clear of the Courthouse and prison cells…..he wasn't ready for that yet.

Christian had been the one to coax Dimitri to get changed and shaved while Rose slept soundly, so to not scare Rose into a heart attack when she awoke. Or well, he just stood by and made these very valid arguments while Janine bossed Dimitri around.

And when Rose had woken up, and Lissa and she were catching up, it had been Christian to whom Dimitri had rushed to. That was the first time Christian had seen Dimitri really smile, and he'd celebrated the occasion by giving Dimitri a 'man-hug' and by ordering a pizza for both of them to share.

With Lissa, the celebration had started off as a make-out session, which had to be cut short because she was needed for final dress fittings.

He'd then gone down to Rose's rooms to trade a few sarcastic quips with her, and en route to his rooms, he'd taken some flowers to Jill and spent some time joking with his favorite protégé.

That night, before he went to sleep, he realized that Tasha wasn't the only family he had. Lissa was the love of his life, quite literally, and Rose was her family, which meant she was family to him too. And Eddie was-for all intents and purposes-her brother, and Jill was literally Lissa's sister, so they counted as family too. After Spokane, there was no way Mia wasn't family, and as irritating as Adrian could be sometimes, Christian supposed he too was family. And wherever Rose was, Dimitri followed, so he was a part of this disjointed family too.

So, really, he wasn't alone. He might have lost his aunt for good, but he had many other, may good people in his life, who cared for him, and who he cared about.

Sure, he'd take some time to recover from Tasha's betrayal, but he'd survive. And tomorrow would be a better day…

Thank you lovelies, for your wonderful words and wishes after drabble 150, it really touched me. You guys are the bomb! Cheers!