– DIMITRI –

Last night was better than I ever could have imagined, and I had tried to do so quite often. There were millions of different 'what if' scenarios and regrets throughout the years, but all of them were dispelled in an instant after what happened last night.

I looked down at the sleeping woman beside me. She was still completely naked and it only made her tuck closer to me for warmth under the sheets. I didn't mind it at all. My fingers brushed against her bare skin, savoring something that I never thought I'd have a chance too, even after we found her in Las Vegas. As I reached over to brush the hair from her face, she started to stir.

"Good morning, Beautiful," I whispered, watching her eyes start to flutter open.

Rose startled slightly when she saw I was awake. "Oh. Hmm. Morning." Her voice was still filled with sleep as she pulled away, stretching her tired muscles and working the kinks from her neck and shoulders.

My eyes flashed from her face to body. I wasn't intending to stare, but the sight of her still left me in awe. She was gorgeous, and last night...she was mine. I still couldn't believe it. When I met her gaze again, it was clear that she had caught my distraction. I expected a sarcastic comment about my less than subtle behavior, but it never came.

Instead, she wrapped one of the loose blankets around her, effectively shielding her body from view. I allowed her sudden sense of modesty without question. I remembered that this was a new experience for her, and even if it wasn't, she was entitled to some shyness and privacy.

I couldn't take it any longer. She was stunning, her hair in slight disarray and a small love bite on her neck where I had been a tad overzealous with my affection. I cupped her cheek in my hand, gently pulling her in for a kiss.

Instead of her lips, I was met with resistance.

"Morning breath," she declared, as if it might offend me.

I hummed my acknowledgment but countered her argument. "I don't care." If she wasn't coming to me, I'd go to her. I leaned in, only to be stopped by a finger to my lips.

"I do."

I shrugged it off, chalking it up to one of her unique quirks before stepping out of bed to brush my teeth. I was eager to kiss her and if this is what she needed before that could happen, then I wasn't going to waste any time.

I peeked at her while walking past, curious to see if she would check me out while I was practically naked. I had caught her taking a lingering look several times before, both at the Academy and more recently, but had never called her out on it. Strangely, she was doing the exact opposite right now; she was purposefully looking anywhere but me. I never took Roza to be so shy, especially since she was typically so outgoing, but I was grateful that I was getting to see a side of her that nobody had ever seen before.

A few minutes later, I opened the bathroom door again to see Rose pulling one of my tee shirts on. It was the same one I had pulled out for her last night and she had turned down.

"So, what do you say I make us some breakfast? It's still early, and the others are probably still sleeping, but I make some pancakes that even beat Christian's..."

"No..."

"No? Okay. How about a run? We usually did that before eating anyways. There's a great trail I haven't shown you yet and..."

"Dimitri..."

"...It should only take about 45 minutes to make the full loop. Then I'll make you anything you want to eat. I don't have a shift until this afternoon."

"Dimitri!"

It was her tone that finally broke through to me. One look at her face and I could tell something was wrong. I didn't even have time to brace for impact before her next words came like a punch to my gut.

"Last night was a mistake."

"What?" I was standing there like an idiot, left practically breathless and trying to grasp what she was telling me.

"Last night...it shouldn't have happened."

"Last night was the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life, Roza. I thought...I thought you wanted it too."

She shook her head at me. It wasn't a response but frustration building up in her as she tried to hold back her emotions. "I did. Dimitri...last night felt wonderful. You were wonderful. But..."

"But what?"

"But it wasn't fair to you."

Fair to me? What was she talking about? "I don't understand. Roza, I..."

"I'm not your Roza," her voice was suddenly firm, commanding even. It was enough stop me where I stood. Her features softened a bit at my reaction, but she didn't lose her determination. "I'm not your Roza, Dimitri. I may look like her. I may sound like her. Hell, I may even act like her on occasion. But she is gone, Dimitri. Gone. She as good as died that night because try as I might, I will never be her. I'm done pretending to be someone I'm not."

I was in stunned silence, trying to process what she was telling me but coming up short.

When tears started to shimmer in her eyes, all I could think to do was hold her, but before I could make a move, she began to push past me.

"I'm sorry. I'm leaving after the wedding. I'm so sorry."

I caught her hand in desperation, not ready to give up on her. "Rose. Please. I love you."

She looked back, with fire in her eyes and tears on her cheeks. "No, Dimitri. You're in love with a memory, a memory that I don't have."

And just like that, she walked out of my room and closed the door behind her.

~ ROSE ~

The look on his face. That look will always be burned in my memory. Actually, both looks. The one where I knew he loved me, and the one where I told him it was a mistake to do so.

Tears were already burning their salty path down my cheeks, making my vision blurry as I tried to get to my room. I was wearing nothing but Dimitri's shirt. It was long enough to cover me, but I wanted to be out of it as soon as possible. It smelled like him.

I realized that I had left my dress in the Dimitri's bedroom, still folded over the desk chair. I would find some way of getting it later. I'd return his shirt to him. Or maybe I'd keep his shirt. I wondered if he would mind me stealing a little token from what had easily been the best night that I could ever remember.

I was trying to get up the stairs as quietly as possible, so I wouldn't wake anyone else in the house, when I missed the last step and fell, just barely catching myself on my hands and knees.

"Rose?" I heard some shuffling as Eddie whispered from down the hall. I tried to duck into my room before he saw me but right before I reached the safe haven, his eyes locked onto mine. He didn't say anything but I knew that his guardian instincts were taking in everything from my clothing to my expression. He probably knew everything that had happened in the last 12 hours with only a glance. I fumbled with the knob, finally opening the door and slamming it behind me.

Once alone, I sank to the floor with my back to the door. I could hear Eddie quietly pausing by the door before walking by and I was thankful he didn't investigate further.

What the hell was I doing? What the hell did I do!? Oh dear God, I slept with Dimitri and it was...everything I could have ever hoped for. It was more than I had ever hoped for. My head fell into my hands, the heel of my palm pressing into my eyes in a desperate attempt to not think the words that were already swirling in my mind.

I was in love with him...and he was in love with her.

It would be so much easier if he was pining for another woman, but no, Dimitri was pining for another version of me. He was longing for a woman that didn't exist anymore. He said it himself. He missed her. He missed his Roza. And he was confusing her with me.

I had been a poor stand in for the girl that he had been pining for several years now. The one he had fond memories of and a desperate hoped to get back. Could I really blame him for latching on to the closest thing to her?

No. I couldn't hold that against him. I should have known better than to get so attached to him. I came here to learn about my past, not fall for someone. I had been stupid to get attached to Dimitri or any of them. They were looking for a girl who was gone. I had no place here.

Looking at the clock, it was about 9pm. The beginning of the vampiric day, but still early evening back in Las Vegas. I had left my phone in my room rather than bringing it to the banquet yesterday and it was still charging on my nightstand rather than being held hostage with my purse in Dimitri's room. Pulling the cord out, I called the first number on my favorites list.

Marie should be up and about right now. She would probably have work in a few hours, but at the moment she was probably just running errands and going about her normal life. For a moment, I envied her. As much as I hated not remembering nearly two decades of my life, at least my time in Vegas was considered routine in comparison to everything now.

The phone was answered on the third ring. "Hey you! How's everything going?"

I forced a smile and tried to sound like I hadn't been in full meltdown sobbing just a few minutes ago. "I'm doing...alright. I'm coming home though."

"Really?" Marie seemed genuinely surprised. "I mean, I'd love to have you back and everything – I miss you like crazy – but it seemed like you were enjoying things there. Did something happen?"

Yeah...something. That was one way to put it. Another way might have been to say that I had willingly put myself out there and ended up crushed by a guy who was completely amazing but couldn't get over his ex. An ex who just happened to look exactly like me. Not that he had hurt me on purpose. He had actually made me feel completely loved and gave me a sense of belonging for once in my life. That just made the whole situation more painful though. I might have had sex with him last night, but I still wasn't sure just who he thought he had been with. So yeah...something happened.

"It was a long night, that's all." Even the summary would have been too much to say.

Going into her Mama Bear protective mode, I heard an edge cut into her words. "What happened, Ivy? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, no. I'm fine now. I promise. I'm just not cut out for it here. I figured out who I am and now I'm ready to come home."

"You sure? How are things with Dimitri?"

I choked out a sharp laugh.

"Woah. Wrong topic apparently."

"Well it isn't the best right now," I quipped back. "I'll give you the low down after I process everything. I promise. I just have to get through the bachelorette party tonight and the wedding tomorrow, then I'll be on the next flight back to Vegas. You think I can get my old job back?"

"You kidding? You haven't even used your entire vacation time and even if you had, all you would have to do is bat your eyes at Jason and you'd be back in business."

I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn't see me. She wasn't wrong. I may not have had the greatest life before all this madness, but at least in Vegas I knew what to expect from the people around me. I would be happy to leave all this vampire business behind.

– DIMITRI –

I threw open my door but she was already gone. I was about to chase after her when Eddie appeared. By the way he kept glancing behind him with a concerned expression on his face, he must have seen Rose in her desperate escape from me. When he turned back and saw me standing in the middle of the hallway, he cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, that explains a few things..." He remarked.

I spared him the briefest look before straining to see around him. "What?"

"Why Rose was wearing nothing more than an oversized shirt with Cyrillic writing. Compared to you, she's practically overdressed."

I looked down and saw that I was still dressed in nothing more than my underwear. I let out a curse and retreated into my room to grab a little more clothing while contemplating what to do next. Of course, Eddie followed me.

"What I don't understand, Belikov, is why she looked like she was barely keeping a breakdown at bay."

My head snapped to him in question as I finished buttoning my jeans.

Rose may not have any biological siblings, but Eddie was just as protective of her as I was with my own sisters. "I swear, if you hurt her -"

"I didn't! I mean...I didn't mean to. I – I don't know what happened, Eddie. Last night was fantastic."

Eddie held up his hand, clearly asking me to spare him the details, not that I had intended to share any of those private intimacies with anyone else.

"You obviously know what happened. It was mutual, I swear. Everything was perfect last night, but this morning...this morning was a complete one-eighty. I don't understand what happened. What changed? She said..." what did she say? It had happened so fast, "it was something about not being the girl I remembered. That it wasn't fair to me. What did she mean?" The last question wasn't directly meant for him, but he answered anyways.

"I'm not sure, man. I don't know what to tell you. You need to talk to her to understand that." He stepped closer, crossing the threshold of my room and placing a hand on my shoulder. "I can tell you that there's something between you two, despite everything that's happened. Don't let that fade away without a fight."

I looked at him blankly. His advice was all well and good, but without a plan it was useless.

"She says that she's leaving, Eddie. Right after the wedding. She's going back and I think it's all my fault. I just don't understand what I did to push her away."

Eddie sighed and glanced heavenward at the news that Rose wouldn't be staying with us much longer. I knew he needed her in his life too and I felt a small wave of guilt that whatever I had done would cause him pain too. Eddie, Lissa, Christian, Adrian...everyone. They all cared about her and we were all so much happier to have her back in our lives and now, because of my stupidity, she would be gone again.

After a moment, Eddie looked back towards me. "Give her some space, Dimitri. No matter what happened between you guys last night, Rose has a million and a half reasons to leave. I'm sure it's not your fault. To be perfectly honest, maybe it would be better if she went back to Las Vegas. No, hear me out -" he said, cutting off my protests, "a guardian's life sucks. We never say it but we both know that it's true. Maybe it would be better for her to live her life on her own terms. Let's face it, you and I were never even given that option."

I'd known Eddie for years now, and he had never once expressed any displeasure at the guardian lifestyle. I knew there had to be some things that he wasn't thrilled with, but seeing the bitterness as he suggested Rose was better off in the outside world, I knew that there was much more brewing beneath the surface. I also didn't disagree with him. As much as I hated to admit it, maybe Rose would be better off without being stuck in this world and subject to its toxic culture.

"Just...think about it Dimitri. What does this life offer her anyway? She can't even be a guardian without her training. She'll be treated horribly here, and what happened at the banquet was just one example of that. We both know Rose deserves better. I can let her go for her own sake...can you? Do you love her enough to let her go?"

Eddie gave me a long hard stare, one that daring me to look away or give him the answer we both knew was correct. I was the lead in this guardian partnership, and nine times out of ten, Eddie deferred to me and my judgment. However, the times that he protested, the times that he challenged me, I knew to listen. Like Rose, Eddie had good instincts and I had learned to trust him as much as he trusted me.

I couldn't say it though. Even though I knew it was right, I couldn't say that she needed to leave. I felt like I needed her to stay, as selfish as it was. Instead, I nodded silently, and pushed past him. I needed to take my mind off of everything and there was only one thing that I could think of right now. Even the gym would be a poor distraction, but it was better than thinking at the moment.

Author's Note

I know it wasn't what many of you were hoping for, but while Romitri sex is magical, it doesn't automatically restore memories. That would be something now, wouldn't it? So what do you think this new change will bring? Both Rose and Dimitri are stuck in a pretty difficult situation. And poor Eddie seems like he isn't quite as happy as he seems.

I hope you all enjoyed the update and thank you so much for all the kind words last week. I'm so grateful for the love and support of my readers. You keep me going when times are tough. Thanks and see you next week!