I got up and headed to the cafeteria for dinner, thinking I'd stop by Alberta's office on the way. We'd never outright spoken about Dimitri and me, but we needed to. It was cold out – we were, after all, only a few days before Christmas – so I grabbed a coat and headed across the commons. As luck would have it, Alberta was in her office.
"Rose," she greeted looking up from a mountain of papers. "You here to go through the paperwork for your kills?"
"Yes. But I also wanted to let you know something… About Dimitri." It was embarrassing to talk directly about my love, but it's not like she didn't already know.
"Yes?" Alberta looked at me tentatively. She was equally unused to me talking to her about my personal life.
"Well, you know how Christian's aunt Tasha Ozera is staying on campus at the moment? She knows Dimitri and has a crush on him. Christian confided in me that she was planning on using her visit to ask him to be her 'Guardian with benefits,'" I said, raising my eyebrows meaningfully.
"Oh," Alberta said, clearly surprised and a little out of her depth.
"She wants him to guard her and for them to also start a family together," I added so there was no misunderstanding what I meant. "I've spoken with Dimitri's family who also know her, and they said there's never been anything between him and Tasha. I know Dimitri loves only me, but they warned me that were she to find out about he and I she might get nasty. They said she's been a bit unstable about relationships in the past."
"I see," Alberta said slowly. "So who knows about you and Belikov?"
"You, Celeste, Guardian Schoenberg, and Dimitri's family. Stan might have an inkling because he walked into the gym when I was sitting on Dimitri's lap and crying just after he told me about his reallocation."
"You haven't told any of your friends?" She sounded surprised.
"No. Dimitri and I only had those few days, and then he was gone. It wasn't like they could help me with it because I couldn't tell them where he'd gone and why I was so upset, so it was easier just to say nothing. But I thought I should tell you about Tasha."
"Thank you, I'm glad you have. I suggest you let Celeste know about this, although I trust her not to say anything. Let me know if Tasha becomes an issue," she said thoughtfully. "Now - let me introduce you to the joy that is Guardian paperwork," she said with a chuckle, but not before she gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze.
It was Friday morning, and I dragged myself out of bed. I'd actually fallen asleep at a reasonable hour last night, but I was still exhausted. However I knew Celeste would be waiting for me in the gym, and I needed to bring her up to date on the Tasha situation.
I threw my hair up, brushed my teeth and dressed in sweats, racing to the gym only a few minutes late. I opened the inner door, and two things happened at once – first I saw Celeste and Tasha standing awkwardly next to one another, and then I started dry retching from the smell in the gym. The gym had high vaulted ceilings and upper windows that were opened in summer to air out the space. But being December, the windows hadn't been opened in months, and more of the combat classes were being held indoors. Consequently the space stank.
"How can you guys breathe in here?" I groaned, trying to stop myself from hurling. "It fucking stinks to high heaven!"
Tasha looked at me surprised, but Celeste nodded.
"I thought the same thing when I came in. Smells of sweat and piss." I hadn't actually noticed the particularly acrid scent of men's urine coming from their locker room until she mentioned it – and then I really wanted to chunder.
"Can we work out down that end of the gym?" I begged, pointing to the end away from the change rooms and closest to the doors.
"Good idea," Celeste murmured, dragging the equipment we were going to use with her.
"I hope you don't mind - I thought I might join you to train today?" Tasha said pleasantly. "Christian mentioned you train with Celeste every morning and afternoon, and since she's Dimitri's guarding partner, I was curious to meet her."
"That's fine," I said with a smile, although I didn't miss Celeste's 'what the fuck?' look to me from where she stood behind Tasha.
"Tasha is Christian Ozera's aunt," I explained to Celeste, "and an old friend of Dimitri's. She teaches martial arts in the human world. She's here visiting Christian and was hoping to surprise Dimitri." Understanding passed across Celeste's face.
"Yes we've been good friends for years," Tasha said suggestively. "I thought if you had an idea when he'd be back from Baia, I wouldn't have to call him and ruin the surprise."
"I wish I could help you," Celeste said with a friendly smile, "but I have no idea when he's due back. The guy has like three months of leave saved up, so he could be gone for ages."
"I guess I'll have to ring him, then," Tasha said with disappointment. "You must enjoy working with him? He's such a great fighter."
"Yeah D's a dream to work with," Celeste replied, watching Tasha's reaction carefully. Sure enough, the older woman's jaw tensed slightly. "He really knows how to treat a lady."
Tasha looked far from pleased with that comment.
"What do you mean?" she asked sharply. "Are you saying you and Dimka are more than just colleagues?"
"Oh God no!" Celeste laughed, a picture of innocence. "The opposite in fact. As a female Guardian, I've found a lot of male guarding partners like to try it on. Dimitri's not been like that at all. He's always been an absolute gent and very professional."
Tasha appeared mollified, and I smiled benignly. I knew Celeste had been intentionally misleading in order to gauge Tasha's response.
"I'm really tired today," Celeste commented. "You ok if we do a half workout, Rose? Just 100 reps?"
I smiled. "Suits me. I'm still recovering from the fight the other day," I said truthfully. But I knew what Celeste was up to. We usually did fifty reps! A hundred would almost kill me. In which case, they'd murder Tasha. A wicked glint in Celeste's eyes told me we were on the same page.
"We usually do thirty laps, two hundred chin-ups, sit-ups, press-ups, an hour of cardio and then we spar. It's snowing outside so we'll skip the run this morning, and maybe just do a hundred reps?" She was looking inquiringly at Tasha.
"Sure – that sounds great!" she replied, in a cheerless attempt at enthusiasm.
We did our stretches and headed over to the chin-up bars. It quickly became apparent that there was no way Tasha was going to be able to go the distance. Celeste and I were on either end, with Tasha in the middle. Doing one chin up for every two of ours, Tasha was red-faced and puffing while Celeste and I were having a conversation about workout leggings and specifically a new brand Celeste had discovered which were both inexpensive and comfortable.
"And you can online order which is a blessing when I'm stuck on campus and can't get to a store. What type do you wear, Tasha?" Celeste asked conversationally, giving me a cheeky look that Tasha missed.
"Can't remember," Tasha gasped, her usually pale face flushed red with exertion.
"Well I suggest you try the 'Chrystelle' range," Celeste carried on in a perfectly normal voice. "I've found them super comfy!"
"I might give them a go" I said to Celeste, making sure to keep any sound of exertion out of my voice.
"That's a hundred," Celeste said cheerfully. "Sit-ups next! We usually hold one another's ankles," she explained to Tasha who'd dropped from the chin up bar having completed maybe forty chin-ups. "Did you want to go or hold first?"
Tasha looked at her watch and then back to us. "I think I'll have to give it a miss – I've just remembered I promised Christian I'd drop by this morning, and it's later than I thought it was."
It was 6 pm, and I knew for a fact Sparky wouldn't be awake for at least an hour and a half, yet.
"That's a pity, Tasha. We'll be here again this afternoon and tomorrow morning if you'd like to join us then?" Celeste said with every indication of sincerity.
"If I'm free I will," she said, picking up her gym bag with shaking arms and waving us a weary farewell.
I lay on my back and Celeste grabbed my ankles. I started doing sit-ups as Tasha exited the gym. We waited until we heard the outer set of gym doors close before Celeste flopped down next to me and we laughed.
"I'm not going to be able to lift a glass this afternoon my arms will be so wrecked," she moaned.
"Me too," I said with a giggle.
"So she has a thing for Dimitri I see…" Celeste probed.
"Sure does," I confirmed, quickly outlining what Christian and then Dimitri's family had told me.
"I think it's best you just stay off her radar, then. She won't stay long once she knows Dimitri is on a mission. Plenty of time to deal with her later on if needs be."
"You're right," I agreed, but not without a little sadness. "Falling in love with the person you want to spend the rest of your life with is meant to be one of the happiest times of your life. I know there are a lot of good reasons why I can't, but I wish I could tell the world how I feel about him."
"As long as he knows that's the important thing," Celeste said hugging me. I guess she was getting into this training together thing – now she was delivering Zen life lessons!