Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or anything surrounding it (but I do own this plot :D)

RPOV

Hours. After my outburst, I fled to the one place at which I felt safe: the gym. I could quite happily spend hours using the machines and punching out my emotions. That was, apparently, exactly what I did. I don't know what it is about beating the shit out of inanimate object that makes me feel so much better, but it works. Not to the extent that I might hope it would, but it really lets me let off steam.

When I returned to the pub, my mother was mercifully not in sight. Good. Now I at least had the opportunity to remain calm. The same could not be said for Stan.

"Hathaway, I fully aware of the situation between you and your mother but this is just ridiculous!" His grew in volume with every word. "Five hours! We are already in the mists of a financial crisis, and I have just lost one of my chefs, and you decide to go on a binge for five fucking hours! Bar! Now! Do not make me ask twice!" he flung his finger in the direction of the bar and I huffed over to the door.

Normally Stan's abuse I could take but for some reason, I could feel myself welling up. It was like the return of my mother had made me dig up all the horrible emotions I had tried to hide: the feeling of being unwanted, unloved and unworthy. I quickly wiped my eyes dry and pushed my way through the bar's door.

The pub was alive as it often was at this time of night. I saw Sydney try to pry and drooling jerk of her arm whilst trying to take his order and Adrian glaring at the guy from his darkened corner. Just friends.

I laughed gently and shook my head. Coming round the cabinet of alcoholic beverages, I saw him: the Russian. He was looking as hot as ever but the pain was still in his eyes. Granted, he had cleaned himself up a bit but watching him sit alone at the bar made me feel a little sorry for the guy. What had happened in his life to make him so miserable?

As if sensing my thoughts, he stopped his sweeping gaze on where I stood not a few feet away from him and concern flooded his features.

DPOV

"Are you okay?" I could not stop the words leaving my mouth and I could feel the embarrassment leaking through. Rose looked completely bewildered but she was quick to compose herself.

"Look who's talking." Okay, I'll give her that one recalling the events of this morning.

"So what's it to be comrade"? She smiled walking closer to me.

"Comrade?" I asked raising my eyebrow, amused.

She just shrugged. "I heard the accent and made the connection from there." I chuckled at this whilst she looked at me with what I assumed confusion but I could be fooled into thinking wonder. She shook herself out again. "So, what's it to be mister…"

"Belikov, well, Dimitri." I blurted out before I could think better of it.

"Well mister Belikov-well-Dimitri," she paused, "nah, I prefer comrade." She flashed me a deep grin which caused another chuckle to rupture through my body. "What'd you want?" she asked for third time, gesturing to the bottles behind her.

"Oh, scotch please." I managed, somewhat stumbling over my words. She gave me another smile and went to get my drink.

"So," she began again while placing my drink in front of me, "what is a big, bad, scary Russian doing in an under-run pub in little, old Manhattan?"

I laughed at this. "I don't really know honestly: work I suppose, but not for much longer." my tone darkened and her brows furrowed together. I sighed. You're constantly told that sharing problems is better than keeping them locked away; time to put it to the test. "My job, it's...complicated. I am under threat of being sacked and the only way to keep my job is to compete with our company's best so I am wallowing and enjoying life while I still can." I smiled sarcastically and tossed the remains of my whiskey down my throat, feeling it burn as it plummeted to my stomach.

Rose hesitated for a moment before deciding and getting me another drink. "Here, you may be in worse shit than I am." I took the drink from her and smiled gratefully.

"I don't know, you looked pretty angry this morning and a little upset now." I said before reason stopped me. She just looked mildly shocked that I had, firstly noticed and secondly, had the balls to say it to her face. I could feel the embarrassment rise within me just before tiredness covered her features.

"You saw that huh?" she sighed, slumping into a stool opposite me.

"I'm afraid that it was hard not to." I told her and shook her head.

"Yeah, well, when your heartless mother comes dancing back into your life after leaving you for as good as dead when you were a child, you tend to be a little pissed off." She said coldly. I leaned over the counter took the bottle of scotch to pour her a glass.

"Here, you may need this more than I do." I mimicked her tone and she smiled.

"May as well, this place isn't going to be here much longer." She shrugged taking a gulp whilst I choked on mine.

"What?!"her eyes widened upon realisation of what she had said.

"Oh crap, I did not mean to say that." She muttered slowly but one look at my face told her to keep talking. "Well why not? We just got a huge bill for a shed load of debt that has to be paid in three months otherwise this place gets shut down and we all loose our jobs." She looked around the pub for a bit before sighing again. "Still, it is not as though anyone would miss it; I mean, look at this place."

Looking at it I was. This place had become my constant, the one thing I could rely on in my stupid life, and it was shutting down!? Over some debt!? I honestly thought that if I lost this place then I would loose my sanity.

"How much?" I blurted again, more interrogatory than intrigued.

She looked at me amused before realising I was serious. Then, the sly grin returned. "$4 million and a bit." She said and my eyes had to struggle to stay in their sockets. "Not so keen to help now are we comrade?" she mused.

Against my better judgement, something I appeared to be ignoring a lot recently, I reached out and took her hand in my own. "I would love to help." I spoke, my voice barely a whisper, and for the first time since I had met this girl, she was completely speechless. And, if I was truly honest, so was I. The sensation that sparked from where her skin laid against my own was indescribable. It made me feel warm and happy as well as scared and nervous; emotions that swirled in my veins like a current in a wire. These were emotions I tried to hide but no amount of strength could force them back into the darkness of my heart.

Not wanting to revel any longer with feelings I had tried so desperately to oppress, I gently pull my hand away from her own and offered and consoling smile. Her brown eyes had me stunned to my stool as they locked with my own. I pulled away from the intensity of her gaze and fumbled around for some cash. Upon locating a twenty, I smiled and tossed it to her:

"Have one on me." I said and downed the last of my drink before wandering out the door. As soon as I was out of sight, I flung myself against a wall and, well, to put it lightly...started to hyperventilate. What was wrong with me? I could not shake the sensation that had escalated throughout me from where I had involuntarily touched her. I ran a shaky hand through my hair and looked up at the sky. The night was still stunning; the stars looked down upon me like gentle candle lights. I could hear my heart in my ears and everything about me felt weak.

Life rang all around me and my eyes struggled to stay still. And despite everything that I wanted to believe, something told me that this was just the beginning…