Giddiness worked its way into your heart at the thought of taking the love of your life out for a simple ice cream date. It might seem silly, but you knew the Rose from before would have rejoiced at such an opportunity. You'd both chosen to be guardians, moments like these were few and far inbetween. The chance to feel like a normal couple, doing normal things together. A small glance of a life that could have been.
Rose looked at you funny when you asked her to take a seat outside on the patio of the ice cream shop. Surprise washed over her face when you returned with her favorite flavor, chocolate.
"How did you know?" she asked suspiciously.
"Lucky guess," you shrugged.
She leaned over the small table and looked right into your eyes, "I don't believe you." She laughed before digging her spoon into the chocolatey goodness and taking her first bite. "Mmm, this is so good Dimitri." She moaned, taking another bite.
You gulped the bite of rocky road you had in your mouth, trying not to cough. You willed your body to relax, crossing your right leg over your left. But it was hard to relax, because you couldn't stop staring at how beautiful she looked when she enjoyed something. Not to mention the ungodly noises she made while eating her ice cream. You breathed a sigh of relief when she took her last bite and set her bowl down on the table.
"Is yours not good?" She asked, her nose scrunched up in confusion.
You snapped out of your daze, "It's great, I just like to savor my food," you said pointedly.
She scoffed at your teasing, "I savor my food," she defended.
"Prove me wrong then," you offered her a bite of your ice cream from across the table.
She leaned forward and took a slow sensual bite, moaning as the different flavors hit her tongue.
"See that's savoring," she smirked at your tense jaw.
Was she flirting with you? Rose's personality was naturally flirty but this was more than you were used to.
You didn't respond to her comment, taking another bite of your ice cream instead.
"The sunset, it's beautiful here."
"I told you Baia wasn't just a frozen wasteland," you laughed.
She looked over at you in confusion, "No you didn't. Did you?"
Shit. You'd spent so long lying to her, everything was starting to bleed together.
"Yes," you admitted. "When I was training you, you constantly teased me about Siberia being a frozen tundra."
She laughed, "Yeah I guess that sounds like me."
You finished your ice cream and grabbed her bowl to throw them both out. It was later than you expected, the sun almost completely gone. You patted your duster pocket for reassurance, feeling the cool stake touch your shirt. You'd walked here, and while it was only a ten minute walk from your home it was still risky.
"It's time to go Rose," she nodded in understanding, grasping the side of her thigh where her own stake sat.
The walk was quiet, both of you were now trained guardians. Equals. While there was no charge to take care of at this moment, dhampirs were still a second best choice for a thirsty strigoi. It was best to stay alert.
Two minutes away from home it happened. Two strigoi jumped out of an ally blocking your way.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Dimitri and his little pet. I thought you were dead, but I see the rumors are true."
You recognized the one speaking as one of Galina's henchmen, Artur. He had been there on the sidelines while you'd kept Rose captive, he was one of the ones who'd fought to possess her.
"I see you kept the little blood whore," he leered at Rose. "Not for long."
Over your dead body.
He striked, aiming for your face. You blocked him, but not quickly enough. You blocked out the pain and counter-attacked, buying you just enough time to reach for your stake. You heard the struggles of a fight happening next to you and prayed to god Rose was okay. Your moment of distraction cost you, Artur came quickly striking the other side of your face. You continued to fight him looking for any opportunity, any weak point, until you finally found it. As he lunged himself towards you again, you buried your stake right into his chest. His body crumpled to the ground, and you quickly looked over to see Rose standing over the body of the second strigoi.
You reached over and grabbed her face in your hands, "Are you okay Roza?"
She wouldn't look at you, she just kept staring at the ground.
"Roza please say something," You begged her.
"You're a fucking liar," she seethed looking at you with recognition for the first time in so long.
Your hands dropped to your sides, this was not how you'd wanted this to happen. Not here, where danger lurked in every corner and you had to keep moving. Not here where instead of talking to her you had to pull out your cell phone to dial the alchemists.
You grabbed her elbow as you started walking the rest of the way home, but she pulled her arm away roughly and walked ahead of you.
As you approached the lights of your childhood home you started to speak, "Rose,-" but she ignored you and ran inside.
In the living room the whole family was gathered watching tv, laughing and teasing until they saw the look on your faces.
Before your family could speak Rose asked, "What did I ever do to any of you? What did I do to deserve being lied to?" She wiped angrily at the tears running down her cheeks.
"She knows," Yeva spoke in russian.
"Oh Roza," Olena started, "It was never our intention to hurt you."
"Too late," Rose ignored Olena's protests as she ran up the stairs.
You followed after her determined to get her to listen to you. Coming all this way and having her walk away was not an option.
She tried to slam her bedroom door behind her but you were quicker, grabbing it and sneaking inside right behind her.
"Get out Dimitri!" She yelled at you.
"Rose, just-"
"How could you? How could you do this to me?"
"I-" You couldn't get a word in, her anger was strong and violent.
"Isn't it enough to not be loved by you? Did you feel sorry for me? Was this some guilt thing? All this time I've thought- but you. I feel so stupid."
"Roza, please. Just listen to me, I-"
"No!" She interrupted. "I've been listening Dimitri. I've been listening for months. How stupid am I? Right? Did you enjoy humiliating me? You bastard! I hate you!" She began to cry as she screamed at you.
"I hate you so much! You wanted to be rid of me so badly so what am I doing here? Why don't you just put me out of misery and get it over with?" She pounded her fists fiercely against your chest.
You grabbed onto her elbows, stopping her assault.
"Let me go! Let me go-"
You grabbed her face and kissed her violently, cutting off her protests. You felt your lips bruising at the force. Rose bit your lip, drawing a bit of blood but it only fueled you more. You grabbed the back of her neck pulling her even closer, your bodies pressed tightly together. Your hand on her jaw forcing her mouth to open for you. Your tongues intertwined, you couldn't hold back a groan at finally tasting her.
When you finally pulled away you felt the sting of her hand on your cheek.
"Fuck you, Dimitri. You made it perfectly clear how you felt about me." She cried as she turned around and grabbed her suitcase. Shoving anything she could find into it.
You grabbed her waist and turned her towards you, "Roza, I lied. It was a lie."
She shook her head vehemently, not wanting to believe a word that left your mouth. And how could you blame her? You'd lied to her for so long. But you'd have to find a way, she was not leaving here without knowing how much you loved her.
"I never stopped loving you, I was just in so much pain. So focused on torturing myself for what I did to you. I felt like I didn't deserve you, that looking at you would always remind me of the torture I put you through." You started to get choked up as you spoke, it still wasn't easy.
"But Roza, you were the reason I started to heal." You palmed her cheek and pressed your foreheads together. "I love you so much it hurts, and I know I don't deserve your forgiveness for lying to you. But please don't walk away. I promise to never lie to you again," tears were streaming down both of your faces, "I promise to work through this pain and learn how to forgive myself. Roza I can't stand to live in a world where you don't know I exist, it's unbearable."
Your eyes searched hers, "Please tell me there's a chance, please tell me I haven't fucked this up for the final time." You begged her.
There was a moment of silence, a moment of fear, where you weren't sure what she'd do next. But suddenly she was kissing you. You eagerly kissed her back, stepping forward and accidentally making her lose her balance. You both laughed as you fell back into the bed.
"I love you too, I never stopped." She whispered.
You smiled like a schoolboy at finally hearing those words. "I'll never let you go again." You promised her.
"You better not," you both laughed giddily.
There was still so much to discuss, so many issues you'd need to learn to work through. Trust that needed to be rebuilt, but you'd do it together. That was a conversation for the morning, right now there was a silent truce. An agreement to enjoy this moment. You wiped her wet cheeks and kissed every inch of her beautiful face, this woman was yours. Forever.
THE END