Dimitri POV

I liked Rose's hand in mine.

I couldn't help but rub my thumb over her knuckles, noting how rough her skin felt. She needed gloves. The air was cold and unforgiven against bare skin, so I kept her hand in mine. I told myself it was to prevent her knuckles from worsening, not just because I liked holding her hand.

I didn't want to let go.

It wasn't professional. I had passed that point the moment I danced with her at the party and thought about kissing her. It was easier to deny myself the possibility and push those dangerous thoughts away. But then she almost died in front of me.

Rose believed I would abandon her, but I knew I would never leave her side.

Without realising it, and without her even trying, Rose had filled every part of my mind—feelings I hadn't felt for another in a long time emerged—I cared for her. I cared for her more than I should as an employee.

It wasn't professional, but I stopped fighting it.

"Did you want to ask him anything?" Rose questioned; too shy to meet my eyes since promising to trust me.

The warmth that filled my chest when she agreed to try—I wouldn't betray her again. My fingers tightened around hers before relaxing; I looked towards the snow mound she pointed out earlier. "I don't know," I replied honestly. "I always wished I could talk to him again, but now I can't think of what to say."

"Shut up, Mason," Rose hissed under her breath. I twisted to look at her again, catching her exasperated look. She was staring in front of us; eyes flicked to our hands, and colour dusted her cheeks. "Go jump in the lake."

I felt Rose's hand shift, trying to pull back as her shoulders inched closer to her ears, and her eyes drifted to mine with unease—she was closing off from me. I kept my hold on her hand and moved closer to her. "It's okay," I assured her, swallowing thickly. I had to prove my words weren't fake. "Mason is here as well?"

Hesitancy shined back at me. She promised to trust me, but I knew I would have to earn it after how I reacted in the past. "Yeah," she replied after a moment of silence. Her fingers grasped mine. "He's being Mason—-likes to hear the sound of his own voice."

"He's always been with you," I voiced, remembering all the times she had mentioned him, and I believed it was all in her head. "Sounds like he's a good friend keeping an eye on you."

"Yeah. My best friend, the ghost," she mumbled. "He's actually the reason you got hired. I never knocked over any wine bottles, but he did. It was his great idea to stop me from buying more."

"I disagree with the method, but I'm glad it worked. If he hadn't got you in trouble, I never would have been hired, and then I never would have known that Ivan was still with me. So, I guess I should thank him."

Rose nudged me with her elbow, the tension falling away and a soft smile on her face. "Don't encourage him."

Hope filled my chest, as did warmth, knowing I'd managed to make her smile. I would do everything I could to give Rose a reason to smile each day.

Rather than return to the house, I took Rose through the town again. Her eyebrows rose when I pulled up in front of a diner.

"You didn't eat," I explained with a shrug.

"I'm fine." The response would have been believable if she wasn't staring at the burger poster in the window with longing.

I climbed out, pulling my duster tighter to my body as I crossed to her door and opened it. "Come on."

Rose eased herself out of the car; I didn't think twice before reaching for her hand to help balance her. She paused for a moment with eyes locked on our hands. When I thought she would pull away, she squeezed my fingers with hers instead.

I didn't let go of her hand.

"Just promise me that you won't try to set me up with anyone in there," I teased, smiling so she knew I wasn't mad.

Again, a blush coloured her face and a small scowl pulled at her lips. "I promise, my matchmaking days are behind me."

"Good."

xXx

Rose POV

The diner had a wood cabin theme, including a wooden statue of a bear holding a fish. I kept my comments to myself but shot Dimitri a look; he pressed his lips together but didn't respond. I stood back while he spoke to the hostess, only mildly surprised when his hand rested on my lower back to encourage me to follow her first. The gesture was something he had done in the past, but that time, it felt different. Maybe it was because we had been holding hands back at the lake; that and I had told him everything.

Almost everything.

Things were different between us now.

In some ways, it felt like before; it was easier to be around him again. Dimitri just up and leaving wasn't constantly on my mind anymore, his promise easier to believe than I thought it would be. I didn't have to worry about him thinking I was crazy either.

We sat in a booth by the window, piled up snow against the bottom of the glass; a few people walked past outside. The diner was on the main street, and it seemed no one feared the layer of snow or the chilling temperatures. After how long we were at the lake, I was grateful to be back inside. A heater vent was above us, and I leaned my face back to let the warm air hit my cheeks.

"We're getting you gloves after we eat," Dimitri declared, seated opposite me, eyes on me instead of the menu. It was very different—the look he gave me. It was fond. He never aimed an uncaring look at me. Concerned sometimes, and annoyed others, but it was always kind enough. Now, there was more, and I was too nervous to read into it.

I'm sure it was a similar look to what I gave him, but that wouldn't happen. Dimitri promised he wouldn't leave me, which meant he would be returning to the city and continuing the role of my bodyguard. You don't date your bodyguard. The moment Abe caught a whiff of anything alluding to romance, he would fire Dimitri.

As much as it pained me, I wouldn't risk losing him for a crush.

Mason and Ivan wandered around the diner, suspiciously keeping more of a distance than usual. Ever since Dimitri told me what happened at the hospital, the both of them would disappear or entertain themselves somewhere else. Mason, of course, managed to find the ghost of a woman in her twenties and was flirting. Ivan, on the other hand, chose an empty booth and sat in it, staring out the window with a relaxed expression. If you didn't know they were dead, you wouldn't have guessed from how they acted.

"What are you looking at?"

My eyes snapped to Dimitri's, and I swallowed thickly. After a moment, I answered, "Ghosts." I waited for his reaction; saying he believed me and talking about it in public were two different things.

Dimitri nodded, then glanced around, "Are there many here?"

He was so relaxed, and it caught me off guard. It wasn't the first time I've mentioned ghosts, but usually, he changed the subject or barely gave a response. Now, he wanted to talk about them. I tapped my fingers on the table, glancing around the diner again.

"There's some. None that seem pissed, so that's nice." I nodded to a couple sitting on the other side of the room, "Her mother is sitting at the table with them; she seems happy." I pointed at another table, "They have two ghosts. I think it's their grandparents."

Dimitri hummed, looking in the directions I indicated, listening with an intrigued expression. "How can you tell which are ghosts?"

I shrugged. "I just can. There's something about death that I can just…sense." It was weird to say anything of it out loud, but it was also freeing. "I can also tell when death is near," I admitted shyly.

That caught his curiosity. "You can tell when someone will die?"

"I can tell when it's near. If I see crows, then I know that it's close." My words made his eyes widen, lips parted in surprise.

"Crows?" He repeated, then looked down at his hands, rubbing his palms together slowly. "That's why you ran in front of that car, wasn't it? You knew something was about to happen." Our eyes met again, and his were filled with raw emotion.

"Yeah."

"You risked your life to save her," Dimitri continued with a hint of pride in his tone, even though there was a haunted look in his eyes.

The conversation ended, Dimitri staring at his hands, reliving memories of that day, while I accepted that was the first real conversation about what I saw. I felt lighter.

Our orders were taken, and we waited in a comfortable silence. I managed to relax in my seat and just enjoyed having company. Occasionally, Dimitri would ask more questions; about the ghosts I saw walking to my therapy appointments and what I saw at the Thanksgiving party. He wasn't pretending to be interested but was fully invested, leaning closer as he ate and asked another question.

"Do you think there's an afterlife?"

I paused mid-bite, pursing my lips as I thought. "I don't know. I mean, they all move on eventually, but Mason's never mentioned a bright white light. Or anything like that," I replied, "I think they just choose to leave when they are ready."

Dimitri took a few more bites before asking, "Do ghosts usually stay around?"

"Depends on if they still have stuff they want to do or if they are scared of what comes next. The ones in Abe's basement are definitely hanging around because of what comes next for them." I shivered at the thought of them.

"That's why you don't go down there?"

I gave him a pointed look. "If you could see them, you would avoid it too."

Dimitri nodded, finishing the last of his fries; I had already managed to devour mine, just as hungry as he'd assumed. I laid my hand over my stomach, happy to be full after barely eating earlier.

"So what now?" I asked.

"Now we go back home. I'm sure my mother is wondering if you're okay."

I wanted to sink into my seat. "Is she going to be mad at me? I was kind of a bitch earlier."

"She won't be mad," he assured me with a smile, "If anything, she'll mother you once we get back."

"Mother me?" I chortled. "As long as it's better than any of the mothering Janine's attempted."

To my surprise, Dimitri was right. The moment we stepped foot into the house, Olena asked if I was okay, followed by her making me sit on the couch by the fire. She pressed her hands to my cheeks and sent Dimitri a look of disapproval before offering me a hot chocolate.

"She's still healing, and you take her out into the cold for so long," she tutted at him.

"I took her for food," he replied, trying to defend himself, "and I got her new gloves."

I looked down at the red gloves I still wore; it wasn't cold in the house, and my palms had started to sweat, but I didn't want to take them off. Dimitri had bought them, refusing when I offered to pay. He had a warm smile on his face when he passed them to me; it made my stomach flip. It was really hard not to crush on him when he smiled at me like that.

I had to take them off when Olena returned with a steaming mug; the rich scent of chocolate made me lick my lips. Dimitri smiled at me again, his eyes flicking to the gloves laid on the armrest beside me.

He turned to his mother with a hopeful look, "Do I get one too?"

Olean made a soft noise of amusement, "You know where the kitchen is." A musical laugh fell from her lips as she watched Dimitri walk to the kitchen with a sigh. Olena sat beside me, resting a hand on my knee. "I'm sorry that lunch was uncomfortable, Roza."

I shook my head, stopping when I almost spilled my drink. "No, it wasn't—I'm sorry for how I acted," I quickly apologised. She had been nothing but kind to me, and I felt horrible that she apologised to me. It wasn't her fault I was messed up.

"It must have been very difficult all these years. I'm sorry that you've had to go through so much." Olena's eyes filled with sorrow, her hand squeezing in comfort. I sucked in a breath at her words.

"Dimitri told you?"

"He told me some, but my mother filled in the rest," she answered. "She said you needed some kindness. I'm thankful that Dimitri has been able to help, though I've been told he took some convincing."

Words didn't want to form, each becoming stuck on my tongue. I assumed she meant only the car accident or Mason's death, but Olena knew everything.

And she didn't question it.

Olena accepted the truth and didn't question it. Even Mason had taken a little convincing that it wasn't all in my head. Dimitri had to experience something moving to believe, and Yeva seemed to know more than she should. Olena had no reason to believe I could see the dead, but she did.

"You don't need to worry while you are here," Olena promised, her hand moving to my cheek. The gesture was so kind and motherly—something I hadn't experienced for years. "No one in this house will be cruel to you because of your gift."

"You believe me?" I couldn't help but ask; the same overwhelming feeling from earlier returned.

"I do."

Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. "You think it's a gift?"

She tilted her head, "Yes."

"It doesn't feel like one," I admitted, my eyes downcasted. It had never felt like a gift when it cost me everything.

"Blessings like this often don't. You were gifted the ability to help those who are lost and can't move on. It's a very important role to be given."

An important role. I used to believe I could see the dead for a reason and tried to help, but it became harder to believe. Each time someone looked at me like I was insane, each harsh word and abandonment made it impossible to consider it a gift.

I stared at the liquid in my mug, watching the steam slowly rise. "I don't think I was the right person to get this role."

"You are," Olena declared without any doubt. "You wouldn't have received it if you weren't strong enough for it. You'll understand in time." She pressed a kiss to the crown of my head, then stood from the couch. I couldn't bring myself to look up at her. Instead, her words played on repeat in my head.

Could I really see the dead for a reason?

Olena moved to the kitchen, her and Dimitri's voices drifting to the living room as they spoke. "Everything okay?" Dimitri questioned; I could hear the edge of concern in his voice.

"It's fine. Are you having dinner here tonight?" Olena asked, followed by the sound of cupboards opening.

"Yes, Mama."

"Good," she hummed, "Viktoria will be back soon."

A sudden tap on glass startled me; the rest of their conversation was lost as I stared out the window. A chill moved through my body as small black eyes stared back at me. A crow perched on the window sill, tilting its head before tapping the glass again.

It wasn't a normal crow.

It was a sign that death was near.

Just in case you didn't see my other author note, I'm pregnant and growing a tiny person has really slowed down my writing speed. I haven't abandoned this story, I just really needed to sleep. A lot.

I don't have an update schedule, but I hope to be posting more often in the future.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)