Vampire Academy 1. prologue

I guess I should start at the beginning, my name is Rosemarie Hathaway but I don't go by that just Rose and I'm 18 years old. 3 years ago my mom, Janine, got a letter inviting her to her 25th Class Reunion, me her and my step-dad, Stan, went for about a week. That summer I met a bunch of awesome people, but we didn't really have much time to get to know each other and it definitely didn't give my mom enough time to catch up with all of her old friends from school and what not, so the next year me and her decided to go back and stay for about a month. Of course Stan couldn't spend that much time away from work but we decided to go without him, and that's how everything began… After the reunion my mom went searching for an old friend, and when she found her she decided when me and her went back we would stay the month with this new found friend and her family. At first first everything was great they took us in, her and my mom rekindled the friendship they had in school, and they made us feel like family. But after our 3rd visit to Montana, 2nd to her friends, things started to change, feelings developed that shouldn't have and I became the type of person I never wanted to be….

**AN: This is a new prologue with a few changes to it. **

**Summary: Rose goes to visit her mom's old classmate, Olena, and becomes best friends with her 2 youngest children, Dimitri and Viktoria. The next year they go to visit Dimitri has a few surprises. After a while Rose starts to think maybe there's more to her feelings towards Dimitri than just friendship….or not. Read and find out what happens. Lots of drama and surprises will pop up. **


	2. Ch1 Happy Reunions

**AN: Hey everyone thank you for all the support! A special thanks to **

** belikov**

**chispa **

**Vampire Academy Lover 13**

**I hope everyone enjoys this story its pretty special to me and I really enjoy writing it. Please R&R! :D**

"Are you excited? I'm excited!" I exclaimed.

"Calm down Rose focus on the road. I knew I shouldn't have let you drive through the night you always get so hyper and weird when you stay up for too long."

"I do not! I'm offended! You still didn't answer my question"

"What question?" she said exasperated.

"Are you excited?"

"Oh yea, but right now I'm a little more sleepy."

"I told you close your eyes and rest for a while. I'm young so I have more energy and can stay up longer without getting tired, your old and can't"

"Gee thanks Rosemarie, and no what I can't do is go to sleep in the car while your driving across the country."

"Why not? I'm an awesome driver you don't have to worry"

"I know its just a thing I have you know that"

"Well good news for you….we're here!" I said excitedly pulling into the Belikovs. I was so ecstatic, I have really missed them over the last year. As we pulled into the drive way Viktoria, Olena's youngest daughter, burst through the front door.

"Rose!" she said running over as I got out of the car. As soon as I was all the way out she attacked me with a hug. Last summer me and Viktoria became really good friends almost like sisters. Actually the only people closer to me was my friend/sister Lissa, and ironically Viktoria's older brother Dimitri.

"Hey Viki! I take it you missed me?" I said laughing hugging her back. "I can't breathe anymore"

"Oh sorry," she said letting me go "And of course I've missed you its been forever!"

"Yes but we talk almost everyday."

"But its not as good as in person"

"True"

"Aunty Rose! Aunty Janey!" Shouted Paul, Olena's oldest daughter Sonya's 8 year old little boy.

"Hey little man, how are you?" I said reaching out for him, he jumped in my arms and I spun him around.

"Good" he said

"Have you been causing trouble?"

"Just a little bit."

"Oh Paulie what are we going to do with you? Whats my number 1 rule?"

"Always cause trouble wherever you go!" He said word for word.

"Good!" I said putting him back down on the ground and patting his head.

"Rosemarie quit teaching him that!" my mother scolded.

"Oh mom I'm just messing around!"

"Janine, Rose! Glad you're here finally how was the trip?" asked Karolina, Olena's second oldest daughter.

"Long!" my mother and I said at the same time. Karolina came over and gave us a hug as the rest of the family started making their way outside. When I saw Olena I ran and gave her a hug.

"Olena I've missed you!"

"I've missed you too dear." She said laughing.

"Have you made any black bread recently?"

"There's a fresh pan in the oven."

"Wow Rose I see where your priorities lay." Said a certain Russian voice that made my heart speed up. Even though Olena's American, right out of high school she went to Russia for college, ended up falling in love, getting married, and having kids over there. Her and her husband split up 10 years ago and moved back to the US.

"Dimitri!" I exclaimed running towards him. "Of course I've missed the black bread more have you eaten my mothers cooking its like I've been deprived for an entire year!"

"Well I guess I'll just leave then." He said pretending to turn around. I took the advantage and jumped on his back hugging him from behind and wrapping my legs around his waist.

"I'm just kidding comrade, I've missed you more than Olena's cooking. How could I not?"

"Wow that's what he gets and I barely get a hug AND you don't even tell me you missed ME! I see how it is.' Interrupted Viktoria.

"Aww I missed you too! I said getting off Dimitri, "I've just missed him more" I joked.

"Wow thanks Rose."

"I've been getting that a lot today….I'll blame it on sleep deprivation." I said grinning. Not much could really get me down right now, Being in Montana was like having a second family, except their better than my real family.

"Come on lets go get yall settled and you can rest" said Olena walking towards the door.

"Rose before we go in can you get the bags?" asked my mom even though coming from her it wasn't really a question.

"Sure mom who needs sleep anyway" I smarted off.

"Watch your mouth young lady." She warned.

I walked to the car and popped the trunk but before I knew it Dimitri was standing in my way grabbing things.

"I see you still haven't learned to pack lightly."

"Hey who knows how long we'll be here/ last year we were here for 3 weeks this year probably longer."

"You do know we have a washer ad a dryer right?" he said smirking.

"Yes but I don't know what I'll want to wear everyday, and I'll get tired of the same clothes every week so therefore I have to bring extra to spice it all up" I said using my Rose logic, smirking back at him.

"You certainly are one of a kind Roza."

"I'm going to hope that was a compliment and if not well I'm going to take it as one because I am one of a kind and what would the world do without me."

"Umm have less back problems, be able to hear, actually get a word in…" I cut him off.

"Hey that was a rhetorical question! You're not supposed to answer it you know."

"I'm so proud of you for knowing what rhetorical means!" he said sarcastically.

"That's not very nice." I said and stormed off even though I wasn't mad at him really, I mean hell I'm surprised I know what it means myself. By this point we were entering the living room with our luggage, me with one bag and my purse him with two huge bags.

"You are sharing a room with Vicki and your mom is getting Paul's room."

"Okie Doke." I said walking towards Paul's room I passed it and stopped waiting for Dimitri to drop off my moms' bag then kept walking towards Vicki's without saying a word.

"Oh come on now Roza you're not really mad at me it was just a joke"

I still didn't say a word.

"Hmm I think this is the quietest you've ever been….I think I like it."

We got to Vicki's room and I entered and swung the door behind me. It hit him in the shoulder because he was turned making sure the bag fit through the door way.

"Rose that's not very nice." He scolded as I put my bags down. He put down my bag and walked towards me. I turned away and folded my arms pretending to be mad still. That was a bad idea because next second Dimitri was tickling me.

"Dimitri stop!" I said laughing.

"Ah so you can still speak. I was getting worried there." I started squirming around trying to wiggle out of his grip.

"Dimitri!"

"Are you still mad at me?" he asked. I was still wriggling away, but something caught my foot and I fell. Dimitri fell with me but it didn't stop him from resuming his tickling.

"Yes very much so, see if talk to you anymore since you prefer it when I'm quiet!" I said laughing trying to put on a mad face.

"Roza you know I was just playing with you. I love hearing you talk." He said smirking, I knew he was over exaggerating but he was just trying to make me happy so I played along.

"You better"

"Or else what?"

"Or else your summer is going to suck without being able to talk to me"

"Hmm I believe your right." He said with a smirk.

"Damn right I'm right." By now he had stopped tickling me and I noticed our position. He was laying on top of me leaning on his forearms. I looked at him and all the joking was gone from his face, but there was still a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

"You know you look a lot better when you're smiling."

"Thanks" he said blushing a little.

"Aww Dimitri don't blush, it's the truth. Your so uptight." I said jokingly trying to lighten the mood.

"I'll show you uptight" he said tickling me again.

"Dimitri!... Stop!" I screamed

"Am I interrupting something?"

I looked up to see Viktoria standing in the doorway with an amused expression on her face.

"Nope nothing at all" I said as Dimitri quickly stood up and offered me a helping hand.

"Your brother here was just being a jerk."

"I saw that" she said laughing.

"So what'd you need?"

"You do realize this is MY room right? I don't need a reason to come to my room."

"Yea yea so why'd you come up her to YOUR room."

"Well you were taking so long we were wondering if you fell asleep yet, momma said her black breads done so you can get a piece then go to bed." Before she even finished talking I had looked at Dimitri and took off running, him following not far behind. Before we reached the stairs he was passing me.

"Oh no you don't" I said speeding up. At the bottom I passed him and made it to the table just before him. I turned and looked at him.

"Ha" I said rubbing it in his face, even though I'm pretty certain he let me win.

"Whatever just don't eat it all."

"What are you trying to say Dimitri Belikov?"

"Here you go dear." Said Olena handing Dimitri and I a plate of black bread.

"I'm saying you eat a lot."

"Well I would say that's rude but it's the truth so I'll let that one slide"

"You better"

"Or else what?"

"Look at you two, haven't even been here for a day and you've already started!" Remarked Olena with a laugh.

"What can I say Olena we're just that good." I said smirking

"Good at what?" she joked.

"Everything!"

"You make no sense!" exclaimed Dimitri.

"Whatever" I said and despite my happy excited mood I yawned.

"Your tired go to sleep." Said Dimitri.

"I think I might, but let me go lay on the couch first." I said exhaustion finally getting to me. We had decided to drive straight through the night without stopping and dang was I tired!

"No go upstairs, you know as well as me if you lay on the couch you won't get back up till tomorrow."

"No I'll just lie down for a second"

"Roza why don't you go upstairs?"

"Because its too much work, and I'm too tired, so if I rest first maybe I'll have energy to make it upstairs…eventually."

"Here let me help" he said coming to stand beside me. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and helped me stand, supporting half my weight. We got to the bottom of the steps and I looked at him.

"I don't think this is going to work."

"Me neither." He agreed, next thing I knew he was sweeping my legs out from under me.

"Whoa" I said not expecting it. He carried me all the way upstairs and took me to Vikki's room and threw me on the bed.

"Wow way to totally ruin it. You were actually being nice for once and had to go ruin it."

"What are best friends for?" he said with a laugh. I climbed under the covers, and stuck my tongue out at him. He started to walk away.

"Hey Dimitri." I said stopping him, he turned around and looked at me. "Thank you and I'm glad I'm back for the summer, and that we're still friends."

"Me too Roza me too," he said, then walked out of the room. I rolled over on my side, and thought about how exciting my summer was going to be. I was back with 2 of my best friends, I was back with my family! I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep happy for just a little while.


	3. Chapter 2 Secrets and Skanks, Oh Joy!

**AN: Thank you all for all the reviews, alerts, favorite story and favorite author adds! It means a lot and I greatly appreciate it. **

**To anybody who reads my other story I am so sorry it's taking forever, yet again I'm having a little writers block so please forgive me and I promise I am working on the next chapter for it now.**

**If you do or even if you don't read my other story, I would really like your help. I need 2 songs. One that Tasha could sing to piss off Rose and one that Rose could sing in response. I have 2 songs picked out but they're just not flowing that well so any ideas would be awesome! Now back to this story.**

**Well I guess yet again I forgot the disclaimer but this will be the only time I will most likely remember so here it goes"**

**I do not own VA, any of its characters, or any music or songs I might add later in the story.**

**Now that that's done here's the next chapter. Please Review, whether you it's just to say you like it, hate it, have suggestions or whatever. I always love constructive criticism, helpful hints, or ideas that any one might have! :D**

The next morning I woke up and looked at the clock. It read 6:30 am! I guess that's what happens when you go to bed at 6 pm. I tried to lay back down and sleep a little longer because Rose Hathaway NEVER gets up that early but it didn't work. So seeing as I couldn't go back to sleep and no one was awake yet I threw on some workout clothes and went for my morning run. After running about 3 miles I decided to call it quits for the day.

I snuck into the room careful not to wake up Viktoria, grabbed some clothes and headed to the shower. When I was done I was putting on my clothes I started walking back to Viktoria's room but voices in Dimitri's distracted me. I tiptoed over there to make sure he didn't hear me.

"She's going to hate me." Said Dimitri. Who's going to hate him and what did he do to make someone that mad?

"You need to tell her Dimitri. She's already going to be pissed enough that yu waited this long" Said Viktoria.

"I will" he answered

"When?"

"When the time's right."

"Dimitri the time will never be right. You have to look at it from her point of view. You're her best friend. Even though you've only known each other for a year, she tells you everything and she thinks you do the same, so you need to grow a pair and tell her before you prove her wrong! Get what I'm saying?"

"Yes but she hates her, she's going to be soooo mad at me, I'll be lucky if I get to keep my 'pair' as you like to put it." I imagined that he put air quotes when he said pair. I realize they were talking about me and I know I shouldn't keep listening but hey they were talking about me and I was very curious as to what he did that's going to piss me off and who the other 'her' was.

"Your right you will be lucky if you do but only because you've waited so long to tell her!"

"I'll tell her sheesh aren't you supposed to be there FOR me and not to yell AT me.?"

"Not when it comes to stuff like this." I could tell that most likely they were done talking about it so I went to go back into Viktoria's room but as luck would have it the moment I took a step the floor squeaked. Instead of being, then I did the stupidest thing I could have done, I ran back to Viktoria's room all in an attempt to not get caught and shut the door as quietly as possible. I ran over to her mirror and started to brush through my hair again to make it seem like that's where I've been this whole time.

A few minutes later I heard foot steps, and Viltoria's door open and close but I was afraid to look and see who it was.

"I know you were listening" asked Dimitri , he sounded off. Kind of a mixture between pissed and worried at the same time.

"What are you talking about?" I said not looking at him.

"Rose." He said sounding somewhat irritated

"Hmm?"

"Look at me." I turned and looked at him.

"How much did you hear?" he asked looking slightly mad. His expression kind of pissed me off. Shouldn't I be the one that's upset? He's the one hiding something from me.

"Enough." I said shortly.

"Like?" he asked now looking a little worried.

"Enough to know your not telling me something, and from the sound of it, it's pretty important."

"I guess you could say that." He muttered. I looked at him pointedly waiting for him to tell me but he just stood there.

"Well….?" I asked.

"Well what?"

"Are you going to tell me?"

"Do you remember Tasha?"

"The bitch from last summer? Yea but what does she have to do with anything?"

"If you'll wait I'll tell you." He said but then he went silent for a minute. "Please don't get upset at me for not telling you sooner but….me and Tasha are engaged."

"WHAT? Really your engaged to her? But she's so ugh!" I said trying not to be too mean. When in all honesty just hearing her name made me want to punch something. Her and Dimitri were dating last summer, but he had quit talking about her so I had kind of hoped they had broken up.

"There's more." He said looking at the floor.

"She's pregnant." He muttered. It was so low I could barely hear him and I was hoping tat I had misheard him.

"Say what?" I asked.

"She's pregnant." He said a little louder.

"How far?'

"5 Months."

"And how long have you known?"

"About 4 months ago."

"And when did you pop the question?"

"3 and a half months ago." I just stood there for a minute looking anywhere but at him. I walked up to him until I was about a foot away, and fought the urge to slap him. I looked at him but he was staring at the floor.

"Dimitri Belikov, look at me." I said sternly. He looked up. "We talk on the phone almost everyday and email all the time, why didn't you tell me all of this when it happened?"

"It never came up" he said trying to sound innocent.

"It never came up?" I said raising my voice a little. I had been trying to remain calm, something Dimitri had tried teaching me last summer so I could attempt to stay ungrounded all year, it had for the most part stuck minus a few exceptions. It looked like this would be one of those exceptions.

"When did you expect it to come up? HOW was it supposed to come up? Was I suppose to just randomly say 'Oh hey Dimitri have you gotten engaged or I don't know knock someone up since I've been gone?' I mean come on Dimitri, really?" I said, my voice getting louder and louder as I talked.

"No." he said

"No? No what?"

"No I didn't expect you to say any of that."

"Then how did you expect it to just randomly come up in one of our conversations." He ran a hand through his hair and went to sit at the end of Viktoria's bed, and again looked at the floor.

"I don't know." He said softly.

"Look I need some air so I'm going to go for a walk. We'll continue this later." I said knowing my anger was not going to get us anywhere. I turned and started to walk out the room, but as soon as I opened the door I saw Viktoria jump back and try to act as if she wasn't listening through the door.

"Hear anything interesting?" I asked with a smirk.

"I…I…I was just coming up to tell you all that everyone's gone for the day. Mama, Janine, and Yeva went shopping with Paul for some school clothes, and Sonya and Karolina are at work." She said trying to cover it up.

"Mhmm….well I'm going to go take a walk you two do whatever." I said walking towards the stairs. Before I got all the way there I heard Viktoria say "You Idiot!" and heard Dimitri say "Ow what was that for?" so I figured she hit him upside the head, since I didn't hear her slap him. Even though a part of me wanted to stay and see exactly why she was calling him an idiot, I decided to let them talk, and kept walking.

Once I got outside my thoughts ran wild. I knew I shouldn't really have gotten so angry, it just upset me that he wouldn't tell me something that huge. I mean I know it's weird that we became such close friends after only knowing each other for a month, and that we've stayed such close friends after almost a year of not seeing each other face to face. But I don't know with Dimitri it's different. After knowing him for a week I felt like I had known him my whole life. When I was with him I felt comfortable telling him everything, even things I would never tell Lissa. It hurt to know that he kept this from me and thought that he couldn't tell me without me getting mad.

In a way I understand why he didn't tell me, because I am mad, but not at him. He's probably only marrying her because she's pregnant and the little she-devil probably purposely got pregnant to make him stay or cheated on him and is saying it's his so she doesn't get caught, and so he'll stay. My guess is the second choice, I've seen her when he's not around.

The strangest part of it all is when he told me I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time, jealous. But that's just crazy. Dimitri and I are JUST really good friends, nothing more.

'_I don't even like him like that…do I?'_ I thought to myself. But I just shook my head as if to clear the question out of my head. No, there is no way I actually like Dimitri like that, '_we are just really good friends, that's it nothing more and nothing less' _I answered myself.

By this point I had pretty much walked around the entire block, so I decided to go back in and finish talking to Dimitri.

When I got inside the house, I smelled an amazing smell, so I walked towards the kitchen. I found Dimitri in front of the stove cooking what looked like blini, Russian type pancakes.

"Hey, smells good" I said a little soft so he'd know I wasn't angry anymore. As I was talking I walked over and sat down at the table.

"Thanks, I figured you would be hungry when you got back." He said not turning around.

"Right you are" I said with a grin, as soon as I finished talking my stomach growled as if in agreement., causing Dimitri to chuckle. It was an amazing thing to hear. For some reason he always trys to make everyone believe he's some hard ass that never smiles or laughs, but if you get lucky enough to know the real Dimitri, you find out that he's actually a big softy on the inside.

"Here," he said handing me a plate of food, "Now tell that thing to shut up"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." I said as he started walking back towards the stove to finish making his. I immediately dug in and actually moaned when I first tasted it. Dimitri turned and raised an eyebrow at me.

"What? It's amazing!" I said defending myself.

"So you moan?' he questioned, but seeing as I had already shoved another forkful in my mouth I just shrugged. He finished cooking his food, made a plate and sat across from me at the table. We ate in silence and when I was done I started washing my dishes. Soon after Dimitri came over and put his in then started drying the dishes for me. When we were done I dryed off my hands, faced Dimitri and leaned back against the counter.

"I'm sorry I got so mad at you earlier I was just hurt that you waited so long to tell me and still wouldn't have told me if I hadn't heard you and Vika talking"

"I would have told you soon I just didn't want you to be mad at me."

"Dimitri, I may not be able to stand Tasha, but I'm going to support you. I don't think she's right for you, but it's your decision not mine. I know your just trying to do the right ting by marrying her" he went to say something but I raised my hand to stop him, knowing what he was going to say, and kept talking, "no matter what you say. I know you and I think it's very noble of you. I just want you to be happy, if you think being with her and creating a family is what will make you happy then i'm not going to get mad at you or hate you. Just in the future I would like to be told about major stuff like this when it happens. I don't like secrets or being kept in the dark. Got it?" I said pointing my finger at him at the last part.

"Thank you Rose it means a lot to me. I promise from now on no more secrets." He said coming over and giving me a hug. I loved it when he gave me hugs, something about them always puts me at ease.

"Hey what are best friends for?" I joked, reluctantly pulling out of the hug. He smiled and I knew everything was ok once again.

"Where's Viktoria?" I asked suddenly realizing the house was a little too quiet.

"She went out with a few friends."

"Oh well whats on the agenda for today?" I asked but as soon as I did his face kinda fell and he looked a little nervous.

"You already have plans don't you?" I asked

"Yea." He said reluctantly

"I'm guessing with Tasha?" but my question was answered by a high pitched voice coming through the door.

"Dimka!"

"Oh goody!" I mumbled sarcastically. I tried to say it low enough that Dimitri didn't but with him being so close he did. He shot me a look as if to say be nice, and I held up my hands in a gesture as if to say 'ok, ok'.

"In here Tasha." He somewhat hollered to Tasha. I heard her start to walk into the kitchen, and immediately I started to get annoyed, its just the effect she has on me. She entered the room and ran straight to Dimitri and gave him a huge hug and an extra long kiss, acting as if I wasn't in the room but in all honestly I knew she was putting on a show just because I was here. It started to get awkward so I cleared my throat and Dimitri pulled out of the kiss. Tasha immediately put a pouty look on her face, or at least I think that's what it was supposed to look like. Then she pretended to notice me for the first time.

"Oh you're here." She said coldly.

"Nice to see you too Tasha." I said with a fake smile on my face. "I guess congratulations is in order."

"Thank you."she said grabbing onto Dimitri's arm possessively. She turned to look at him, "Dimka are you ready?"

"Yea let me go get my duster." He said starting to walk towards his room.

"God forbid you forget your duster, even if it is 100 degrees outside." I said with a grin, turning around to grab the wash rag I used to do the dishes and put it in the laundry. As soon as I turned around he walked by me playfully hitting me upside the head.

"Hey now! Watch the hair!" I joked, as Tasha made a disgusted noise. I ignored her and turned towards the stairs as he walked up them.

"Don't worry paybacks a bitch, nobody messes with THE Rose Hathaway!" I yelled after him. I turned back around to grab the rag and tried to ignore Tasha's presence in the room, but yet again luck was not on my side.

"Listen you little whore, stay away from Dimitri." She said coldly, but I just laughed. "I'm serious he is mine, we're getting married and starting a family. For some reason he actually likes being around you, one of his major flaws, but don't worry I plan on taking care of that soon. So just back off and stay away and you won't get hurt."

"First off, I'm not a whore and who are you to call anyone that, if that's' not a hypocrite I don't know what one is. Secondly I'm not scared of you no matter what you threaten. And thirdly bring it honey, I'm not going anywhere." She glared at me and went to say something back but as soon as she opened her mouth we heard Dimitri walking down the stairs.

"Bout time." I muttered. She turned and glared one last time before he entered the room. I swear he purposely took forever, I mean seriously it doesn't take that long to go grab a duster and come back down.

"Are you ready?" he asked Tasha.

"most definitely" she said giving him a huge smile, and yet again possessively grabbing onto his arm.

"Are you ok here by yourself?" Dimitri asked me.

"She's a big girl" Tasha said before I could respond. "Plus I'm sure there's still one or two guys she hasn't slept with that would be more than willing to occupy her time."

"Oh Tasha has being pregnant affected your memory too? Because I think you have me mixed up with yourself." I said innocently.

"You bitch!" she spat.

"Why thank you!" I said with a smile. Dimitri sighed and looked at me.

"Rose?" he said trying to get me to answer his original question.

"Yes I'll be fine. I'll probably go catch up with Vika or go say hey to Adrian. I told him I'd let him know when I came into town again." I said with a wink. Dimitri didn't like Adrian, they graduated together and Adrian had the reputation of a womanizer. I've never slept with or even dated him, not that he wasn't interested, I just don't like him like that.

"Ok well be careful and let me know if you need anything I have my cell on me so you can get ahold of me if you need to." He said pulling his arm out of Tasha's death grip and came over to give me a hug. I couldn't see Tasha's face but I'm almost 100 % positive that if looks could kill I'd be dead. So I did what most would expect me to I pulled him even closer and kissed him on the cheek, in a friendly way of course. He just chuckled and shook his head, knowing exactly why I did it. He walked over to Tasha and she resumed cutting the blood flow off to his arm.

"Have fun." I said as they started to walk off. "Oh and Tasha his fingers are turning purple so you might want to loosen up your grip unless you want him to lose it. He's not going anywhere." I said trying to sound helpful. She went to turn around to smart off to me, but Dimitri cut her off.

"Come on babe, we don't want to be late. Bye Rose." He raised his voice on the last part to make sure I heard.

"See ya!" I hollered back at him.

Well what to do now?


	4. Chapter 3 Volleyball

**AN: Sorry it's taken so long hopefully it won't next time. Everytime I plan on writing, my professors assign extra homework or something but I'll try to update faster.**

**As of right now this story might not have very many chapters, probably around 10-15 if that, but if you will give me some ideas or imputs it could be longer.**

**Thank everyone for all the reviews! You all make my day! I've decided to do something new and acknowledge all my reviewers so thank you to:**

**VampGirl4EverandEver**

**Vampire Academy Lover 13**

**DO'B**

**lulub22**

**Behatley**

** belikov**

**lovingbites**

**chispa**

**thank you all so much for taking the time out to review even if it was just one word or a paragraph or 2.**

**Well now to the story, please R&R and any ideas questions comments or suggestions please feel free to let me know! =D**

Finally I decided to go visit Adrian. I knew he still had a job at the convenient store down the street so I figured that'd be the best place to find him. I walked over to it since it was just a few blocks away. Once I got there I was able to sneak without him seeing me because he was so busy so I hid in the back waiting for the line to go away. The last girl in line was a some blonde bimbo and Adrian was definitely flirting with her.

"Well hey there cutie, what's your name?"

"Mia." She said with a grin.

"Well has anybody ever told you that your damn sexy?" he said with a smile.

"Aw thanks but I don't think my boyfriend would appreciate you saying that." She said innocently.

"Well he doesn't ever have to know. I can be our little secret."

"You know what else can be our little secret?" she said seductively leaning over the counter.

"What?" he asked.

"This…" she said right as she swung her arm back and punched him in the face, not hard enough to break anything or do major damage just enough to hurt. "The fact that you just got punched by a chick You pig, your not even my type."

I couldn't help myself I busted out laughing, I thought she was a bimbo but I was waaayyy wrong!.

"Damn girl that was awesome!" I said going up to her and giving her a high five.

"Thanks I try." She said laughing with me.

"ROSE?" Adrian asked finally realizing who I was.

"No the cookie monster, yes it's me?" I said still laughing.

"Wait your Rose? Rose Hathaway?" Mia asked.

"Yea why?" I asked curious as to how she knew my name.

"I'm dating Ivan, Dimitri's best friend." She said and I just gave a small nod to show her that I knew who he was but was still confused on how she knew me. "Dimitri talks about you ALL the time, hell here recently we haven't been able to get him to shut up, ever since he found out for sure you were coming. I feel like I practically already know you!"

A part of me was shocked he talked about me, and the other was very flattered.

"Your going to the volleyball game tonight right?" she asked.

"What volleyball game?" I asked curious as to why she would assume I was yet Dimitri hadn't mentioned it.

"Our annual 'beach' volleyball tournament." She answered with a 'duh' tone in her voice "of course we don't actually have a beach around here so it's actually just a sand volleyball court but it's still loads of fun. You should come, all the teams are filled up at the moment but we always have somebody not show up for some reason or another. I'm actually surprised Dimitri didn't tell you about it. He signed up weeks ago, along with his sister Viktoria."

"Hmm….well neither mentioned it but I'll be sure to come it sounds fun!"

"K well i'll see you there!" she said with a smile then walked off.

"You know I think I might like her." I said more to myself then Adrian, as I started walking over to the counter.

"she sure pacts one hell of a punch.." he muttered causing me to laugh again.

"Adrian it wasn't even that hard of a punch. Get over it."

"Tsk tsk little vixen I was going to come give you a hug but seeing as your being incredibly rude I think I just won't" he said using the nickname he game me last summer.

"Oh Adrian I'm horribly wounded! I don't know how I can live now!" I said over exaggerating, being the sarcastic bitch that I am. I grabbed onto my chest as if I'd been shot or stabbed.

"Haha very funny." He remarked dryly.

"Here is this better? Oh Adrian I'm so sorry that I was such a horrible bitch to you can you ever forgive me?" I asked just as sarcastic and overly dramatic.

"A little." He said a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

"Too bad, like I'd ever actually say the word sorry seriously!" I said laughing

"Oh how I've missed you my little vixen." He said with a grin, "Life is just too boring without you!"

"Oh I know how do you survive in this little town without me?"

"I'm not quite sure." He oked back. Then he jumped over the counter and gave me a hug.

"I thought I was too mean to hug?"

"Just shut up and hug me!" he said with a laugh. "Why didn't you tell when you were coming?"

"Because I didn't really know. It was kind of spur of the moment."

"Oh well I'm going to take my break so lets go outside shall we?" he asked holding his arm out for me to link mine into.

"Your so weird." I said with a grin linking my arm with his. We went outside and he leaned against the wall while lighting up a cigarette.

"So the volleyball thing tonight…you going?" I asked him.

"Hell yea! Hot babes in bikini's and sports bra's!"

"You realize that's why Mia punched you right?"

"I'm aware.'

"Ok just checking. Where is it?"

"The park down the street." And so our conversation went until a customer went inside. He had to go back to work but said he'd catch up with me later.

I decided to walk back to the house. When I got there my best friend Lissa texted me.

**L-Guess What?**

**M-What?**

**L-I'm coming to Montana to visit….if Olena says it's ok..**

**M-AWESOME! Call me now!**

She did and we talked for a few hours she told me why she was going to come visit, something about her parents can't do the full vacation they promised instead they're cutting it to only one week instead of one month so to make it up to her they said she could come to Montana. Really the main reason she wanted to come was to see Christian, her kinda boyfriend thing. Christian is Tasha's little brother and also Dimitri's friend, and he walked in on me and her skyping last summer, then they started talking and now are going out. It was kind of weird to me seeing as they've never actually met just skyped but whatever. I filled her in on everything that has happened minus the whole thinking that I might like Dimitri for a millisecond thing. I don't know why but I just felt it would be better if I didn't tell her about it, but I promised myself if anything similar happened I would tell her immediately. Finally we hung up and I went to get ready for the volleyball tournament. I decided to wear my spandex shorts from a volleyball camp I helped run a few years ago and my bright red sports bra, with a random white t-shirt with the sleeves cut out. As I was getting ready Dimitri texted me, me being me decided to mess with him.

**D-what are you doing tonight?**

**M-Hanging with some friends I met today….why**

**D-Oh….**

**M-Why?**

**D-Well I was going to see if you wanted to come to this thing with me tonight but I guess if your busy then nevermind….**

**M-oh sorry if I would've known sooner I would have said no….**

**D-No it's ok go have fun I'll ttyl**

**M-k ttyl.**

'_If only he knew' _I laughed to myself as I walked out the door on my way to the tournament.

As I pulled up I saw a huge crowd. Probably the whole city as small as this town is. I parked and ran to find the people I did know. First I ran into Mia.

"Guess what Rose!" she exclaimed.

"What Mia?" I shouted back at her laughing.

"Somebody on my team bailed so you get to play on my team!"

"Awesome! We are so going to dominate!" I said excited I get to play, just then I saw Dimitri and he was turned around so that his back was facing me, standing in front of a bleacher.

"Hold on I'll be right back." I said to Mia, she looked over to see what I was looking at.

"Ok well our first games at 6:30 on court 2" she hollered after me. I snuck up behind Dimitri being as quiet as possible. I ran onto the bench, using it as a step then jumped onto Dimitri's back and covered his eyes laughing. He caught me like I knew he would, but he did stumble just a tad.

"Roza?" he asked laughing, even though I knew he already knew the answer.

"Damn how'd you figure it out?" I said uncovering his eyes but staying on his back, he turned to look at me through the corner of his eye.

"Because you're the only one brave enough to do that" he said still laughing. _'I wish I could hear him laugh everyday' _I thought, then quickly shook my head trying to get rid of those thoughts.

"Yea I am pretty tough, I'm not scared of you at all." I said jokingly. Stepping back onto the bench. He turned around and faced me but I stayed on the bench, liking the feeling of finally being tall.

"Oh is that so?" he questioned with an evil gleam in his eye.

"Yes, your really not that scary." I said egging him on, even though that was pretty much a lie. When he wanted to be he could be scary as hell, luckily he's never scared me personally but I've seen him when Viktoria's boyfriends' come over.

"Well I think we're just going to have to change that." He said and as soon as he finished he lunged at me. The whole time he'd been talking I was walking towards the other en of the bench but it didn't help me at all. He grabbed me and started tickling me again!

"Not this again!" I exclaimed between laughs.

"Say I'm scary."

"No….your ….just…annoying….as…hell!" I said laughing. He started tickling me even more when I said that. I'm sure we had a pretty good crowd watching us but I didn't care, it was as if they weren't there.

"Roza I'll quit if you just say it."

"IT!" I shouted being a smartass.

"Wrong!" he said laughing at me.

"Fine…you're a big scary Russian!" I shouted trying to wiggle out of his grip.

"That's better." He said with a smile as he quit tickling me.

"You're so mean." I mumbled.

"What was that?" he said bringing his hands back up.

"Nothing!" I exclaimed quickly. "I said your awesome!"

"You better have." He said with a serious face, but I could see the amusement in his eyes.

"God I've missed this!" I exclaimed with a laugh.

"Me too Roza." He said with a chuckle. Then the bitch decided to show up an ruin it all.

"DIIIIIIIMMMMMKKKKAAAA!" she squealed way too loud. I just rolled my eyes and he gave me a look. "I've been looking all over for you!" she said wrapping her arms around his possessively.

"Sorry I've just been talking to Rose." he said motioning to me.

"Oh, Well the match is about to start and the baby's hungry!" she whined.

"Ok here's 10 dollars" he said reaching in his bag handing her a 10 dollar bill "Rose do you want anything?"

"I'll take a water." I said not passing up the opportunity. Tasha just glared while he looked at me but as soon as he looked at her, her expression brightened, not that you could tell much difference.

"Get Rose a water too please." He said to her.

"I'm not her maid." She smarted softly not thinking we could hear her.

"Tasha! Please be nice. Rose is my friend and I would really appreciate if you'd quit being so rude to her."

"Fine, I'm sorry." She said, even though we all knew it was fake.

"Thank you." He said. She turned to go to the concessions. He sighed, and turned towards me expectantly, probably figuring I would say something about her.

"I'm not saying a word." I said holding my hands up.

"That's a first." He joked.

"Hey I resent that!"

"Oh and big words too! Wow it's just a day full of firsts!" he said laughing. I playfully slapped his arm.

"Quit being mean I was trying to be good!"

"Ok ok." He said smirking. Then he looked at my outfit. "I take it you found a team to play for?"

"Oh yea, I ran into Mia and SHE told me about the tournament and said that there would be a very good chance that I could play. She was actually very shocked that I had no idea about the tournament."

"Hey I was going to tell you about it earlier, when I was texting you. Its not my fault she beat me to it. I was shocked though to see you here though, thought you had plans?" he asked teasingly.

"I do, to kick your ass at some volleyball" I said smugly.

"And what makes you so sure you can? And who's team are you on?"

"Because I'm like awesome at volleyball. And Mia's."

"Well I bet that I'm better."

"Oh yea? I'll take that bet." What do you want to bet?" I said praying I'd win.

"20 dollars."

"Really comrade? That's a lame bet make it something exciting like loser has to cut their hair or something." I said laughing knowing neither of us would ever do that. As expected his face visibly paled. "I'm kidding Dimitri, I would never make you cut your hair."

"Good, cause I will not cut my hair and I'd kill you if you cut yours. How about loser does the others' laundry for a week?"

"Sounds good." I said still thinking it was lame but better than money and hey now he gets to wash my clothes for me. We shook hands and about then Tasha walked up.

"Here" she said throwing the water bottle at my face, not expecting me to catch it, which I did. When it didn't hit me she scowled even more.

"Thanks Tasha! Your such a doll!" I said over sweetly.

"No problem." She said a little too nicely.

"Well I just saw Viktoria so I'm going to go talk to her, we have a lot of catching up to do." I said trying to get away from the she-devil in front of me.

"Ok see you on the sand!" said Dimitri.

"Don't worry you will see the sand, face first!" I said laughing. I ran over to join Viktoria in the concessions line.

"Hey Vika" I said scaring her.

"Hey Rose I didn't think you'd be here! I didn't know if Dimitri told you or not."

"He didn't but Mia did."

"Oh really who's team are you on?"

"Mia's."

"Really me too!" she exclaimed.

"Sweet!" I said giving her a high five. "Who else is on our team?"

"Sydney sage, Eddie Castile, me you, and Mia."

"Are they any good?"

"We're the freaking best." Said Mia coming up behind me.

"Better be, I just bet Dimitri that we would beat his team."

"What'd you bet?" asked Vika

"Loser does laundry for a week." I said. They both started laughing.

"You better hope we win!" she said "It'd suck to do Dimitri's laundry!"

"I know right?" I exclaimed, "So y'all better make sure to do your part so we can win."

"Well it's 6:20 so lets go get warmed up." Said Mia looking at her watch.

"K I'll be right there." Said Viktoria, about to get her a water. Mia and I walked off and headed for the courts ready to kick some butt.

~A Little Later~

Our first game had went by really quickly seeing as we completely stomped the other team, and the rest were all pretty similar. Now we were in the final match against none other than Dimitri and his team. I do have to hand it to him, they were really good and secretly I wasn't so sure we'd win but I didn't let him know that. His team was almost all guys except one girl named, Kristina. He had Kristina, Ivan, Christian, and a friend I met once last summer named Mason. We were down to the last 2 points and we were tied. it was Masons' serve.

"Hey Mase!" I called out giving my best maneater smile and winking at him. "Hit it to me!"it worked in successfully distracting him so he hit it out of bounds.

"No fair Roza play right!" said Dimitri who was in spike position just like me.

"What'd I do?" I asked innocently. He just laughed. On this serve Mason got it over and Vika hit it to Mia, who hit it towards eddie who hit it over. They did pretty much the same but when it came over Mia set it towards me and I spiked it over. Dimitri in his haste to get it tripped in the sand and fell face first letting it drop.

"Told you that you'd be seeing the sand face first!" I joked.

"Oh its on Roza!" he said with a smirk. It was now Viktoria's serve and just as she started to serve I turned to Christian who was right in front of me at the net.

"Oh I forgot to tell you Christian Lissa's coming to town." He stopped and looked at me.

"What when?" he asked as Dimitri hit the ball over to us. I set it to Mia who spiked it towards Christian, he of course was still distracted and missed it giving us the game point.

"Haha Eat that Comrade!" I shouted laughing at him as Mia and Viktoria tackled me in a group hug.

"Not fair you distracted him on purpose!" said Ivan.

"Quit being a sore Loser honey." Said Mia laughing and standing up. Viktoria and I walked over to Dimitri.

"Well comrade?" I said chuckling.

"You won, a deals a deal." He sighed. Christian came over to me.

"Is she really?" I laughed and nodded. "When!"

"In two weeks, if all goes well."

"Awesome!" he shouted as Kristina walked over to me and Viktoria.

"Good game." She said shaking our hands. Looking at her you could tell she had played sports for a while. She was short, about my height if not an inch shorter, and was skinny but very muscular, but not in a nasty way. She had brown hair that went to her shoulders, and looked like the type of girl I could actually get along with, and there's not very many that I do.

"Thanks you too." I said with a smile.

"I'll see you around." She said and walked over to talk to Mason.

"DIIIIMMMMKKKAAAA! I'm tired can you take me home?" whined Tasha, coming over towards us.

"Yea lets' go." He said grabbing her hand, "See yall at the house"

"K, I'll bring you my laundry tomorrow!" I said after him.

"You know he's going to find a way to get you back right?" Viktoria asked.

"Go ahead and let him. It will be funny for now." I joked. "Come on lets' go home, I'm hungry."

"Your always hungry."

"Your point is?"

"Nevermind" she said laughing as we walked towards her car. When we got to the house I ate dinner, showered and went to bed exhausted after all the volleyball tonight.


	5. Chapter 4 Wet Dreams?

**AN: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update but the other day I heard a song and it gave me inspiration. I was just going to write the chapter with that song in it but it's at least a few chapters away so I told myself that I absolutely will not write it until this chapter was done. **

** This chapter is kind of short but I decided to end it where I thought it was a good place to stop. On the bright side I am about to start the next chapter and hopefully will have it finished ASAP. **

**I do have a question though, after reading this I would appreciate it if you want me to write it in Dimitri's point of view to see exactly what's going on in his head.**

**Also I posted a not on FF asking about an idea to write a different version of this story with lots of more drama, but I only got 2 responses and one said yes do it and the other said no. If you might possibly want me to write it or add some of the drama in this story then let me know, even if you don't want me to that'd be helpful too.**

**Thank you to:**

**Liv it up 124**

**Behatley**

**SinthiaLove**

**Evy201**

**Ghostwriter**

**Do'B**

**SassYNoleS**

**ElEnA-NeNa**

**For Reviewing!**

**Now to the Story, please R&R.**

I was having this really awesome dream that involved a beach when all of a sudden I'm freezing and feeling like I'm drowning. I bolt up from the bed only to find the top half of me is soaked. I looked up to find Dimitri trying his hardest not to bust out laughing and wake Victoria but it was a battle he was almost losing, especially when I started glaring at him.

"Dimitri Belikov would you explain to me why I am soaking freaking wet!" I whisper yelled.

"I've been trying to wake you up forever and nothing was working so I went to plan c."

"Why the hell are you even trying to wake me up this early?" I asked looking out the window to see it was still dark but dawn was close.

"Haven't you been asking me to help train you and teach you how to fight better? Well come on."

"Seriously? NOW is the time you decide to teach me? What the hell is wrong with your crazy mind?" I said forgetting to whisper.

"Would you two leave or shut up? Some of us are trying to sleep here" mumbled Viktoria.

"Get dressed and meet me in the backyard in 5 minutes" Dimitri commanded.

"I'm going back to sleep" I said trying to lay back down but before I could Dimitri had me in the air over his shoulder. I let out a small squeal but hastily cut it off so we didn't disturb Viktoria anymore.

When we got downstairs I fake slapped Dimitris arm."That was uncalled for. I need my sleep."

"Well it's train now or never take your pick." I thought about it. I have been really wanting to learn to fight, especially since my run in with Jesse and his friends.

"You're demented you know that?" I glared at him and he just smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"That's a matter of opinion."

"Well now that I'm all the way down here my clothes are upstairs,"I pointed out.

"Well I figured this would happen so I grabbed some of your clothes last night and figured you wouldn't mind seeing as I'll be doing your laundry for the next week anyway."

"Asshole," I muttered.

"Sorry what was that roza?" he asked with a grin.

"Nothing where are my clothes then?"

"In the bathroom down the hall." I headed into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Damn him" I cursed under my breath when I saw the clothes. I opened the door and hollered softly to him.

"You know I'm not huge into fashion but none of this goes together at all."

"Oh whoops I just grabbed the first things I saw. Sorry about that but unless you want to go upstairs and chance waking Vika up that's all your options." He said walking down the hall and stopping outside of the door. I looked closely and saw a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"You did his on purpose but don't worry I'll get you back." I told him then walked back into the bathroom. He had picked out purple shorts with green stripes on the sides, a bright orange old raggedy t-shirt that I use only for sleeping in, a pair of mismatched socks one blue the other yellow and my pink and black running shoes, oh and a gray sports bra. I decided to just forget the shirt and put on everything else. Without the shirt I somewhat matched but still looked like a color blind 'fashion don't'. I'm not sure if he realized it or not but the purple shorts were a little small, they fit perfectly around my waist but surprisingly were a little too short. _'Oh well I look damn sexy for going to work out'_ I joked to myself. I walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen.

"Ok I'm ready," I told him as he turned around. For a second I thought I saw something flash in his eyes but quickly he regained composure.

"Ok lets go out front then." When we got out there he lead me all the way to the side walk and stopped.

"K comrade what first?" I asked still a little pissed because it was still dark out but the sun was starting to show.

"First you run around the block twice and I will time you," he said with a dead serious look on his face.

"Run? You got me up this early to run? I thought you were going to teach me to fight. I already know how to run."

"Then good this should be easy for you," he said with a smirk I just glared at him. "Ok fine how about this, we race twice around the block and if you win you don't have to run anymore if you lose you shut up and do what I tell you." He said the last part with a smile.

"I can't guarantee the shutting up part because that just comes out whether I try to stop it or not," I joked. "But fine we'll race and if I win no more running, you win I'll do whatever you say."

"Good on the count of three?" he asked and I nodded getting into position. "K one….two….three!"

I took off not quite at a sprint because you always save that for the last bit, but fast enough to get ahead of Dimitri. This was going to be easy….except it wasn't. As I was nearing the end of the first go around I started getting really tired not quite realizing just how big the block was. Dimitri ended up right beside me.

"Oh come on don't tell me your giving up already Roza?" he questioned.

"This is a huge block you could have told me that from the beginning." I replied.

"It's not that big, one time around makes it about 2.5 miles."

"Holy crap, in school during track season I only ever got up to running 3 miles and that was 4 months ago and now you want me to run 5! You are insane."

"Like I said that's a matter of opinion, but you better hurry if you want to win." He said speeding up. by now we were about a quarter of the way into our second lap. I tried speeding up to catch him but quickly lost my momentum. I was briefly considering fake falling and saying I had hurt myself but before the thought was even finished, gravity kicked in. while I had been thinking I didn't look down to see if anything was in my was and ended up tripping over a huge crack in the cement that was sticking out of the ground. As I fell I let out a little squeal on accident and put my hands out in front of me to brace the impact. As I landed a sharp pain shot through my wrist and my elbow buckled under me.

"Ow Damn it!" I cursed trying to lift myself back up but my wrist wouldn't hold the weight and I slipped again. By then Dimitri had came back for me and liftedme into a sitting position.

"Are you ok Roza?" he asked gently all traces of the pain in the ass trainer side of him gone.

"Yea but when I put my arms out in front of me to brace for impact I landed wrong on my wrist now I can't put pressure on it." I was looking at it and couldn't see any signs of swelling just yet but knew it was coming. "I think I just sprained it but I'm not sure."

"Let me see it." He said, but I shook my head no. I wasn't about to let him touch it because I knew he would make it hurt worse. It might be childish but it already hurt like hell.

"Roza let me see it i'll do my best to not hurt it more," he promised and looked sincere.

"Fine," I sighed and held it out. The cool thing about Dimitri was that he worked part time as an firefighter and part time teaching self defense classes at a local dojo so he knew quite a bit about first aid.

"Does this hurt?" he asked just barely and slowly moving my wrist up.

"Ow. Yes." I said when it was almost all the way bent upwards and again when he bent it almost all the way down.

"Ok well it looks like you have a minor sprain. Let's get back to the house, put some ice on it and I'll wrap it for you.

"Ok," I grumbled. After he stood up I raised my arms. "Help me."

He shook his head at me but still grabbed my uninjured hand and my other forearm. As a joke he pulled a little too much but I wasn't expecting it so when I was up a stumbled and fell into Dimitri's chest and his arms wrapped around me to make sure I didn't fall again. At first I just looked up at him in shock but then we both started cracking up. While we were laughing in the back of my head I couldn't help but think about how wonderful he smelled and how I could listen to him laugh for hours. When we finally stopped laughing I pulled away and we started walking towards the house.

"You know since it's your fault I got hurt AND that my legs already hurt, you should carry me back to the house," I suggested playfully.

"How is it MY fault you fell?" he asked curiously.

"Easy it's your fault I was up this early and my brain wasn't functioning properly and your fault I was running to begin with."

"Hey I didn't force you to run." He stated.

"No but you said that was the only way you would help me learn self defense, which you know I've been asking you to do for the past 4 months.

"Oh Rose." he said shaking his head and laughing at me. He put his hand on my arm to stop me and turned with his back facing me. "Climb on."

I jumped on his back and he put his hands on my thighs to hold me up.

"That better?" he asked with a smile. That's about when I got the brilliant idea to mess with him. I put my mouth near his ear and started whispering seductively.

"Well it would be better if I was on the other side of you…and on a bed." Then I started rubbing my hands over his chest and shoulders. The whole time I was watching his reaction. His jaw dropped and closed again quickly and he opened his mouth to say something but yet again shut it quickly.

"What's the matter comrade? Did I make you speechless?" I asked just as seductively in his ear. By now his face was turning beet red from embarrassment. After a few seconds I couldn't hold it in anymore and started giggling which turned into light laughter. "I'm just messing with you comrade relax."

"That's not funny Roza."

"Oh comrade I think THAT'S a matter of opinion." I said quoting his words from earlier.

"I swear you'll be the death of me." He muttered and started walking again. While he was walking I leaned forward and rested my chin on his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his neck. When we got to the house he brought me to the living room and I sat down on the couch while he got me some ice then went to find an ACE bandage to wrap my wrist with. Olena walked into the room about then.

"Good morning," she said cheerily until she saw my wrist. "What happened dear?"

"Dimitri thought it would be a good idea to wake me up before the sun even came up to go run."

"How did that happen while running?" she asked looking at my wrist.

"She tripped and fell and sprained it," Said Dimitri coming back down the stairs.

"It's still your fault," I muttered. She laughed and went into the kitchen.

"Be nice or I'll wrap it wrong on purpose," he joked.

I playfully gasped, "You wouldn't!"

"Try me," he grinned and started wrapping it.

"I'd love to!" I said yet again seductively and then started laughing.

"Roza you have got to stop doing that."

"But comrade it's so funny, you should see your face."

"It might be funny to you but I am engaged and she would kill you if she ever heard you."

"Relax comrade I'm just messing with you," I said getting slightly irritated.

"I'm serious Rose," and I could tell he was by him calling me Rose and not Roza, but that pissed me off more. by this point he was done wrapping my wrist and was just holding it in his lap. I pulled it away an stood up

"Geez Dimitri lighten up I was just joking. I've always messed around like that since the day you met me and you've never had a problem with it before." After that I went upstairs and into Vika's room. She was awake but not out of bed yet.

"Good morning," she said sleepily.

"Morning," I said kind of shortly and started getting clothes to go take a shower.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing." I said.

"Rose don't lie,"

"Can I tell you after I take a shower? I'm gross because your brother had me running this morning.

"Yea but hurry up," she said as I was walking out the door. as I turned to go down the hall I bumped into Dimitri who was walking towards his room.

"Sorry," he muttered but kept walking without even looking at me. All I could think was how our friendship was slowly crumbling and I wasn't sure I could fix it.


	6. Chapter 5 Revelations and Plotting

_Sorry it has been so long and sorry this is so short but I promise the next one will be longer and a lot more will happen. This one is just kind of a filler and for that I'm also sorry but I promise it will start picking up soon! _

_Afer getting all my sorry's out I have to tell you I changed something in the if you don't feel like re-reading it, in which I don't blame you, I'll just tell you what it is here. _**Rose lives with her mom and step father Stan! NOT ABE! Abe is not in this story or at least not yet (maybe ;D).**_ Stan and Rose do not get along and you will find out more about it later on._

_Ok now to the story. Please R&R and thank you to every single one of you that reviewed or alerted!_

As soon as I got to the bathroom I realized I had a problem. Dimitri had just wrapped my wrist and I wasn't paying attention to how he did it, but I'd have to take the bandage off for the shower. Then it hit me that Olena was a nurse so I could ask her. I got in the shower and stopped to think about earlier events. Maybe I had over-reacted by saying our friendship was crumbling but there was partial truth to it. From the moment he says 'I do' on things will change. It won't just be Dimitri my best friend but instead Dimitri, Tasha's husband. _'Screw her, I'll just have to apologize for earlier and work on using all the time before the wedding to make sure we have the best summer ever!' _I thought to myself.

I got out of the shower happier than when I got in and hurriedly got dressed. I walked out of the bathroom and back to Vika's bedroom. She of course was sitting there waiting for me.

"Soooo….." she drew out when I just went to the bed and sat down.

"Ugh you're so impatient!" I laughed.

"Just like somebody else I know now tell me what the hell happened!" she demanded.

"Vika language!" I jokingly reprimanded her. She just crossed her arms and glared at me. "Fine, I'll tell you now. I jokingly was pretending to be seductive to get a reaction out of your brother like I always do and he flipped out and told me that I can't do that anymore because it would piss off Tasha."

"Oh I hate her!" she grumbled. "It's not like you were actually hitting on him or being serious. You've done that since you first met him….unless he's developing feelings for you and doesn't want to admit because of Tasha and the baby."

"Yea right," I said. I didn't want to admit it to her or myself but somewhere deep down a little bit of hope sprouted, but was quickly crushed when I realized that was stupid.

"I know but a girl can hope, anything to get him away from her…it's not like you actually like him like that.

"Of course not" I said a little too quickly, then quickly looked down. Unfortunately she caught all of this.

"You don't do you?" she asked.

"No….I don't know….possibly….NO! No I don't like him, I couldn't even if I wanted to," I rambled on.

"Oh my gosh! You do!" she squealed.

"No I can't. I just I don't know I've been having really weird thoughts lately that are confusing." I admitted. I laid back on the bed and let out a sigh.

"Ok explain please."

"Ok so when I first learned about the baby and engagement for just a split second I felt a tingle of jealousy but then I realized it was stupid then pushed it away. Then at the game when he was laughing right before he attacked me when he was laughing I realized I could hear him laugh for the rest of my life and that still wouldn't be enough. But he's my best friend of course I love to hear him laugh because that means he's happy. Who doesn't want to see their best friend happy?"

"Could you hear me laugh for the rest of your life?" she questioned but I didn't answer. "Exactly. You my dear are falling for my brother." She said with a smile. At this point I sat back up and looked at her.

"Don't smile like that Vika! That's not a good thing IF you are right and I'm not saying you are because we are just friends! But even if I were it would only end up in heartbreak for me, he's engaged with a kid on the way."

"If the kids even his! Which I definitely don't believe it is."

"You don't?" she shook her head "Good I'm not the only one. Have you told your brother your theory?"

"Yea but he doesn't listen to me. But back to the situation at hand, how about we take this one step at a time. If anything random happens again you tell me and we'll see how this summer plans out because I think with you around his relationship isn't going to last very long."

"If this baby is his, I hope that's not true. What am I saying? I can't believe I'm even having this conversation! Even if I did like him I am not nor will I ever be a home wrecker no matter how horrible that tramp is."

"Well it looks like we have some work to do." She said mischeviously.

"What do mean?" I questioned hesitantly.

"Well I know my brother and if this baby isn't his and she's been lying to him you won't have to do anything for them to break up. he'll leave her on his own."

"You may be right but have you stopped to think how much it's going to hurt him if your right?"

"I know it will but he will have you and his family to help him through it."

"We can not be having this conversation! We are just assuming she's lying but what if by chance she isn't? I know its impossible to believe but there is a chance that she's telling he truth you know."

"Well then I tell you what, if we are wrong then I will actually get down on my knees and apologize for being mean and assuming she was lying in front of her and Dimka."

"Really?"

"Ok so I might not get on my knees but I will apologize. That is how sure I am that she's lying." I went to get up and put my hand down to push off the bed momentarily forgetting about my wrist until I got a sharp pain.

"Damn it I forgot about that!" I mumbled. I got up this time making sure not to use that hand. I turned and faced Vika. "Ok fine if we're wrong I'm holding you to that. I'm not going to start going all james bond trying to figure out if she's lying or not but I will see what I can do."

She grinned like the Cheshire cat. "I knew you'd come around."

"I said I will see what I can do. Now if you don't mind I'm going to get Olena to wrap this then we are going shopping!"

"Really? Why?" she asked looking as if she was unsure of whether she should be happy or not about it.

"Well I do believe your brother has to do my laundry for the next week and I really don't have much that would make him blush or freak out so we need to fix that." At this she squealed and started making a list of things to get while I just shook my head and walked out of the room. I made my way downstairs and found my mom and Olena in the kitchen talking.

"Hey," I said letting them know I was there.

"Hey honey, you hungry?" asked Olena.

"Sure." I said reaching for a plate from the cabinet.

"Don't worry I already have you a plate ready," she said chuckling.

"Olena you know me so well!" I said with a laugh. "but first can you re-wrap my wrist? I had to take a shower and am not sure how to do it myself."

"Sure honey," she said grabbing my wrist softly and started wrapping it.

"So I noticed that Dimitri left a little while ago not looking too happy…" my mom started, "know anything about that?"

"Yea we kind of got into a disagreement but its ok as soon as I see him again I'm going to fix it."

"What did you two disagree about?" asked Olena.

"Well aren't you two a couple of nosy old lady's? Do we need to just go ahead and turn your kitchen into a beauty salon and invite some of the neighbors over?" I joked with them.

"Hey I am not old young lady!" said my mom playing back.

"You know I'm just kidding. We just have differing opinions on how friends are allowed to treat each other. I playfully said some things to make him laugh…they weren't that bad but you know him he's so stuck up sometimes that I wanted to get him to loosen up and he ended up getting really mad."

"Oh honey just ignore him he's been so stressed out lately he's almost always being his usual uptight self. Actually since you've been here I've seen him smile more than I have in the last month." said Olena comforting me.

"Don't worry I have a few things in store for him. I think you'll be seeing him smile a lot more while I'm here. I just have to remind how to loosen up." I said grinning.

"Well hun I wish you all the best because if anyone can get him to loosen up it's you," she said with a wink. About then Viktoria came down stairs ready to go.

"Well mom, Olena…phase one of my plan is about to commence so me and Vika need to go get prepared we'll see you two later."

"Be careful!" my mom called after us.

"I'll try." I yelled back giving her my standard answer. Then we headed off to go the mall to start phase one of my plans for Dimitri.


	7. Chapter 6 Get on your knees!

**So I know I've taken forever to update and I wish I could give some awesome excuse but the truth is there is none. I've just been letting distractions get in the way this summer and for that I am really sorry.**

** That being said, Thank you to everyone who alerted, reviewed or even read the last chapter and pretty much the whole story so far!**

** I have some of the drama scenes later in the story finished, but I'm kind of out of ideas for them to do in between, so if anyone has some summer ideas for them to do feel free to give them to me. Or if anyone has any ideas on how to catch Tasha in her schemes, that's more than welcome too! **

** In this chapter Rose is kind of slow, but it's really only to drag the drama out. anyway here's the chapter please feel free to review, add comments, or add suggestions and I'll try to hurry up the next update!**

First we went to the mall and went into a few lingerie stores. Vika of course made me try on everything but thankfully she tried some on too. I ended up getting a few lacy bras in various colors, some lacy thongs and panties to match along with a bright red corset night gown that hardly covered anything, and a black night gown that covered my boobs and went right past my ass but was entirely see through except the bra padding, in other words Dimitri is going to flip.

After all the shopping I realized I was hungry so we went to the food court. We stopped by a random fast food place and were sitting at a table laughing and chatting when Mia and Kristina showed up and came over to us.

"Hey what are you two doing?" asked Mia.

"Oh you know just shooting elephants," I said sarcastically.

"Ha-ha smart ass bitch," she laughed back.

"Well don't ask stupid questions," I added with a grin.

"Well what are you doing tonight?" I looked at Vika and shrugged. "Well a bunch of us are going to this awesome little karaoke club and we were wanting to know if you two wanted to come?"

"Well I'm game as long as I don't have to sing," I joked.

"Same here," said Vika.

"Well great, but you both will definitely sing!" she threatened, "Everybody will."

"Yes Ma'am!" I said and threw my hand up in a mock salute.

"Ugh you're such a bitch!" she said with a smile, "I think we'll get along well. Well we have to get going lots of shopping to do."

"Yea I guess we have some shopping to do too now," said Vika with a mischevious grin.

"Well do you want to come shopping with us to find outfits for tonight?" asked Mia.

"Sure" I said knowing there was no way out of it. As we stood up I got a text.

**From: Dimitri**

** Hey, sorry about me being an ass earlier. Forgive me? :) **

I quickly replied.

**From: Rose **

** I might but that was a sucky ass apology…I think I might be able to if you can do better than that :)**

**From: Dimitri**

** I am so so so sorry for being a complete moronic, stupid, idiotic ass to you earlier. Will you ever find it in you to forgive me? Do I need to come get on my knees and plead for your forgiveness? (is that better?)**

**From: Rose**

** That's better…if I said yes would you actually do it?**

**From: Dimitri**

** You wish!**

**From: Rose**

** I figured but it was worth a shot :) and I guess I can forgive you…**

**From: Dimitri**

** You guess? I'll take what I can get for now.**

**From: Rose**

** You better mister! Or else I'll make you get on your knees and plead!**

**From: Dimitri**

** In your dreams Hathaway.**

**From: Rose**

** Well if you'd quit being an butthead I might actually forgive you**

**From: Dimitri**

** Did you just seriously call me a butthead? What are we in middle school now?**

**From: Rose**

** Hey I just forgave you for being mean once today…you better quit while your ahead, or you might want to think about investing in some knee pads cause at this rate yor gonna need them A LOT :) **

"ROSE! Are you going to come back to reality any time soon?" I looked up and saw Vika waving her hand in my face. "Finally, I've been trying to get your attention for 5 minutes now."

"Really Rose what has you smiling so big?" questioned Mia. I for one did not want to face the Mia Inquisition because as stubborn as she is I bet it would never end.

"Oh just one of my friends back in Texas.." I said nonchalantly.

"Is it a he or a she?"

"Definitely a she, the guys in my town suck." I said with a chuckle thankfully getting her started on a rant about guys and how she is lucky to have found Ivan. I checked my phone and saw that Dimitri had replied.

**From: Dimitri**

** I could just borrow yours :) Jk. What are you up to?**

Making sure the girls were still busy ranting I quickly replied back.

**From: Rose**

** Your getting closer and closer to needing some so you might want to watch it Belikov! And shopping with your sister…shoot me now.**

** From: Dimitri**

** I'll try to be on my best behavior from now on ;D and sorry can't help you there, I'm busy hanging out with Ivan. Shopping for anything in particular?**

** From: Rose **

** Ugh you suck! :D Jk. Yea we're going to some karaoke club tonight, wanna come with us?**

** From: Dimitri **

** I'll have to talk to Tasha first because we had plans, but I could probably talke her into going!**

** From: Rose**

** Fun….Well I'm getting glared at for being on my phone too much. I'll see ya later!**

"Ok seriously that can not just be one of your GIRL friends from Texas! That smile definitely says that it's a boy you have the hots for" said Mia trying to grab my phone. I quickly went avoided her and put it in my pocket.

"It's no one, seriously. I do NOT have the hots for who I'm texting," I replied.

"Mhmmm."

"Seriously he's just a friend," too late I realized my slip up and unfortunately Mia caught it.

"So it is a he? See I told you. And you might be in denial but I know that smile that you had, you're falling for him."

"Well for everyone's sake I hope not," I mumbled. Immediately concern crossed her features.

"Why?"

"He's kind of taken and it would hurt a lot of people if I end up falling for him."

"Or it would help a lot of people," Piped up Vika.

"No it wouldn't"

"Why would you say it would Vik?" asked Mia. Luckily Kristina was off looking at some clothing rack.

"Because from I've heard his girlfriend is a bitch and his entire family hates her."

"Oh well then go ahead and steal him…why does that sound so familiar? Hmmm oh well." She said looking curious for a second and then shrugging it away.

"Come on why are we still here talking? We need some outfits!" said Vika.

"Let's shop till we drop!" agreed Mia.

While shopping Mia informed us that it was a dancing club when people weren't singing karaoke. We all ended up finding some cute dresses, then each headed home until we had to start getting ready.

When we got to the Belikov's we still had about three hours before we had to get ready so I went to the kitchen to fix myself something to eat.

"Hey Rose can you go to the store and pick up a few things for me and Olena?" asked my mom coming in the room.

"Yea sure just make me a list."

"ok here you go," she said handing me a list already made.

"I take it even if I said no I was still going huh?" I asked with a laugh.

"Pretty much" she said with a chuckle.

On my way out I ran into Dimitri coming in.

"Hey, where you headed to?" He asked.

"Store."

"Well a pretty lady like you shouldn't be all by herself at this time of…day. I should escort you and make sure nothing happens to you," he joked.

"Oh my! What a true gentleman. A lady never does see them around these parts too often!" I joked back with a huge extra twang added to my voice.

"Wow your really good at that." He laughed.

"Hey I live in Texas, I'm supposed to be good at faking twang. I don't need protection, but if you want to come with me then come on, we need to hurry so I can get ready."

We walked to the store and had gotten almost everything, but Dimitri had run off while I was in line to get something we had forgotten. While I was standing there a man stood behind me. Apparently he didn't like silence so he struck up a conversation.

"I haven't seen a pretty girl like you around here before…are you new to town?" I took a good look at him and almost burst out laughing. He had on some weird suit with a flashy scarf and one earring, but his eyes looked familiar, I just couldn't tell why.

"No I'm here visiting some close friends of the family with my mom."

"Oh did she used to live here? Most people here have lived here their whole lives so I doubt any friends moved here."

"Yea she graduated from here." I don't know why I was answering all of his questions, I just felt like I could actually trust him and not have him use all this information to cause harm.

"Oh really? With your age I'm guessing it was a while ago?"

"Class of '92. Got pregnant with me near the end of her senior year."

"Oh really? If I may ask what's your moms name?"

"Janine." Something changed in his face but I didn't know him well enough to actually know what it was, but it kind of resembled pain.

"Janie Hathaway…" he whispered.

"No I said Janine, not Janie." I said almost confused.

"Oh yes of course."

"I take it you knew her?"

"I thought you looked like her. You could say I knew her, in fact I knew her pretty well in high school. If you don't mind me asking what's your name?"

"Rosemarie but no one calls me that, I go by Rose. and your mistaken, Olena and my mom say that I get my looks from my father, part of the reason stan resents me so bad," I muttered the last part but he still heard.

"Yea I can see how people say that you look like your dad. Who's Stan?" he asked curiously.

"My evil stepfather, he's a douche. Hates me because I remind him of my moms 'first love'" I said sarcastically. By then Dimitri had gotten back and was standing watching our exchange silently, Abe looked like he just noticed him.

"Dimitri! How are you and your family?"

"We're good thank you for asking," he answered politely.

"Well it's about time for us to get going." I said as the Cashier rang us up. "I'll talk to you later, maybe." I started to walk away but then turned around, " I didn't ask what's your name?"

"Abe, my name is Abe." He said with a small smile.

"Later Zmey." Said Dimitri as we walked off. When we were out of the store I turned to Dimitri.

"Who was that man and how do you know him?" I questioned.

"I know almost everyone in this town Roza, but remember how I told you about my father and how I beat him up?" when I nodded he continued. "Well afterwards my family needed a little help and Zmey was the one to give it to us."

"Why do you call him Zmey? What's that mean?"

"It means snake in Russian. We call him that because the business he's in isn't very…well…for the most part it's illegal. He's very slick at what he does cause he hasn't been caught yet and probably never will."

"Like he's a Mobster?"

"Something like that," he chuckled. " Come on let's get this stuff home, plus you have to get ready." He kind of looked like he was hiding something but I just brushed it off.

When we got to the house me and Dimitri started putting the stuff away when Olena and my mom came in and started to help.

"How was the store?" Olena asked.

"Hey mom where do these go?" he asked pulling a bag of carrots out of the grocery bag. Olena gave him a questioning look before she answered.

"Dimka they go where they've always gone, in the fridge drawer."

"Oh yea duh..that was stupid of me," he said with a nervous chuckle. We all gave him a weird look but I brushed it off.

"Anyways.." I said turning to my mom and Olena. "It was just like every other trip to the store, until I met this strange man. He was asking all these questions and I ended up finding out he knew you when you lived here mom."

"Oh…Did he tell you his name?" my mom asked putting a can up in the cabinet.

"He said his name was Abe…He even told me I do look kind of like my father. Which is weird because I've never even heard of him and you talk about your old friends all the time." I looked up and saw my mom and Olena had frozen in their spots.

"I think I forgot to grab something from my room," my mom said hurriedly walking out.

"Ok that was weird. What was wrong with her? Does she not like that guy or something?" I asked confused.

"They used to be…friends but then they got into a fight and haven't spoken since."

"Oh, must have been a big fight if it still affects her like that after all these years…"

"You could say that…" Olena trailed off. "Anyways aren't you kids going out tonight? You should go get ready."

"Oh yea thanks for reminding me." I said running up the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~(Surprise Dimitri POV!)~~~~~~~~~~~

Roza and I were in the kitchen putting stuff away when Mama and Janine came in and started to help.

"How was the store?" Mama asked.

"Hey mom where do these go?" I asked pulling the first thing out of the bag that I could. I was trying to distract Roza so she shouldn't mention seeing Zmey because I had a huge suspicion of who he really was and figure that Janine will not like Roza talking to him. Unfortunately the first thing I grabbed was carrots and Mama just looked at me like I was going crazy.

"Dimka they go where they've always gone, in the fridge drawer."

"Oh yea duh..that was stupid of me," I said with a nervous chuckle.

"Anyways.." Rose said turning to my Mama and Janine. "It was just like every other trip to the store, until I met this strange man. He was asking all these questions and I ended up finding out he knew you when you lived here mom."

"Oh…Did he tell you his name?" Janine asked putting a can up in the cabinet.

"He said his name was Abe…He even told me I do look kind of like my father. Which is weird because I've never even heard of him and you talk about your old friends all the time." I looked up and saw my mama and Janine had frozen in their spots.

"I think I forgot to grab something from my room," Janine said hurriedly walking out.

"Ok that was weird. What was wrong with her? Does she not like that guy or something?" Rose asked confused. I wished I could tell her my suspicions but first I needed answers.

"They used to be…friends but then they got into a fight and haven't spoken since."

"Oh, must have been a big fight if it still affects her like that after all these years…"

"You could say that…" Mama trailed off. Right then I knew exactly why Janine had that reaction. "Anyways aren't you kids going out tonight? You should go get ready."

"Oh yea thanks for reminding me." Roza said running up the stairs. As soon as I knew she was gone I turned to mama to confront her.

"Zmey is her father isn't he?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Yes but please don't tell her. Janine has her reasons from hiding the truth from her and this is between them. How did you figure it out?"

"Their looks especially the eyes they have the exact same eyes. She's almost a spitting image of him, I'm surprised she didn't figure it out too. You realize if I don't tell her and she knows I knew she will be furious? She has always wanted to know who he was."

"I know Dimka and I know it's hard trust me I've almost told her myself, but you need to wait and let Janine tell her when she's ready too. She feels like she's protecting Roza and doing what's best by her. We need to try and respect that."

"Fine but when the time comes can we please not tell her I already knew?"

"Yes, I will try to keep you out of it."

"Thank you mama," I kissed her and walked up the stairs trying to figure out how to keep myself from telling her something that she's wanted to know her whole life. she's always wondered who he was and why he never contacted her or tried to save her from that asshole Stan. If she finds out I know, she might never forgive me.


	8. Chapter 8 Love you, Love him?

**An: So here recently I was asked if I minded for someone else to write this next chapter, I said sure why not! After the chapter was written I got this random idea to add on to it so te first ½ to ¾ was written by Smiles_Daily and the ending part I added on. The end was just a completely random idea that I never had planned but it hit me and I ran with it! **

**Luckily, if everyone seems to like this idea, then I already have the next chapter written. So please R&R and let me know what you all think!**

**Here is Smiles_Dailys' AN to everyone!:**

**Hi everyone! This is Smiles_Daily...When I read the last chapter of this story, I just HAD to message lilbitjrfan8 and tell her some ideas that I had. I was very enthused about my ideas, so after I told her my ideas I then asked her if I could write the next chapter. She agreed to give me a shot! Once I emailed her the chapter, she could either keep it the way it was or she could change what needed to be changed in order to fit what she had planned for future chapters. Either way I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please continue to read and review this chapter :)***********

(Rose's POV)

Vika and I had each kissed our Moms on the cheek as we ran out the door, Mia and Kristina were waiting outside for us.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I noticed the car Mia was at the wheel of. When I recovered the ability to move and talk, I picked my jaw up off the ground and said,"Where in the world did you get that!"

"Got to love a man's mid-life crisis." Mia grinned at us. Mia had convinced her Dad to let her drive his 2013 blood red rag top convertible.

Mia eased the beauty into traffic and headed to the karaoke club.

"So Rose..Did you get anymore texts from mystery man?...Are you ever going to tell us who he is? Did you tell him you are falling for him?" piped up Kristina. Mia must have told her about the texts I was getting from Dimitri.

As this dress I was wearing didn't make me uncomfortable enough, my cheeks started to turn 50 shades of red from Kristina's questions.

"You do like him!" she squealed. "You so have to tell him. I can even help you plan to steal him from his girlfriend...Oh, we're here!"

Kristina and Mia were so alike, when something else catches their eye, they both do a 360 degree turn and forget what they were first talking about. Hopefully they will forget about my falling for Dimitri questions.

All four of us girls stepped out of the convertible like we owned the place. Vika and myself linked arms and Mia and Kristina had followed suit.

As we made our way into way into the club, Mia said, "I'm going to check out the song list and sign us all up."

She dropped her arm from Kristina's and placed in on her hip and pointed her finger at me. " Don't give me that face Rose. We are all going to sing... Some of us maybe better than others." She let out a laugh and turned to go find the sign up sheet, Kristina following close behind her.

Vika, the first time speaking since we got here said, "How did we end up friends with them again?", as we watched the other girls walk away.

"I have no idea.." We both laughed and started to move again in search of a table.

After a bit of taking turns at poking fun at each other's singing, I heard, "We the following girls come back to the stage, Kristina, Mia, Vika and Rose."

For the second time tonight, I had frozen in my spot.

I whispered to whoever was listening, "I thought we agreed to A song each?"

"Now it is time for our group song!" Vika said while pulling me up onto my feet and half dragging back up on the stage.

The DJ/MC continued on to the crowd and said, "These four fine looking beauties will be singing...Now wait for it...Video Killed The Radio Star."

"I'm going to kill all you three.." I mumbled. No one replied, so I'm guessing neither one of my friends had heard me or they didn't care what I said.

Even though I begrudgingly went up to sing, I had to admit that I was having fun.

After we finished our grand performance, we all took our bows to a hooting and hollering crowd.

As I came up from our last bow, my eyes locked onto who had entered the club while we had sang. It was Dimitri and bitch face Tasha. They were both smiling and clapping at our performance. I knew Dimitri's smiles and clapping were genuine, but Tasha's not so much. I knew her's were faked.

"Girls I'm going to get us some drinks. I will be right back." I needed to get away for a minute and getting the girls around of virgin drinks sounded like a bright idea..At the time.

(Dimitri's POV)

I had overheard Mama and Janie taking about how Vika and Roza had gone out to the karaoke club. I wanted to apologize to Roza in person, I know she said she forgives me through our texting but I want to do it face to face just to make sure. I asked Tasha if she wanted to go and she was more than eager because, "Once our baby is born we won't be able to get out much."

I quickly dressed in a pair of fresh jeans and a dress shirt. I left the top two buttons undone just because it was too warm. I picked up Tasha and headed to the club.

Tasha talked the whole way there about wedding plans. But for some reason my thoughts were of only how am I going to apologize to Roza and how I'm supposed to keep this information from her.

We walked into the karaoke club just in time to see Vika dragging Roza by the arm up onto the stage.

The DJ/MC said to the crowd, "These four fine looking beauties will be singing...Now wait for it...Video Killed The Radio Star."

I smiled and let out a slight laugh.

Tasha took this as a good sign and wrapped one arm around my waist. Out of habit, I wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

We watched Vika, Roza and two other girls belt out the song. At first Roza wasn't that into it, then at one point she shrugged her shoulders in defeat and just belted out the song as well. Surprisingly, they were not that bad.

Once the girls were finished their performance, they all took their bows. I let go of Tasha and started to whistle and clap, a moment later she followed suit.

After the girls' final bow, Roza noticed that I was there, and our eyes locked. I had felt something, I wasn't quite sure what it was. It was almost like Roza was looking straight into me.

Just as fast the moment was gone. Roza had broke the connection and walked off the stage.

"Dimitri, I need to go to the bathroom...The baby has been sitting on my bladder all day."

I offered Tasha to go with her, but she said she would be fine and to go and see Vika. I kissed her cheek and walked off in the opposite direction.

As I walked through the crowed bar my thoughts wandered to Roza and how good she looks in the dark pink and white spaghetti strap knee length dress.

I mentally shook myself and mumbled, "I have to stop thinking about Roza like that. I'm with Tasha."

I then broke through the crowd and found Vika and the two other girls, but no Roza.

"Where is Roza?" I asked.

"I think she got lost going to get us some drinks." Vika said with a smile. Her smile faded and she continued, "Did you catch our performance?"

"Yes, you weren't that bad," I joked with her.

"Hey watch yourself buddy!" she threatened, but a second later started laughing. "Are you gonna go sing big bro?"

"Um I seriously doubt…I don't sing publicly."

"Right, only in the shower," she teased. "Where's Tasha? I figured she'd be draped over you complaining about everything like usual…Did she actually let you off your leash?"

My smiled faded because I knew that Vika didn't care much for Tasha. I replied, "Be nice," I warned. "She's in the bathroom…The baby has been sitting on her bladder all day…Actually she has been gone awhile, I'm going to go check to see if she is ok." With that said I turned and left in search for Tasha.

(Rose's POV)

On my way to the bar to get drinks I realized how much I really needed to use the bathroom, so I veered off my path in search for the bathroom.

Not being familiar with this place, I decided to just start to open doors because none of them were marked.

The first door I went to was out of the way from the crowd, so it looked like a good place to start. I opened up the door to find it was some sort of storage room.

I was about to close the door and leave when I heard two people talking, one of them sounded like Tasha.

Normally I would have just minded my own business, (who am I kidding I would listen no matter what!) but Vika and I were trying to catch her in her lies. I quietly closed the door behind me and tried to listen to the conversation. They were speaking in hushed voices so I had to strain my ears to hear anything.

I heard the Man say, "...should not have brought him with you tonight."

"He don't suspect anything..." I heard Tasha reply.

"This pregnancy has you being careless..."

"He thinks I'm gone to the bathroom..."

The next parts of the conversation I didn't clearly, their voices were too hushed. I decided to move a bit closer so I could hear a bit better and maybe see who Tasha was talking to. I still couldn't hear exactly what was being said but I was able to pick out a few words.

"….love him…like…love you..." I could see a bit of Tasha and the Man now. They were standing close to each other and their hands were intertwined together. She was leaning up like she was going to kiss him.

My eyes went wide in shock. I needed to get out of there. In my shocked state, I backed into some boxes causing them to fall over. Not wanting to get caught in there and not waiting to see if Tasha and the Man noticed me, I bolted.

I rushed out of the room. My need for the bathroom forgotten and my promise to get drinks abandoned. I stumbled through the crowd in search for Vika and my other friends.

Not watching where I was going, because I was too shocked to what I just witnessed, I slammed into what I thought was a wall. Before I could fall backwards, a pair of strong arms encased me. I looked up, in my dazed state, into Dimitri's dark chocolate brown eyes.

"Roza, are you ok?" His eyes were filled with concern.

I couldn't speak. I was scared that if I did, I would either spill the beans on what I just witnessed or I would start to cry. I couldn't tell him what I heard because I had to figure out if she was saying what I thought she was, if she wasn't it, it would back fire and hurt a lot of people in the process. I needed more proof then pars of a conversation.

Tears came to my eyes. Dimitri just gripped me tighter, which made it worst.

"What's wrong?" I hear Vika's voice.

I slightly pulled away from Dimitri's arms. I looked at Vika and replied in a shaky voice, "I don't feel well…I'm going to go get some air"

"You're not going alone." Said Dimitri.

"I'll be fine, I have my phone and I'm just going outside. I'll be back in a minute." I reassured knowing full well I would end up walking home.

Vika not knowing what was wrong, but didn't want to push it, spoke up, "Are you sure I could go out there with you?"

I half smiled at her as best as I could, "honestly I'm fine I'll be back inside in just a minute, plus I forgot I promised to call Lissa so I need to do that before she goes to bed and you wouldn't want to stand out there with me on the phone." Dimitri looked like he was going to say something but right then Tasha came back and grabbed his arm. I was about to find out if Tasha had seen me ease-dropping in the storage room.

"Are you ok Rose? You don't look so good?"

I looked up into Tasha's face. I could tell her concern for me was fake, but I didn't see any trace of acknowledgment that she had seen me.

"Yea I'm fine, just gonna step outside for a minute." She just smiled and pulled Dimitri to start moving.

"Come on Dimka let's go sit, my feet are killing me."

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" he asked but before I could speak Tasha spoke up.

"She'll be fine Dimka, trust me Rose knows how to get around," anybody could hear her double meaning but I just ignored it for now.

"Tasha's right I'll be fine. Go have fun." With that they both walked off, but Dimitri kept glancing back with a worried look on his face. I turned and faced Vika.

"I know your lying but I'll leave it for now if you promise to tell me later."

I just nodded my head and turned to head out. Outside I leaned against the brick wall and took a deep breath. I thought about actually calling Lissa but knowing her she was already in bed, plus I'm not sure I could speak without telling her everything or busting out in tears. I started heading down the street towards the Belikov house.

As I was walking my mind kept replaying that scene over and over. Was she telling that guy that she didn't love Dimitri but loved him instead? That's what it looked like, it actually looked like they were about to kiss. If that was what she was saying, how am I supposed to tell Dimitri? Without proof it will be he said she said…or in this case she said, she said. I know he doesn't really love Tasha like that but, this would still crush him. Could I really do that? If I didn't then he'd be living his life in a huge lie.

If I did tell him and he didn't believe me then there goes our friendship. Can I really risk that? Dimitri is my best friend and the only person that I can openly talk about everything with…he's the only one that knows about Stan and that one night. I shook my head to clear those thoughts before I dove too deep in them. That was something I did not feel like reliving right now.

I looked up and realized I had no idea where I was. I must have gotten distracted with all these thoughts and taken a wrong turn. I quickly started looking around to see if I recognized anything. This area seemed to be the 'bad' part of town. There were a few abandoned buildings, a hole in the wall bar with a rack of motorcycles and a bunch of bikers down the road and a tattoo shop across the street from it. While I was looking around, I forgot to pay attention to what was going on behind me. Next thing I know, there was a hand over my mouth and someone pulling me into an alley way.

I started struggling but it wasn't really helping because with the way he was holding me I couldn't move much. Memories of that night with Jessie and Ralf started flooding my mind. I heard another guy beside him and next thing I knew there was a knife pressed against my throat.

"If I remove my hand will you scream?" the guy whispered in my ear. I slowly shook my head no and tried to think of a way out of this.

"Good," he said pulling is hand away. I looked around to see two guys standing beside and in front of me, meaning here was three total. There was no way I could take on all three of them, but I sure as hell was going to try, I just had to think of something first.

"Now what's a pretty girl like you doing out here all alone all dressed up?" the one in front of me asked.

"None of your damn business," I replied snarkily.

"Oh feisty, I like it," he said walking closer to me. He looked like he was in his late 30's, he had brown graying hair, a wicked looking smirk and bright green eyes.

"Victor what do you want us to do with her?" asked the one beside me. He looked younger maybe in his late 20's with blonde spiky hair and had a southern accent.

"I will tell you in a minute Spiridion," snapped the guy I guess named Victor.

"Spiridion? Really? What kind of name is that? Your mom must have been drunk when she named you!" I smarted.

"Shut up!" he said and smacked me hard across the face. I tasted the blood from my now busted lip, but instead of letting my fear consume I covered it with my fearless facade.

"Now that wasn't very nice. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to hit a girl?"

"No she didn't," he said sounding pissed. That was good because when people get angry the make mistakes. As we were talking I could feel the guy behind me loosening his grip although I don't think it was on purpose.

"Now, now," said Victor. "Don't let this pretty little thing get to you Spiridion, we'll fix her attitude later." He was going to keep talking but that's when I made my move. I yanked my arms free and shoved my butt backwards pushing the guy behind me back a few feet. Then I kicked forward and hit Spiridion right in the crotch and started to run.

"Get her Ben!" shouted somebody right before someone grabbed me and knocked me to the ground. I looked up and saw it was the guy that was behind me earlier, I'm guessing he's Ben. He held me down on the ground and pulled the knife back out and pushed it into my throat, almost drawing blood.

"Don't try that again!" he said and I knew this was it. I could and planned on fighting until my last breath but I knew there was no way I was going to get away from these three, it would take a miracle. I kept thinking about that night and how similar the situations were, only unlike then, no one was going to come save me because no one knew where I was. About then I heard a new voice join the group. A familiar voice, hopefully my miracle.


	9. Chapter 9 Two Heroes, One Night?

**An: I am really excited about all the feedback I have gotten from the last chapter! When I posted that chapter I already had this one wrote because originally it was all one but I split it up, but then my internet broke I had to wait. But thanks to all the freetime I had since there was no internet and I can't start working yet and school just started, I went ahead and wrote the next chapter also so you won't have as long to wait! I might not post it immediately because I'm still working on it and trying to come up with ideas so that I don't get hit with writers block again but it will be in the next week!**

**That being said, Thank you to everyone who reviewed or alerted last chapter and everyone who is still sticking with me even though it's taking me forever on this story. Special thanks to Smiles-Daily, because of her enthusiasm, I got more enthused and into the story and I look forward to possibly collaborating more with her in the future. And lastly thank you to Do'B who somehow always knows exactly what I need to hear to get my life back on track so I can start focusing on my stories again! As always please R&R because as you can see I LOVE feedback :) **

**Sincerely, **

**Cassandra**

"Bu kızın saldıran bir nedeni var mı Victor?" I couldn't look at who it was because of the knife, but I recognized the voice when he said Victor, it was that Abe, guy from the store earlier, speaking some weird language. His voice sounded cold and harsh, part of me got scared thinking that maybe he was with Victor but I pushed it away, for some unexplainable reason I trusted him and knew he wouldn't hurt me. Ben quickly dropped the knife and let go. I hurriedly stood up and ran towards Abe. He had two guys with him that I didn't know but I didn't really care at the moment. When I got to him I stood behind him for protection and the other guys stood on each side of me.

"Well well, the almighty Abe to the rescue. You better hope he's around next time I see you Rosemarie," threatened Victor. I just stayed quiet and huddled closer to Abe, leaning into his back grabbing his arm, he was taller than me so I had to look peek out from behind him to see anything.

"I suggest you stay away from her. If I ever even hear that you mentioned Roses' name again you will pay," Abe said coldly. I watched Victor and his two henchmen walk towards the exit of the alleyway, when he was gone I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

Abe turned around and faced me, his hands gently touched my biceps in a comforting gesture. About then my adrenaline started wearing off, and I could feel the emotions catching up to me but I tried to push them away, I didn't want to cry in front of this man I hardly knew no matter if I trusted him or not..

"Are you ok? Did he seriously injure you?" I just shook my head no not trusting my voice. "What happened? Why are you here by yourself?"

"I was at a karaoke club, when I found out some disturbing news, so I tried to walk home even though Dimitri and Viktoria thought I was just getting some air. I took a wrong turn some where and when I realized I was lost they grabbed me and dragged me down here…" At that point the emotions started slipping out and I could feel tears form in my eyes and start to slowly start trailing down my cheeks. I quickly wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

"Don't cry," Abe said, "Your safe now."

All I could think about was how I wanted Dimitri, he would protect me and make me feel safe. I needed Dimitri.

"Where is he?" Abe asked looking at me, I guess I must have said that last part out loud. I shrugged.

"I'm not sure last I knew he was at the club but I'm not sure if he's still there." Abe guided me over to a bench sat down beside me. He left his arm around my shoulder, but it was comforting. For some reason I felt safe with him, unlike what I feel around Stan…At that thought I started crying harder. Abe wrapped both arms around me in a comforting hug and I buried my face in his shirt, embarrassed at my unusual show of emotion. As soon as I got my emotions back in check, or at least controlled enough where I wasn't crying so hard now, I pulled back out of the hug.

"I'm sorry about that, I don't usually cry in public."

"Don't apologize kizim. It's perfectly understandable for you to cry after what just happened. I'm actually surprised at how well you are handling things."

"That's the Hathaway in me. We don't show our emotions," I said the last part with a hint of bitterness on accident.

"No you sure don't" he mumbled, but I don't think I was supposed to hear it. I ignored his comment and voiced a question I had been thinking about since Victor left.

"Why were they so scared of you? How did they know my name? What language was that? What's kizim? And are you really a mobster?" he smiled and gave a half chuckle at all my questions.

"I have a pretty well known reputation and most people don't like to test me. It was Turkish, and I'm not really sure how he knew your name, but I will figure it out."

"You didn't answer my last two questions."

"No I guess I didn't, maybe another time," he said looking behind me. I turned to see Dimitri's car coming down the street. I turned towards Abe questioningly. "I had Pavel call him and tell him where we were." He said pointing to one of the guys with him.

"Thank you." I said standing up.

"Roza! What happened?" said Dimitri getting out of the car and slamming the door. As soon as I heard his voice I took off running and slammed into him. His arms immediately went around me, and he started murmuring in Russian. We stood like that for a minute or two before he pulled back to look at me. Whether he realized what he was doing or not, I'm not sure, but his hand went up to my face and his thumb lightly traced the bruised busted part of my lip, then went up and lightly traced a line on my cheek bone up to my eyebrow. I winced in pain and realized I must have hit that part when I fell and didn't realize it till now.

"Roza what happened? I thought you were just getting some air? Do you know how worried I was when we couldn't find you?"

"Can we go somewhere else and talk?" I said realizing that I was actually freezing. I shivered from the sudden chill and Dimitri pulled off his duster and wrapped it around me.

"Come on. Let's get you out of here." He said wrapping his arm around my shoulder leading me to the car. He opened the passenger door for me and waited for me to get in before shutting it and walking to the driver's side.

"Where's Tasha?" I asked curiously.

"When we realized you were gone I took her home then Vika and I went to the house to see if you were there. Not too long after we got there Pavel called me."

"Oh"

"What were you dong over here Roza?" he asked softly.

"I decided to walk home to clear my head and I was so deep in my thoughts I took a wrong turn but by the time I figured that out, it was too late." I said pulling my knees up and wrapping my arms around my stomach. "What did you tell everyone?"

"That you were lost and called me to come get you. I didn't want to worry them."

"Thank you."

"Don't be thanking me yet. Do you know how pissed I am at you right now? What if…" he stopped not able to finish the sentence. By then we were at the house. All the lights were off so it looked like everyone had gone to bed. We got out and Dimitri wrapped his arm around me as we headed towards the house we stopped at the porch steps and sat down. We sat there in silence both wrapped up in our own thoughts before I finally broke the silence.

"I'm sorry I scared you. I never meant to."

"Are you going to tell me what happened? All Pavel said was that he and Abe were with you and that I needed to come get you and that you were pretty shaken up."

"Well I told you how I got lost, When I realized I was lost I started looking around to see if there was anything familiar but I quit paying attention to what was happening behind me, next thing I knew I was grabbed from behind," I then went on to tell him about what all had happened and how I had gotten the bruises, then how Abe showed up. By the time I got to the end I had tears going down my face.

"I was so scared…All I could think about was that night with Jesse and how this time I wasn't going to be so lucky." I admitted, about then all the emotions I had held back broke through and I started quietly sobbing. Dimitri wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his lap, I buried my head in the crook of his neck while he stroked my hair and murmured to me in Russian. Eventually my sobs started to subside but I stayed where I was, enjoying the comfort and security from his embrace.

"I'm sorry for that." I mumbled into his chest.

"Don't be sorry Roza, there's nothing to be sorry for. I should be the one saying sorry."

"Why?" I asked confused.

"I never should have let you go outside on your own. I knew I should have stayed with you." I sat up and looked Dimitri in the eyes.

"Dimitri Belikov, Don't you dare blame yourself in any of this! I made my own decisions. I'm the one that went out alone and stupidly decided to walk home. I pretty much asked for Victor and his henchmen to attack me…if I hadn't been so stupid…" I trailed looking down. He softly grabbed my chin and made me look at him again.

"You did not ask for them to attack you, and I never want you to blame yourself again. Yes going off on your own wasn't very smart but, it was not your fault that you were attacked." In that moment staring in each others eyes, I realized I was leaning forward and I really just wanted to kiss him but then I remembered Tasha. No matter how much I dislike her, I couldn't do that. I quickly pulled away and stood up brushing the last of the tears off of my cheeks.

"I should probably get to bed," I muttered.

"I probably should too," he said. I slowly started for the door but, he stopped me by saying my name. I turned and looked at him.

"I really am sorry for being such a jerk the other day, you didn't deserve that."

"It's old news, don't worry about it. I forgive you as long as you don't do it again." I told him with a small smile.

"I promise I won't."

We headed inside and went our separate ways. Luckily for me Vika was asleep already so I didn't have to face her million questions. I quickly changed into my batman pajama pants a tank top, and a hoodie, seeing as the cold chill came back the moment I left Dimitri's embrace, as best I as I could in the dark then curled up in my bed. I grabbed one of the spare pillows and hugged it to me as I let a few more tears out while my mind replayed the night over again. It went through everything from overhearing Tasha up until that last moment with Dimitri. My last thought before I let sleep over take me was "I really am falling for Dimitri and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

**An: The first sentence of the story says "Is there a reason you are attacking this girl Victor?" If it's wrong, I'm sorry. I used google translate and it's not always right.**


	10. Chapter 10 Russian Giant

An: So I promised it wouldn't even be a week so here you go! Once again thank you to everyone who has reviewed or alerted or even just read this story! You all are amazing and inspire me to keep writing faster so keep it up :)

I do have a very IMPORTANT question or two for everyone. Do you want the truth revealed to Rose about Abe before or after the truth about Tasha? And how soon do you want it to happen? In the next few chapters or do you want the tension to build a little more? I have a pretty good idea on when I am going to do both reveals but you're the ones reading it so I decided to ask y'alls input…That being said please R&R and enjoy!

Sincerely, Cassandra

I woke up the next morning with a small headache and pretty much aching all over but nothing I hadn't had before. I went to the bathroom and did my business but when I looked in the mirror I was shocked. _'I wonder if I looked like this last night' _I thought to myself, _'if I did I'm surprised Dimitri didn't freak out more.'_

My left eye was swollen and pretty colored in black and blue, the right side of my lips were also swollen with a cut on my bottom lip. The bruise on my eye extended down the side of my face until about where my cheek bone ended, obviously where that asshole shoved my face into the ground.

I knew there was no way I would get around explaining all of this to my mom and Olena, but I decided to take a shower and release some of the tension that was still around. I ran quickly to Vika's room, careful not to wake her, got some clothes and my make-up bag and ran back to the bathroom.

I turned the hot water on and stripped down, I was about to get in when I accidentally glanced in the mirror. That actually made my jaw drop. Because of my hoodie and pants earlier, I didn't notice, but there were bruises all up and down my body, No wonder I was so sore and stiff. There were a few bruises on my arms from Ben holding me and the fall, a bruise on my right hip, a scratch and a bruise on my right knee, and a reddish bruise on my throat from the knife. I didn't even feel the pain when all theses happened,must have been because of all the adrenaline. I just shook my head and slipped in the shower.

In order to avoid thinking about the Victor and his henchmen, I tried changing my train of thoughts to what I should do about Tasha. With no proof and nothing to really go on, I was stuck. I had to come up with a plan to figure out what Tasha was talking about and how to get proof for Dimitri. I have a feeling I'm going to need Vika's help with this. I hurridly finished my shower and started to get dressed when I realized there was no way I could wear this outfit today. I had originally grabbed a pair of my shorter shorts and a tank top, but wearing that would allow all of my bruises to show and my mom and Olena would freak. I kept the towel around me and quickly put on some cover up on my face and neck. When I was done, the bruises looked half as bad as they did moments before. I made sure the towel was wrapped snugly around me just in case I ran into anybody, and sprinted to Vika's room.

When I got there, she was already up and in her closet getting dressed. Before she saw me, I rushed over to my bag and pulled out a pair of sweat pants, a bra, t-shirt, and a hoodie and started throwing them all on. Right as I was slipping on the hoodie, I heard her come out of the closet.

"Isn't it a little hot for that outfit?" she asked. I answered her without turning around pretending to mess with my cell phone.

"Yea but I felt like being comfortable today."

"Can you not be comfortable in soffees and a tank top?" she joked. I sat in front of my bag and pulled out my hairbrush and started working on my hair. At first she didn't realize that I was doing my hair by my bag instead of in her mirror like usual, but as I was almost finished she realized something was up.

"Why are you brushing your air over there instead of over here?" I took a deep breath trying to ready myself for what was going to happen over the next hour or so.

"Ok don't freak out, and before you ask I'll tell you when I tell everyone else, because I don't really feel like repeating it," I said before I turned around. I kept my head down at first trying to wait as long as I could but I decided to just get it over with. When I lifted my head, she gasped in shock, then ran over and grabbed me in a huge hug.

"Are you ok?"

"Yea I'm good now."

"I take it you weren't just lost?"

"No, I was jumped or potentially kidnapped or whatever you want to call it." She gave me a look like she was about to ask more but stopped when she remembered what I said before about waiting to tell her when I told everyone. I could see she was struggling with being quiet but I appreciated her restraint.

"Thank you for not asking yet." About then there was a knock on the door. I quickly turned back around towards my bag hiding my face in case it was my mom or Olena whil Viktoria went and opened the door.

"I'm guessing you already know?" she asked whoever it was. I guess they answered silently because I heard her open the door wider and heard footsteps approaching.

"It's just me Rose," said Dimitri. I slowly turned around and heard his sharp intake of breath. I guess it was worse than it was last night. "Oh Roza," he said softly I could see all the emotions in his eyes. Sadness, anger at Victor and guilt for not protecting me. That's all it took before I went over and hugged him half comforting him and half for myself.

"Please tell me you beat up whoever did this to Rose," said Viktoria from her bed. Dimitri slightly tensed.

"I wish," he almost growled out. I hugged him a little tighter and he relaxed a little bit. I pulled out of the hug and turned towards Vika.

"He didn't have the chance, they were gone by the time he got to me."

"Speaking of which, you have a visitor," said Dimitri. He saw me tense and quickly spoke up again. "It's just Abe and his guards, I wouldn't let that bastard get anywhere near you again."

"Oh, ok. Why is Abe here?" I asked confused. I knew it was a little town and I already had told him I was staying here so I wasn't surprised that he knew where to find me, just surprised that he did and so early.

"Wanted to check on you."

"I bet my mom isn't very pleased about that."

"You have no idea," he muttered. I was about to question him when there was another knock at the door. I quickly grabbed Dimitri and hid my face in his shirt. I know it's pointless to keep hiding it, I was only delaying the impossible, but I wasn't ready for everyone to freak out and then have to repeat everything that happened again.

"Rosemarie Hathaway I need to talk to you!" my mom said opening the door, and boy did she sound mad. Dimitri tightened his hold around me hiding me more.

"I'll be down stairs in a minute," I said but thanks to my face being shoved in Dimitri's chest it came out muffled.

"What was that?" she snapped.

"She asked if she could have a moment? We'll be down in 5 minutes if that's ok with you?"

"Why are you hugging Dimitri so tight? And why won't you look at me?" she questioned. I pulled my face away from Dimitri just enough so I could speak but not enough for her to see.

"Can I just meet you downstairs in a minute, I promise I'll answer all of your questions and explain everything?" I pleaded.

"Fine but you have 2 minutes that's it" she said reluctantly. When I heard the door shut I pulled away.

"Thank you." I said to Dimitri. I noticed Vika was also gone. I walked over to the bed and flopped down.

"Hey don't worry, I'll be with you the whole time," Dimitri said grabbing my hand.

"Thanks," I said realizing that was like the twentieth time I'd said that in the last day. I looked over at him and smiled. "Have I ever told you how awesome you are?"

"Now that you mention it I don't think you have" he said jokingly. I sat up and faced him. "Why don't you tell me how amazing I am?"

"I'm pretty sure I didn't say amazing?" I teased back, " but since you mentioned it, I guess you are kind of awesome too"

"ROSE!" I heard my mom call up in a warning.

"Coming!" I yelled back.

"Come on," Dimitri said standing up offering me his hand.

"Since you're so amazing and awesome…want to do one other thing for me?" I asked looking up at him sweetly. He just turned around and bent his knees already knowing what I was going to ask. I hurriedly jumped on, accidentally hitting my bruise on my hip. I must have made some noise because Dimitri turned his head towards me.

"You ok?"

"Yep all good, I just forgot I had a bruise there." I tried just shrugging it off but that didn't stop Dimitri so I tried distracting him instead. " Giddy up Comrade!"

"Why does it seem like I'm always carrying you?" he said with a smile as he started walking.

"Because I'm lazy and you're a Russian giant so might as well put your muscles to good use," I joked.

"I am not a Russian giant!

"You're like 8 feet tall! Hate to break it to you but I believe that's considered a giant."

"I'm 6' 5"! it's not my fault your just a midget," he said with a laugh.

"I am not a midget!" I exclaimed and playfully hit him on the shoulder.

"So it's ok to call me a giant but not me to call you a midget?" he questioned.

"Yes, because I speak the truth. You speak lies. Anybody would be short compared to you."

"True, but your short to everyone. I think paul might be taller than you and he's 8."

"Hey, you meanie! I am taller than Paul!"

"Not by much!" piped up a little voice. I looked up startled, I hadn't realized we were so close to the bottom of the stairs. When I looked up I heard gasps throughout the kitchen. I noticed pretty much everyone was in there, Karolina, Sonya and her pregnant self, Olena, Vika, My mom, Abe, Pavel, and Paul.

"Hey y'all," I said nervously.

"Auntie Rosie, What happened to your face?" exclaimed Paul, apparently the first one to speak. When nobody else said anything, I tried to make light of it.

"It's just bruises, not that big of a deal." I shrugged tapping Dimitri's shoulder so he'd let go and I could jump off his back. About then my mom regained her ability to speak.

"JUST BRUISES? NOT A BIG DEAL? What the hell happened Rosemarie? Dimitri sai you were just lost." At the last part she turned and glared at Dimitri. Before anyone else could say anything Sonya spoke up.

"Paul why don't you go play while the adults talk?" He ignored her and instead walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me. I bent down and gave him a hug.

"Are you ok?" he asked scared. I looked at him and my heart broke for him, he looked so scared and sympathetic, I thought he might cry.

"I'm ok. Paul I promise."

"What happened?" he asked reassured but still curious.

"Well this girl came up to me and was like batman stinks, super man is better," I said knowing his love of batman. "Then I was like um no honey batman is better anyday! And then she hit me! So of course I had to beat her up, nobody hits Your auntie Rose without getting hit back!" I said with a laugh.

"Aunt Rose, quit playing. You wouldn't beat anyone up, you're too nice." He said the first part laughing but was serious about the last part.

"No I didn't beat anyone up, but it would have been cool huh?" I asked him successfully distracting him.

"Yea because then you would have been like BAM BAM POW!" He said making punching motions to his sound effects.

"Now why don't you go outside why I grab some breakfast and when I'm all done eating, which you know might be a while to fill this tank," I said pointing to my stomach. "me and maybe Uncle Dimka and maybe even Aunt Vika, if she doesn't have more shopping to do, will come out to play with you? Right?" I said looking at Dimitri and Viktoria.

"Definitely," said Dimitri.

"I have plans, sorry little bro" shrugged Vika.

"Ok me and uncle Dimka will come play with you. Sound good?" he nodded his head yes all excitedly. "Ok now scadaddle so I can start on my breakfast."

"Ok Aunty Rose, but watch out for that man with the beard, he's kinda of scary," he whispered, even though everyone heard him. I just chuckled.

"Ok I'll be careful, but if I need someone to beat him up I'll come get a big strong boy like you to help." I said with a smile and a wink. "Now go play." He ran outside and I stood back up. My mom Quickly gave me a look saying telling me her patience was wearing thin, I think Abe had something to do with it.

"Well ok first off don't get mad at Dimitri he didn't know about anything until he came and picked me up, then he was too distracted taking care of me to call you. So it started at the karaoke club and" I paused not sure what to say, then I remembered my excuse last night, "Then I started feeling unwell so I went outside to get some air. I soon realized that wasn't helping and I didn't want to interrupt the others because I knew they were having fun, so I decided to just walk home. Halfway there though I realized I had taken a wrong turn and when I looked around to figure out where I was, someone grabbed me from behind. Long story short I tried fighting my way to freedom, I almost got away, but they caught me again and about then Abe showed up and rescued me. Then he called Dimitri to come get me. He did, I told him what happened, and then we came home. Not that big of a deal, just your average everyday mugging." I said shrugging trying to play off what happened. Dimitri gave me a knowing look but I brushed it off.

"Rosemarie, don't lie to your mother." Imput Abe.

"Fine ok they were trying to kidnap me, but it didn't work, you showed up and saved the day and now everythings fine. Like I said not that big of a deal."

"Do you remember what they looked like or any names? We need to call the police." Leave it to my mom to get straight down to business, not try to hug me or comfort me. Then again I was trying to play it off so maybe she just bought it, she usual buys my lies, that or ignores them.

"Already taken care of," said Abe. "I handled it."

"Well aren't we all just lucky that the all mighty Ibriham is here to save the day again! She smarted. Damn didn't know she hated him that much. Olena quickly reprimanded her.

"JANINE, if it weren't for him your daughter might not be here now, maybe you should show just a little more appreciation." My mom took a deep breath and faced him.

"I'm sorry, she's right. I do need to thank you, you saved my daughter and I shouldn't be mad at you…for that anyway."

"You're welcome. Anyway I just came here to check on Kiz here" he said smirking at me knowing that I don't know what that means still.

"I'm fine, thank you for checking on me."

"No problem Kiz" he said giving me a wink.

"I'm gonna google that since you won't tell me what that means."

"Well I'll see you around. Here's my number and address if you need ANYTHING." He said handing me a card with his name, number, and address on it. Then he turned to my mom. "Nice seeing you again Janie, we really should meet up again while you're here and catch up you know." He said emphasizing the catch up part, then he was out the door. Everyone just kind of stood there in silence for a second.

"Ok am I the only one who feels like they're missing something?" asked Vika seemingly as confused as me.


	11. Chapter 11 Get back on your leash!

**So this is just a really playful chapter with a little bit of drama. It's really short and for that I'm sorry but I promise to update again pretty soon! I was just feeling really bad about not posting for a while so I decided to go ahead and post this to give all of my amazing, awesome readers something!**

** As always please R&R and tell me what you think!**

"I don't know what he means," defended my mom.

"That guy is really strange. But hey he saved my life, I guess I can get over his weirdness." I said grabbing a bagel and heading towards the back door. "Anyone else coming?"

"Oh yea I'll be there in a sec," said Dimitri. I headed outside and found Paul playing on his jungle gym pretending to soot some unknown enemy.

"Who are you fighting little buddy?" I asked climbing to where he was.

"Bad guys, duh!" he said continuing his shooting spree but then all of a sudden paused and kind of glared at me. "I'm not little!"

I gave a chuckle and glared back playfully then charged at him and picked him up like a baby while he started fighting trying to get free so I started tickling him.

"See your little compared to me!" I told him.

"Only because you're a grown up! Grownups are supposed to be big!" he hollered. By that point I was getting tired of tickling and fighting him for the moment so I let him down.

"One day I'm going to be as big as uncle Dimka! Maybe even bigger!" he said proudly.

"You want to know a secret Pauly?" I asked and he excitedly shook his head yes. "Are you sure you can keep it?"

"I won't tell anyone Aunty Rose!" he said determined.

"I think you might even be cuter than Uncle Dimka, you'll have to fight the ladies off with a stick!"

"Ewww Aunt Rose! Girls are gross and have cooties!" he said wrinkling his nose.

"Well I'm a girl and I don't have cooties," I said.

"You don't count," he said.

"Why not?"

"Because your cool! And you like boy stuff also not just girly stuff," at the mention of girly stuff he made a disgusted face again.

"Alright I'll take the compliment...I think. But not all girls are bad, one day you'll see what I mean."

"He better not!" interrupted Dimitri coming to stand beside us. We were sitting on the edge of the jungle gym, I was in the corner leaning against one of the walls with Paul still in my lap so of course Dimitri just happened to scare us. He started cracking up and Paul just glared at him, I decided to play along and glare back. I went to the entrance and squatted with Paul beside me. I turned to him and nodded. As soon as I nodded we both leaped out at Dimitri. I purposely didn't tackle him fully not wanting to injure him but I tackled enough to cause him to stumble.

"Hey what was that for?" he asked.

"For scaring us," said Paul at the same time I said "Eaves dropping."

"Well it's a good thing I was eaves dropping. Paul stay away from girls, they are nothing but trouble!" he told Paul.

"What about Tasha she's a girl and you're with her?" he asked with an annoyed face at the mention of her name.

"Especially stay away from girls like Tasha!" he said seriously.

"Take it you are in a fight because you're not catering to her every beck and call today?"

"You have no idea," he muttered then towards back to Paul. "If you must be friends with a girl then choose a girl who's nice, pretty, and likes what you like."

"So a girl like Aunty Roza. She's pretty, and nice, and likes to do stuff like we do!" he replied. Dimitri paused. My heart started racing in anticipation to see what he was going to say, but soon it was clear he was at a loss for what to say. I decided to end his struggle and spoke up.

"Who's up for a game of tag?" I asked.

"Oh ME!" Paul shouted, successfully distracted. "Who's it?"

"NOT ME!" I shouted running off.

"ME EITHER!" he shouted running off also leaving a still frozen Dimitri. Dimitri quickly shook his head and looked around.

"Not fair!" he said.

"All is fair in love and tag," I said purposely misquoting the popular phrase before searching for a place to go so he couldn't easily tag me knowing he'd come after me first.

The morning flew by with us playing quite a few games before pausing to go eat lunch. We had to pause the game frequently because Tasha kept calling and Dimitri just couldn't ignore the calls. I think the total has been 35 times in the last 3 hours. Currently Dimitri and I were sitting at the table eating some sandwiches and black bread that Olena had made while Paul was already back outside having devoured his food. Dimitri's phone was pretty much right in the middle of us on the table, I anticipated her calling soon so I started inching closer and closer to the phone so when she called I quickly grabbed it before Dimitri.

"Dimitri is busy having some family time with his nephew. If this is an important call please leave a message after the tone. If it's a crazy, psychotic, overbearing girlfriend please hang up and try again tomorrow," I said mimicking the usual voice mails voice. I quickly heard "You little bitch!" before quickly hitting end and turning his phone off.

"That wasn't nice Rose. give me my phone back so I can attempt to calm her down."

"No Dimitri what's not nice is not letting you get to enjoy your day. What's not nice is punishing poor Paul because we have to keep pausing our games so that you can reassure her for the billionth time that your being a good little boy as if you're a flipping dog on the world's tightest leash. She's mad but she'll either get over it or she will stay mad, but either way you're not getting this back for a while."

"Rose give me my phone," he said reaching his hand out.

"Nope." I said popping the "p".

"Don't make me take it away from you," he warned. At that I pretended to hand it to him but before I made it all the way it 'slipped' from my hand into his glass of water.

"Damn it Rose!" he growled before hurriedly grabbing it out. He tried turning it on but it wouldn't work.

"Relax comrade, I know how to fix it but it will take a few hours. Does your mom have any rice?" I asked.

"Really you're hungry again? You just ate and what about my phone?"

"No you idiot, the rice is for your phone. The rice will pull the moisture out." I said offended.

"Oh sorry…Tasha's going to be so pissed," he said grabbing some rice and a bowl and bringing it to me.

"So let her be. You're going to enjoy the rest of the day with your nephew and you're not going to worry about her. You can get back on your leash tomorrow, for now enjoy the freedom," I said pouring the rice in the bowl then submerging the phone in the rice.

"Now come on, how about a game of hide and seek?" I asked grabing his hand and attempting to pull him out the door.

"Fine, but you need to tone it back. I know you won't admit it but you're in pain and need to quit being so rough." He said. Like he had mentioned, I wouldn't admit it but my body was aching all over. Yet again, it amazed me how well we knew each other.

"I'm fine come on," I said tugging his hand again.

"I'm serious Rose. Take it easy or I'll make you go to bed and stay there the rest of the day," he said sternly.

"Aye Aye captain. Now can we go?" I asked tugging again. This time he let me actually drag him outside.

After a few rounds of hide and seek I was running out of places to hide. Dimitri was now the seeker and Paul had already hidden in the same spot he'd hidden in 5 times now. Suddenly I got a great idea. On the back of the Belikovs' house, there was a part of the roof that formed the roof of a small patio, but that part of the roof was flat. I quickly ran to the front of the house and went inside knowing Dimitri couldn't here that door. Then I ran up to Vika's room and quietly opened the window. Fortunately her window was only about a foot or two above the flat part of the roof. I quickly jumped down and laid down right in front of the window against the house knowing that Dimitri wouldn't be able to see me from here.

I was right and about 20 minutes they still hadn't found me. suddenly there was a noise at the window from the inside.

"Rose what are you doing out here?" asked Vika.

"Ssshhh!" I whispered. "We're playing hide and seek and Dimitri hasn't been able to find me yet."

"Oh," she said. Suddenly her face brightened up. she started slowly closing the window. "That gives me a great idea!"

"What are you doing?" I asked curiously.

"If you're locked out on the roof then you'll have to jump into prince charmings awaiting arms!" she said as if that was the most obvious thing ever.

"I am not about to jump off the roof!" I hissed.

"You have no choice!" she said quickly shutting the window and locking it.

"Well shit," I muttered.


	12. Chapter 12 Ain't Scared of Nothing!

**I decided to give you guys an extremely long chapter (for me anyways) in order to make up for my absence. It is 9 pages and 3,800 words! I have a feeling that anyone who is still reading this will definitely enjoy this chapter! It gives a little insight into Dimitri AND Rose's mind and reveals a tiny bit of Roses' past and home life. PLUS there's a little part at the end that I think people will definitely like!**

**I was looking through old chapters and I'm not sure I've ever mentioned that there is a slight age difference between Rose and Dimitri and Tasha. Rose is 18 and just graduated, Dimitri is 22, and Tasha is 20. The Belikovs wanted to go to her graduation but didn't have the money. I'm not sure if anyone remembers what I had originally had Dimitri's job but I have changed it to part time Firefighter and part time self-defense teacher. It was an EMT but I decided that he's better as a firefighter…plus I don't know if there are any stories with him as a fighter and if I do a sequel it could add to the drama!**

** I also just remembered I forgot to mention Karolina being pregnant with Zoya ( I honestly can't remember who had which kid so I am just giving one to each). It doesn't really come into play in this chapter but I just realized I had forgotten about it so sorry about that.**

**Lastly thank you to:**

**Dimkaisshmexy24 **

**Miia. S**

**Hushhushmygoddess **

**Do'B**

**MarijaV **

**ElEnA-NeNa**

**RozaRocks **

**Evy201**

**Angelbbaby **

**Radioactive Hearts**

**LexiSoulsister**

**Usually I try to reply to each review personally but since this chapter came on so suddenly I didn't really have a chance to this time. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, alerted, or just read the story. All the reviews have been so helpful and quite a few have given me new ideas so please feel free to keep it up! Well thanks to this Authors Note I'm now at 10 pages so I'm going to shut up now and as always please R&R**

A few minutes later I heard her music start blaring and watched the blinds close.

"Viktoria!" I yelled frustrated knowing she wouldn't hear me.

"Roza?" hollered Dimitri following the sound of my voice. I quickly lay back down and debated revealing myself or to keep hiding. I quickly realized I would be stuck up here if I kept hiding, but I'd have to jump if I revealed myself, which I did not want to do…maybe Dimitri could come up with an alternative solution.

"Up here!" I called back. I sat up so he would see me and crawled over to the edge.

"Why are you up there?" he asked confused.

"Well I was hiding until Vika just locked me out here," I said nonchalantly.

"Did she do it on purpose?" he asked confused.

"No I don't think she saw me. But as soon as I noticed the window close, her music started and now she can't hear me."

"I'll go see if I can get her to open it up," he said walking to the back door.

"Good luck," I muttered. A few minutes later he reappeared with no Viktoria in sight. "No luck?"

"Apparently she left but, accidentally locked her door. The only people with a key are Mama and Yeva and both aren't around."

"Well great! I'm freaking stuck up here!"

"Climb down," he said as if it was an everyday thing to jump off of a freaking roof!

"Easy for you to say Comrade you're not the one up here," I said peeking off the edge just to shy back away from it.

"Why did you hide on the roof if you're scared of heights?"

"Who said I'm scared?" I said not wanting to admit I was terrified of heights.

"Roza I can read you like an open book and you're terrified but won't admit it!" he said with a smug chuckle.

"Hey I'm Rose Hathaway I ain't scared of nothing!" I told him purposely talking hick to mess with Dimitri, he hates it when I speak 'improper' and hates it even more when I say ain't.

"Rose, you're killing me here! Haven't I taught you anything?"

"Guess it's a good thing you're not my teacher huh?" I joked. Dimitri was studying to be an English teacher until he decided that just wasn't him, now he's a part time firefighter.

"Yep…now are you just going to stand up there forever?...Oh I think I smell some fresh black bread that mama left in the oven…"

"You're so cruel!" I said knowing he was taunting me with food.

"I'm cruel because you got yourself stuck on the roof? That makes sense."

"Well what am I supposed to do? I'm sure as hell not jumping," I said.

"Shimmy down the drain pipe or something. Aren't you supposed to be the kid who snuck out ALL the time?"

"Yea from the first story or with a ladder! I am not shimmying down anything!"

"Come on Roza I'll be right here to catch you if you fall,"

"Did you forget I have a sprained wrist? That sounds like a smart plan! Don't you have a ladder?"

"We loaned it to some friends who are out of town right now, just get as far down as you can then jump and I'll catch you."

"Promise?" I asked terrified. It wouldn't be so bad if there was something I could actually climb down but there was nothing besides a drain pipe that didn't look very sturdy.

"I promise Roza," he said sincerely.

I started towards the drain pipe and grabbed on for dear life. I slowly started making my way down when I felt the pipe start moving. I quickly stopped moving.

"Roza you're going to have to jump down,"

"Uh-uh!" I said shaking my head.

"Come on Rose it's not that far plus I'm right here to catch you ," I guess he could see the resignation in my eyes because then he started counting. "1…2…3…Jump!" I quickly let go and was relieved to find myself cradled in Dimitri's warm arms.

"You caught me!" I said softly.

"I told you I would didn't I? I'll always catch you," he said his eyes boring into mine. I was just about to lean up when we heard Paul from inside.

"Uncle Dimka is Aunty Rose down yet?" he hollered.

"Yea Paulie we'll be right in!" I hollered as Dimitri set me back down. "No one hears of this! If anyone asks I jumped down fearlessly, can't be ruining my rep." I said with a smile.

"Yes ma'am," he said with a chuckle. As we walked in Vika conveniently entered the front door. I knew she had probably been spying the whole time, dang it! Dimitri went into the kitchen with Paul and I just glared at Viktoria.

"Odd timing Viktoria," I said giving her a suspicious look. She looked confused then put on what was supposed to be an innocent face.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you just happen to come back home right after I get off the damn roof!"

"You were on the roof?" she asked giving me a playful wink.

"Yea guess you couldn't hear me cause of your loud music!" I told her playing along in case Dimitri could hear.

"Oh yea I forgot I left that on. Come upstairs with me to turn it off," she said heading up the stairs. When she got to her door she was just about to grab the handle when I spoke up.

"Wait don't you need the key? Dimitri said it was locked," I asked confused. She gave me a weird look then turned the knob and swung the door open.

"It wasn't locked. I was going to lock it but I forgot in my hurry to get out of here. I remembered when I was already in hiding and it was too late then. I figured that would ruin my plan but apparently it didn't."

"Wait so the door was never locked yet Dimitri told me it was? Damn him, I bet he just wanted to laugh at me!" I said frustrated.

"Or he just wanted the chance to be your knight in shining armor and catch you when you jumped! The chance to hold you in his arms without anyone getting mad or upset!" she said with a look of wistful romance in her eyes.

"Ok back to planet earth Vika. I seriously doubt that was the reason. He is ENGAGED why would he want to be my knight or want to 'hold me in his arms'?" I said trying not to believe her words. I couldn't get my hopes up like that.

"Oh yea just like he so did NOT want to kiss you when you were in his arms!" she said sarcastically. "I know my big brother and he is in love with you and just won't admit it! You need to get on the same page here so you can help me break him and Tasha up!"

I admired her hope in happy ever afters but I've seen and experienced too many heartbreaks and unhappy relationships to have the same kind of hope as her. Plus it just wouldn't be right.

"Ok we discussed this no attempting to break them up until we have proof the baby isn't his. Plus you're assuming I'm in love with him, I said that I might possibly like him as more than a friend but nothing more," I said defensively. She looked at me and rose one eyebrow giving me a look to say 'really?'

"Do you think I'm stupid Rosemarie Hathaway?" she said fiercely.

"No?"

"Maybe no one else has noticed it but I certainly have and you my dear are head over heels for him," she said firmly.

"Am not!" I argued.

"How many times have you almost kissed?"

"A few. But it doesn't mean anything!"

"Roza, even almost kisses mean everything," she said bluntly,

"Whatever I'm hungry and done with this conversation. No plotting to break them up without just cause!" I told her heading for the door.

"True love is a just cause!" she retorted.

"A better reason than that Vika and you know what I mean!" I said pulling the door open and walking into the hallway.

"You'll admit it one day!" she hollered after me. About then Dimitri came up the stairs and gave me a weird look.

"What is she hollering about now?" he asked nodding his head towards the room I just came out of.

"Who knows with her probably some new fashion trend, I was tuning her out," I said playing it off.

"Well anyways, Paul is wondering if you wanted to play some board games with us?"

"Sure let's go!" I said heading for the stairs. "I'm RED!" I hollered.

"You don't even know what we're playing," laughed Dimitri.

"Well if it involves pieces I'm red! Unless it's clue then I'm either Scarlett or Professor Plum!" I told him leaving no room for arguments. By then we were in the living room where Paul was already setting up some game.

"Ready for me to kick your butt mister?" I asked Paul with a fake mean look on my face.

"Good luck Aunty Rose but I'm the best at this game!" he said smugly.

"Oh is that right?" I asked lifting my eyebrows, "We'll just have to see about that!"

**(Some time later that evening)**

The rest of the afternoon went on like that. we kept playing all sorts of games with Paul and would occasionally get other people to play with us. He was right, he was the best at the games, but it kind of helped that occasionally we would purposely mess up for him.

We had eaten dinner a little while ago and everyone was heading their separate ways. Sonya and Karolina were in the living room, Paul was already in bed, Vika had went out with a friend, Yeva had disappeared like usual and Olena and my mom were in the kitchen talking. I think Dimitri had gone to his room but I'm not sure. I was in the living room with Sonya and Karolina but they were talking about some show I had never heard of so I decided to go out on the back porch swing and call Lissa. I had asked Olena about her coming and she said it was ok so Liss was planning on coming in two days. I opened the door and took a step when I heard a loud sigh. I turned and saw Dimitri on the porch swing with his head in his hands.

"Everything ok Comrade?" I asked.

"Yes…no…I'm not sure," he said.

"Well you can only pick one," I told him as I grabbed his hand and pulled him up. "Let's walk to the park," I suggested knowing that's where we always go to talk.

"It's just Tasha. She's pissed about your little stunt earlier and who knows what she'll pull now."

"Sorry," I said but we both knew I didn't fully mean it. He gave me a look as if to say 'really?' "Why does everyone keep giving me that look today? I am sorry about her stressing you out because I pissed her off."

"Don't be sorry. As bad as it is to admit, I actually enjoyed today it was kind of nice just relaxing and playing games with Paul all day. What was even nicer was kicking your butt all day!" he said with a half smile.

"Oh whatever Comrade! I totally destroyed you!" We sat there for a few seconds before I spoke up again. "Can I ask you something without you getting mad?"

"Of course," he said without a doubt.

"Is it worth it? Being with her just for this kids sake? You can't honestly tell me you're happy with her."

"I can't just leave her Rose, she is carrying my baby. Plus the baby deserves to have a real family."

"Maybe it does deserve a real family but does it deserve to grow up in an unhappy environment. If you're unhappy, Tasha will get unhappy and with both parents being unhappy it can sometimes do more damage."

"I do love her, I'm just not sure I love her like I should."

"Well I admire you for that because I don't see anything to love," I joked. He gave me a look about to reprimand me but I cut him off first. "Obviously you must see something in her that nobody else does but, is it enough to kind of love her? Look at me Stans been in my life since I was a little girl and I should look at him as a father but between him and my mom, their lack of love and unhappiness has just made me bitter and resent them…among other reasons."

"I'm nothing like Stan," he said. By now we had reached the park and I went over to the swings and sat down while Dimitri sat on the one next to me.

"No you're nothing like Stan but that's beside the point. I've grown up with them so unhappy it just makes me unhappy. Why do you think my mom travels so much for work? Because she's so unhappy at home she can't stay there. The happiest I've ever seen her is when she's here for the summer. I mean hey maybe you could be the happiest couple in the world one day but is that a risk you want to take?" I asked looking him dead in the eye.

"I don't know I feel like I should but I just don't know right now."

"Well I'm not trying to talk you out of it I'm just saying have you really thought about in the long run? You said yourself you're not sure if you even love her like you should. What happens if years from now you meet someone that you're 100% sure is the one but it's too late? What if it happens to Tasha? Are you prepared for that?" I asked but I had to look away when I mentioned him falling for someone else. It's one thing to know he's with Tasha whom he does not love but another to think of him actually falling in love with some complete stranger. Just mentioning it I felt a sharp pain in my chest but I quickly shoved it aside and focused back t our conversation.

"How'd you get so wise? Hard to believe you're just eighteen," he asked giving me a half grin.

"Well I'm just good like that!" I said with a chuckle. His face went back to mostly serious again and I looked back at him.

"Can I ask you something and you give me an honest answer?"

"Depends on what it is," I said uneasily.

"Oh no we can't have a conversation about my entire love life then me not be able to even ask you a question without getting an honest answer, it's your turn now." He said. It's really no use in trying to lie to him anyways so I just shrugged.

"Fine I'll tell the truth," I said in defeat.

"How are things at home?" he asked softly.

"Same as usual. I'm never good enough and sleeping with half of the school if not the whole school. Nothing really new."

"Why won't you tell your mom that he says those things to you?" He asked.

"Because with her job I hardly see her as it is, why ruin what little time we have together by telling her that her husband is a bastard…plus she'll never believe me. He's always on his best behavior when she's around. Hell I wouldn't believe me if I was her after the show he puts on in front of her."

"She's your mother Rose, she'll believe you."

"I tried once…she didn't believe me and we just ended up fighting, it ended with her call me an ungrateful brat and me calling her an emotionless bitch. Luckily we eventually got over it and I've never brought it up again."

"You know what he tells you are all lies right?" he asked knowing about my self-esteem problems due to years of Stan telling me I was a useless selfish whore.

"It's hard to believe that after hearing it for so long but I'm trying. It's easier now that you know so I have someone I can talk to about everything but it's still really hard somedays…especially after, you know. Like I said though, I'm trying. Being here really helps."

"That's good. I'm glad you confided in me." he said softly.

"Honestly, I'm not sure why you're so easy to talk to. I've known Lissa my whole life and not once have I ever told her about Stan. She knows I'm unhappy at home but not why."

"Has he hit you again?"

"He tried once, but I used my awesome ninja skills to dodge it then kneed him in the crotch so hard he fell to the ground. I told him if he ever tried again I'd cut his balls off in his sleep. Since then he hasn't tried again."

"I'm proud of you, but awesome ninja skills? You're far away from being a ninja," he said with a laugh trying to somewhat lighten the mood.

"Oh yea?" I asked before trying to surprise him by jumping up and throwing a punch to his arm. He quickly blocked it and stood up so I of course tried again. This of course led to a light sparring match neither of us hitting hard. As usual within a few minutes he had me pinned on the ground panting. "Damn you! You could at least let me win one time!"

"That's no fun though" he said with a chuckle. Just like that the heavy atmosphere was lifted and we were joking and taunting each other again. He stood up and held out a hand to me. I looked at it suspiciously before trying something I had seen on tv once. I grabbed his hand and as I pretended to pull up I kicked the back of his knees and pulled his arm successfully making him fall. The stupid part of my plan is I didn't really think about where he would fall, next thing I knew a huge Russian was heading straight for me. I closed my eyes and braced for an impact that never came.

"Nice try," he chuckled. I looked up to see his face about a foot maybe less away from mine. He had somehow managed to bring his arms down (and not sprain them) preventing him from falling on me. He was close enough however that his legs were touching mine and I could feel his breath on my face.

"It was worth a shot," I muttered with a faint smile, feeling my heart start speeding up. Without knowing for sure who moved first, I'm pretty sure it was me, within a second our lips were touching and shots of electricity was running through my veins. It started off slow but then got a little more heated. Without realizing it I had brought my hands up and tangled them in his hair. He had brought up one of his hands and was cradling my face.

"Rose! Dimitri!" a voice hollered that sounded vaguely familiar. That jerked us back into reality. Quickly Dimitri shot up and I followed.

"That shouldn't have happened," he said.

"I know I'm so sorry. I didn't mean…I just got caught up in the moment. Can we just pretend that never happened? I mean we are just best friends it's not like I like you like that or you like me like that right?" I said rambling and also lying like crazy. That kiss had been amazing, electrifying, and so much more, not that you'd hear me admit that.

"Yea of course, it never happened." He agreed. I felt my heart drop a little at him not denying what I said and agreeing to just brush it off so easily but what did I expect? Him to tell me that he did actually like me like that? because that was never going to happen.

"There you two are!" said Vika coming up towards us. "Mama sent me to look for you two when you just disappeared and didn't answer your phones, I think she's a bit paranoid after what happed last night."

"Sorry, we decided to take a walk and I guess forgot to tell anybody." I told her. We started walking back to the house. Dimitri was in front by a few steps and Vika was beside me. she gave me a look that told me she saw everything and I just shook my head telling her not to bring it up tonight. When we got to the house I told everyone that I was worn out and ready for bed so I went straight up stairs, changed, and laid down.

I laid there just replaying our conversations and that kiss over and over again. Before I knew it I had a few tears leaking down my face. I guess I finally proved my point, there was no way Dimitri had any sort of romantic feelings in me. How else could he have brushed it off that easily? _'You brushed it off just as easily,'_ said a voice in my head. That was different though, I was trying to give him an out and protect myself…not that it did much good. I know I said we should just forget it ever happened but how the hell do you forget the BEST kiss of your life! How are we supposed to pretend that it never happened? I don't know how easily I can manage that but I guess I'll have to try.

What have I gotten myself into now?


	13. Chapter 125 DPOV

**So after I posted last night, I got a few reviews that had some similarities so I decided because the main review was by a guess I would address it here and then I would give all of the wonderful people that review a choice in how the next few chapters go. **

** Now the main review was sort of harsh but I am in no way mad about it and actually really appreciation their opinion but like I said it was a guest so I can't actually respond to it. So here's the review:**

I can't read this story anymore, its not a D/R story as far as i am concerned and i am sick of seeing him sexing it up with Tasha, i didn't start reading this story to have it drag on to chapter 12 and still NOTHING not to mention the times that you put your story on hold and still NO D/R.

This story is starting to bore the shit out of me and obviously you are a R/D hater and a Tasha lover. And now you have Dimitri telling Rose he has no feelings for her and Rose stupidly saying the kiss meant nothing to her ARGH this is so pathetic.

**Well first off let me assure you it is definitely a R&D story and I hate Tasha as much as the next R&D lover. With that though I was trying to create this story from a more realistic point of view. In real life it wouldn't just be 'oh I love you! Please leave Tasha' 'of course I will I love you too!' when I had asked a few chapters ago most everyone said they wanted me to wait a little bit until I do the reveal. I really don't blame you about all the space I've had between updates I'd probably be a little upset too. Dimitri told Rose he has no feelings for her because one she said it first and two he's still trying to do the right thing (it's not going to last much longer). I thought that I had made it at least somewhat clear that Rose has self-esteem issues due to the way Stan's been treating her so, she's too scared to admit that she loves him if she's not sure he loves her first I guess I didn't make it as clear as I thought I did. She's said repeatedly that she doesn't believe he loves her so she's not going to put herself on the line. I am sorry you're frustrated at the speed of things and that it is pathetic but thank you for reviewing and I really appreciate your view.**

** All that being said, I have had a few other reviews that are wanting things to hurry up so, I'm going to leave it up to the reviewers. I already have the Tasha reveal and most of the Abe reveal written, but I was waiting at least a few more chapters to build up the tension. IF YOU WOULD PREFER ME TO HURRY THE REVEAL UP, I can do it in the next chapter just review or pm me and let me know what you'd prefer. I plan on if I don't really get many opinions I will go ahead and hurry it up anyways.**

** Now all that being said I've decided to do a Dimitri POV to let you gain a little insight into his mind. I'm starting with when they started talking about Rose's home life because honestly I'm not entirely sure that I could write his thoughts while talking about him and Tasha and it be very good so I'll leave that part up to the imagination. Thank you to everyone has reviewed so far and I look forward to reading what you have to say!**

**DPOV:**

**"**How are things at home?" I asked softly worried about her answer.

"Same as usual. I'm never good enough and sleeping with half of the school if not the whole school. Nothing really new."

"Why won't you tell your mom that he says those things to you?" I asked frustrated that she continually put up with this, she deserves better.

"Because with her job I hardly see her as it is, why ruin what little time we have together by telling her that her husband is a bastard…plus she'll never believe me. He's always on his best behavior when she's around. Hell I wouldn't believe me if I was her after the show he puts on in front of her."

"She's your mother Rose, she'll believe you."

"I tried once…she didn't believe me and we just ended up fighting, it ended with her call me an ungrateful brat and me calling her an emotionless bitch. Luckily we eventually got over it and I've never brought it up again."

"You know what he tells you are all lies right?" I asked knowing I wouldn't get anywhere if I kept talking about her telling her mom. I can't believe that he's such an ass to her of all people. When she told me that he's spent YEARS calling her the names he has and degrading her constantly, it took all my will power not to go down there and give him a piece of my mind…that and Rose begging me not to.

"It's hard to believe that after hearing it for so long but I'm trying. It's easier now that you know so I have someone I can talk to about everything but it's still really hard some days…especially after, you know. Like I said though, I'm trying. Being here really helps."

"That's good. I'm glad you confided in me." I said softly glad that she's working through it.

"Honestly, I'm not sure why you're so easy to talk to. I've known Lissa my whole life and not once have I ever told her about Stan. She knows I'm unhappy at home but not why."

"Has he hit you again?" I asked bracing myself for the answer.

"He tried once, but I used my awesome ninja skills to dodge it then kneed him in the crotch so hard he fell to the ground. I told him if he ever tried again I'd cut his balls off in his sleep. Since then he hasn't tried again."

"I'm proud of you, but awesome ninja skills? You're far away from being a ninja," I said with a laugh trying to somewhat lighten the mood. I'm glad she stopped him and actually surprised that she did. She shows this tough confident side but I know better. Deep down she's really insecure and never thinks she's good enough. It doesn't make it much better when her own mother acts like she doesn't want to be around her, except when they're here.

"Oh yea?" she asked. She thought she was being sly and jumped up and attempted to punch me. I of course block her and stood up in front of her. Rose being rose didn't let that stop her and tried again, again I blocked and we started a mini spar. I was going easy on her but she was still doing pretty good for herself. Soon enough I had her pinned on the ground

"Damn you! You could at least let me win one time!" She said frustrated.

"That's no fun though" I said with a chuckle. I stood up and held out a hand to help her up. She hesitated for a second but then grabbed my hand. Next thing I knew she was kicking the backs of my knees and pulling me down. She hadn't thought this all the way through because I was quickly heading for her but my instincts kicked in and I brought my arms downkeeping me from landing on her.

"Nice try," I chuckled before realizing what position we were in. I was less than a foot away from her and our legs were pretty much tangled together.

"It was worth a shot," she muttered with a faint smile. I'm not sure who moved first but the next thing I knew our lips were crashing into each others. I felt electricity running through my veins and lost all rational thought. It started off slow but then got a little more heated. She pulled her hands up and tangled them in my hair and I brought my hand up to her cheek.

"Rose! Dimitri!" a voice hollered that sounded vaguely familiar. That jerked us back into reality. I quickly jumped up and she followed.

"That shouldn't have happened," I said realizing what happened. I was still with Tasha and even if I don't love her like I probably should she still doesn't deserve me cheating on her like that…no matter how annoying she can be. Shit I wonder how this is going to affect my friendship with Roza.

"I know I'm so sorry. I didn't mean…I just got caught up in the moment. Can we just pretend that never happened? I mean we are just best friends it's not like I like you like that or you like me like that right?" she said rambling.

"Yea of course, it never happened." I agreed quickly. I'm not going to lie though. I felt a sharp pain in my chest when she said those words.

"There you two are!" said Vika coming up towards us. "Mama sent me to look for you two when you just disappeared and didn't answer your phones, I think she's a bit paranoid after what happened last night."

"Sorry, we decided to take a walk and I guess forgot to tell anybody." Rose told her. We headed back to the house and I went straight up to my room. I quickly changed and laid down.

I couldn't help but replay the night over and over in my head, especially the kiss. I replayed her words in my head afterwards and still could feel the pain when she said she doesn't like me like that. that doesn't make sense though why would I be upset about that? it's not like I like her like that…do I? Even if I do, I'm no good for her she deserves better than me and all my problems. I'm engaged and with a kid on the way. Even if me and Tasha didn't work out, I couldn't subject Rose to having to deal with Tasha forever and raise a kid that's not hers…WHAT am I talking about? I go from not sure how I quite feel about her to talking about her raising mine and Tasha's kid with me? No she needs to find someone better suited for her without all this drama. At that thought the pain in my chest intensified times 10. I thought of her kissing another mine like we had kissed earlier, her talking her problems out with someone else…her sleeping with someone else. I looked down to see my hands had involuntarily clenched in anger at the last thought.

I remembered last night and how worried I had been when we couldn't find her and how it felt when I saw her sitting on that bench by Abe with tears streaming down her face. When I first saw her there my first thought was to lock her up and shield her from the world so I would never have to see that look on her face again. Nothings is better than seeing her smile and I wish I could always see her smile…shit, I think I'm in love with my best friend…

I can't love her…not right now. I'm not good for her, she deserves 10 times better…plus I can't do that to Tasha and the baby…could I? What am I even talking about?! She said she doesn't like me like that! _'She was probably lying to protect herself idiot' _said a voice in my head. No….she wouldn't lie like that…would she? Ugh this is all so confusing!

One thing is for sure, I have some serious thinking I have to do.


	14. Chapter 13 Kill Me now Please?

**Three updates in four days! Yay!**

**I got kind of a mixture of reviews saying hurry it up and keep it at the pace it is so, I'm compromising. I didn't really have very many ideas to fill in the space between now and the reveal anyways, so I will probably be doing it within the next 3-4 chapters if not sooner. Now before you get upset because I usually take so long to update, I PROMISE to update a lot faster! The next one will most likely not be up tomorrow/tonight (depending on when you are reading this) because I'm hanging out with some family and won't have time to write it but, it will probably be up by Sunday night. **

**Now this chapter will probably make people a little upset (you'll see why) but I PROMISE IT WILL BE EXPLAINED in the next chapter. This chapter has just a little bit of drama but the next will have a lot more so stick with me please!**

**Thanks again to:**

**Radioactive Hearts**

**Evy201**

**Belikovgoddess**

**LexiSoulsister**

**Do'B**

**RozaRocks**

**Bessy1010**

**MarijaV**

**Dimitri007**

**And the two guests**

**For reviewing the last two chapters. Like I have said before please R&R even if its not a good review. I know I posted that one last chapter but I promise it didn't make me mad I just wanted to explain myself. It and others similar to it actually kind of inspired me to write faster. So please R&R because they definitely do help!**

The next morning Dimitri woke me up bright and early for training. I had forgotten I'd asked him to yesterday but considering last nights…unusual events I figured he would have decided not to. We didn't speak much. First we ran the two blocks I had failed to complete the other day. This time I did it much easier; I think it was because I spent more time thinking than complaining and concentrating on running. Then he taught me a few basic moves before we finished for the day. I think we said a total of maybe 50 words in an hour and a half…something really unusual for me. He didn't seem to want to say anything, just had a neutral look on his face, and I didn't really know what to say. Soon we went in, I took a shower and when I came out Vika was definitely ready to pounce.

"So wanna tell me what happened last night?" she asked way to eager for me.

"We talked, started sparring then I think I kissed him. When you hollered we both pulled away he said it should have happened, I apologized, told him it was nothing and he agreed. That's about it."

"That's about it! That's how you finish! What is wrong with you girl! You kissed! That reinforces my point that you two love each other!" she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No it doesn't. Plus he pretty much admitted he doesn't have feelings for me like that."

"Did he actually say he didn't or is that how you're interpreting what he said?" she asked like she didn't believe me.

"Well I apologized and told him it's not like we like each other like that or anything and he agreed. Meaning he doesn't like me like that!"

"Could it have ever possibly occurred to you that he could have been lying?! Just like you lied to him. He was probably trying to say what he felt was the right thing to say plus you had already said that you didn't like him like that so why would he say he liked you?!"

"I seriously doubt he was trying to say the right thing. Plus he agreed way too quickly for him to have not meant it. It's not like he initiated the kiss anyways, I'm pretty sure it was me."

"Pretty sure? How can you be pretty sure?" she asked.

"Well it all happened so fast it was hard to tell who moved first."

"Well Hun based on what I saw it doesn't really matter who initiated it because it looked like you two were about to rip each other's clothes off it was so intense."

"I seriously doubt that," I said in disbelief.

"Trust me you two both looked like you were enjoying that kiss way too much for me to watch," she said almost as if she was disgusted. "I mean don't get me wrong I want you two together but uh, I really don't want to see a replay of that make out…he's still my brother!"

"Don't worry Vika I doubt you'll have to bear witness to those horrifying images again!" I said with a half smile. I did mean it, but I also had to tease her.

"Oh I think if it means you two getting together and getting rid of the she-devil I could maybe handle it every now and then. I'd just look away and ask for a little warning."

"Well I don't think you'll have to worry about it. You didn't see the way he was this morning. He barely said two words, the only time he would take is when telling me what to do. Then he hardly would even spare me a glance unless he was showing me how to do something. I'm pretty sure the only reason he ran with me was to make sure nothing bad happened again."

"Well, see he still care's about you that's something. Maybe he just didn't know what to say. Maybe the sight of you in a sports bra and jogging shorts was too much for him without thinking about that passionate kiss last night!" she said hopeful.

"Whatever you keep hoping while I continue to live in this place called reality" I said getting up and heading to the door.

"Pretty soon you will see just how right I am!"

"I wish," I muttered under my breath but I knew how wrong she was. He didn't like me like that. Why would he? I'm not good enough for someone like him.

I made my way downstairs and to the kitchen. Thankfully there was still some black bread so I quickly cut a slice and sat down at the counter. Dimitri came in and started looking in the fridge not even acknowledging me. He got a glass of orange juice and was in the middle of cutting a slice of black bread for himself when Olena walked in.

"Well it's as silent as the grave in here," she said.

"It's too early for talking." I told her.

"Nonsense the only time you're ever this quiet is when you're asleep," she joked.

"So what have you got planned to do today mama?" asked Dimitri.

"Well I wanted to go with Janine to go visit with Sonya and Mikhail but it looks like I have to head to the store." She said.

"I'll go for you!" I quickly volunteered. Anything to get out of this awkwardness in the house.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive! How is Sonya and Mikhail anyways? Haven't heard from them since last year."

"They're good, expecting a baby in a few months." At baby I glanced at Dimitri but quickly looked away. "I'll let you go as long as Dimitri goes with you. You're mom would kill me if I let you leave the house alone."

"I'm sure he probably has plans with Tasha or something. I'm sure she wouldn't mind it is the middle of the day, no use in messing up his day," I said quickly knowing that I wouldn't get anywhere but desperately hoping.

"Nonsense you're safety is too important to risk. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Would you Dimka?" she said looking at him leaving no room for arguing.

"Of course not mama. I'll go with her." He said still not looking at me.

"Good now that's settled I'll go tell Janey I'm going with her." She said leaving the room.

"Seriously you don't have to go with me. just pretend and we can go our separate ways as soon as we're out the door," I said making sure Olena couldn't hear me.

"It's fine. I said I would so I will," he said sort of sharply.

"Well this will be fun," I muttered just loud enough for him to hear as I walked out the door and up the stairs. "I'll be ready in 5!" I called back.

I made it up stairs and back to Vika's room before plopping on the bed beside her and let out a groan.

"You ok there?" she asked with a hint of amusement.

"NO! can you just kill me now?"

"What happened now? Did you sleep together in the stairwell? Couldn't blame you with all the sexual tension radiating off of you two last night, I'm sure it's still there now…" she joked.

"NOT FUNNY! I volunteered to go to the store to get away from him but Olena is making him come with me!"

"That's not a bad thing. Now you can talk." She said obviously.

"Yea except for the part where he's not talking or looking at me and he seems kind of pissed at me actually. Before your mom walked in he wouldn't even acknowledge me then she practically forced him into agreeing to come to the store with me and after she left I told him he didn't have to and he freaking snapped at me! he has never snapped at me," I told her getting more frustrated by the minute.

"Well now you have a chance to confront him about it. So go, NOW!" she said as she pushed me off the bed.

"Fine but I really dislike you right now!" I headed back downstairs and found Dimitri waiting for me by the front door with the list in hand. I grabbed my satchel purse, put it on and walked out the door. We managed to make it to the store and got all the way through it with only talking about things on the list. On the way back I was starting to get pissed.

"You know eventually you're going to have to talk to me!" I snapped.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked not glancing at me and without showing a hint of emotion on his face.

"Well first you could start with why you seem to be so pissed at me. I already apologized and we said we were going to pretend it never happened. You're not doing a very good job at that considering you won't even look at me while we are having a conversation!" I half-yelled the last part. At that he finally looked at me. he was doing extremely well at hiding his emotions considering normally I read him like a book and now I have no idea what's he's thinking or feeling.

"I'm not pissed, just have a lot on my mind. I'm sorry if I made you think I was mad at you." He said looking away.

"I don't think I could ever be mad at you," he muttered. I don't think I was supposed to hear but I did.

"That's it. That's all you're going to say! You're not mad at me, that's it? Thanks for the apology but it still doesn't account for you ignoring me and not even attempting to have any sort of conversation all morning! Like I said last night, oit never happened can we please freaking move on?" I asked frustrated.

"But it did! It did happen," he finally snapped throwing his arms up and letting them drop back down. "and now…now I can't.."

Unfortunately he didn't get to finish that sentence because of course a voice interuppted us.

"Kizim! Good to see you here," said Abe from behind me. I turned around and saw him coming from the direction of the grocery store, Pavel not too far behind him.

"Old man, not sure if I can say the same. Are you stalking me?" I asked with a laugh.

"Actually no not this time," he joked..

"You know, you're not the type I figure would do his own grocery shopping yet this is the second time I've witnessed it!" I said pretending to be shocked.

"Eh, my house keeper is on vacation so I'm on my own."

"Yea he's almost burned the house down 3 times!" Pavel said with a laugh behind him.

"Cooking is not my forte unfortunately," he said with a shrug.

"Well how about you spare you're poor kitchen and have dinner with us tonight?" I asked.

"Um Rose I don't know if we'll have enough," Dimitri interrupted.

"Nonsense your mom cooks for an entire army. Think of it as a thanks for saving my life dinner!" I told him.

"Well if you don't think it would be a problem. It would be nice to get to know you better and get reacquainted with your mom," he said with a smile.

"Good then it's settled! Come by around 5:30, dinners usually ready by about 6 or 6:30 and you can visit before hand."

"Sounds good, see you then Kizim," he said starting to walk off.

"Hey you still haven't told me what that means!" I hollered after him. He just turned and smirked at me before getting in the car. I turned around and started walking back towards the house.

"Uh, Rose… I don't think that was a good idea. Your mom didn't seem too happy to see him the other day, I don't think she'll like having him over for dinner." Dimitri said.

"Well too late now. Besides maybe they can get work out whatever fight they had when they were younger."

"Whatever you say, I still don't think it's a good idea."

"Well like I said too late now so OH WELL!" By now we were at the house. We quickly put the groceries away. Dimitri had reverted back to how he had been this morning. By the time we had finished Vika was in the kitchen with us.

"So rose, you want to go to a karaoke club tonight? Mia texted meand asked and I told her I would ask you." she asked cheerfully.

"I don't think it's very smart for her to go out tonight," Dimitri said for me.

"We're all going to be there and we won't let her out of our sight this time., therefore she'll be fine and protected!" Normally I would probably be a little more cautious after what happened last time but it pissed me off that Dimitri was answering for me like he's my freaking father yet won't even talk to me. Plus I would love to get out of the house and away from him for a few hours.

"Sure! it sounds great!"

"Like I said I don't know if that's very smart Roza," said Dimitri giving me a worried look.

"Like she said they'll be there and I promise not to go off on my own again," I said pleading with my eyes for him to say ok, even though it really didn't matter cause I was going anyways.

"You should probably talk to your mom first but you're going to go no matter what I say so I guess fine as long as you stay with the group!" he warned.

"YES!" said Vika throwing her arms in the air about the same time I said "Yes Father!" sarcastically of course.

After that we went upstairs and Vika picked out outfits for us to wear. She had to find something "extra sexy" for me that would "leave Dimitri drooling". So of course I had no say in the matter since fashion was not my thing.

The afternoon passed rather quickly and before I knew it, it was 5:30. I heard the doorbell ring and about a minute and a half later I heard my mother coming down the hallway.

"ROSEMARIE HATHAWAY GET OUT HERE NOW!"

Uh-oh.


	15. Chapter 14 It's Torture

** So I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter I have ever written! It's 15 PAGES! I started it at like 11pm and am now writing this AN at 8:02 Am. Once I started writing I just couldn't stop! Some parts may drag a little bit, if they do I'm so sorry. I blame it on the lack of sleep. The chapter isn't exactly what I had planned but it's not too bad…hopefully it's good. (Sorry I ramble when I'm tired). I have Figured out that unless I combine the next two chapters, which is possible, the reveal will be in three chapters!**

** I hate to say this but I'm too tired to do all the thank you's right this second so I will ad them in the AN next chapter, sorry.**

** Thank you to everyone who reviewed, alerted or read. Here's the next chapter and as always please R&R. Even if it's a bad review, especially on this chapter because I'm not too sure how it turned out.**

Not 5 seconds later my mom is bursting through the door.

"What is Abe Mazur doing here and why did he say that YOU invited him? Please tell me he's lying," she said glaring at me.

"I did invite him. He said his housekeeper was on vacation so I figured I would save his kitchen kind of how he saved my life and invited him over!" I told her exaggerating just a tad. "I would kind of like to get to know him seeing as he did save my life plus maybe you two can solve whatever problem you have."

"I don't really want you around him Rosemarie. I don't think it's a good idea."

"I really like him. He actually seems really awesome, but don't tell him I said that, can't be too nice. I don't get why you have such a big problem with him."

"We didn't just get in a fight Rosemarie, we were dating. We actually dated all through high school even though he's a few years older than me. Something happened and we ended up calling it quits and haven't talked since." She told me not realizing how much information she just let slip.

"Wait you got pregnant with me you're senior year…he's not…Is he?" I asked.

"Oh no of course not. No I got pregnant with you after we broke up," she said.

"But if you dated all through high school how did you have time to 'fall in love' after him with a completely different guy?" I asked wondering if she was lying to me and if she was why?

"We broke up at the beginning of my senior year. I got pregnant with you halfway into the second semester. There was plenty of time in between."

"OK? So if you fell in love with someone else then why can't I try to get to know him? It shouldn't bother you too bad," I asked her severely confused. I don't know how well I can handle all this drama with Dimitri plus this 'who's your daddy? Oh no not him' crap.

"He's just not good news and I think you'll be safer if you stay away from him."

"Safer? You realize if it wasn't for him who knows where I'd be?" I told her getting kind of pissed that she wouldn't actually give me a good reason.

"Yes, and I'm extremely thankful for that but I think from now on you should stay away from him."

"Whatever. I like him and I think the least I could do is be friendly towards him." I told her before heading towards the door.

"Just be careful Rosemarie, I don' want to see you get hurt." She called after me. She was seriously so infuriating and confusing. Like how could inviting a man who saved my life to dinner hurt me? Like I said earlier I don't know if I can handle this so for now I'm just going to forget about that conversation upstairs with my mother and try to forget this tension with Dimitri and just enjoy dinner. Halfway down the stairs, Yeva stopped me.

"Help show him the way. There will be a big storm, one you might not want to go through, but the storm will always pass. Remember that," she sad then patted me on the cheek and walked back down the stairs. What was that about? Was she talking about Dimitri? It must be him, but show him the way? What way? Yea, that helps me not concentrate on the Dimitri drama right now!

I got downstairs and saw Olena and Abe sitting on the couch making small talk while everyone else just kind of awkwardly sat around the room not saying a word.

"Well looks like you made it. I hope you don't mind Olena," I said figuring she wouldn't be mad but making sure just in case.

"Of course not dear. Dinner's almost ready ready so let me just go finish it up while you all talk. It'll be ready in about 5 minutes." She said getting up and walking to the kitchen.

"Well, zmey how have you been? Burn down the kitchen yet?" I asked sarcastically.

"Zmey? Who taught you that one? And no actually thanks for asking."

"Who said I had to be taught? Maybe I already knew…" I said knowing that he would read straight through me. I have no knowledge of Russian plus how would I know his Russian nickname?

"Really so you know Russian?" Abe asked.

"Maybe…" I said. He raised an eyebrow at me. "How is it everyone can do that but me?"

"It's a special skill." He told me.

"Well only really uncool people can do that," I said frustrated that I can't.

"Mhmm…So Russian huh?" he said staring me down.

"Fine! Dimitri and Vika told me!" I said caving. He just smirked.

"Dinners done!" Olena called.

"YES, I'm starving!" Viktoria said before hurrying to the kitchen while we followed.

"You've been hanging around me too long Vika!" I called after her. I quickly found myself stuck between Dimitri and my mom with Abe across from me with Vika and Paul on each side of him.

"Where's your entourage?" I asked Abe.

"You mean Pavel?" he asked.

"No the other strange man that's always with you," I said sarcastically.

"Touché, Pavel is waiting for me to call him so he can come pick me up."

"Wait is he your chauffer, body guard, or secret lover?" I asked. Dimitri ad Janine both choked on their drinks while Vika and most of the table just smiled not wanting to offend him.

"You don't filter anything you say do you?"

"Nope," I said popping the "p".

"I like that type of honesty. More people should have it. He's my body guard, but he also drives me around. I'm not gay so you can cross secret lover off that list." He said straightforward.

"Well I'm glad somebody appreciates me not having a filter, usually I get in trouble for that." I said looking at my mom.

"I hope I'm not making you uncomfortable Janine, Rose here just invited me and I couldn't help myself from saying yes," he said looking at my mom. Suddenly the air got really thick with tension.

"It's not problem. Rose here has a mind of her own so I should have expected it sooner or later." She said tersely.

"How have you been recently?" he asked her obviously either not getting her hint or just flat out ignoring it. Probably the latter.

"Fine Abe," she said annoyed.

"Rose told me you're married now. How's that going?" I wanted to laugh outright. He was a very brave man.

"Oh stan? He's great. We're great." She said exaggerating things a ton. I snorted and she glared at me.

"What? He's an ass. No need to lie!" I defended. I looked at Abe and he was softly smiling but everyone else just sat there. Nobody said anything for a minute or two until all of a sudden Paul spoke up.

"Well this shit's awkward…" he said innocently. Vika choked on her drink Sonya and Karolina both looked shocked, Olena and Dimitri had a hint of a smile and I busted out laughing.

"Rosemarie quit laughing!" my mother scolded me.

"What? I'm sorry I didn't expect him to say that!"

"Where did you learn those words Paul?" asked Sonya.

"Aunty Rose said them!" he said proudly. Almost every face turned to me and Abe just smirked. I let my head hang a little knowing I was in deep shit for teaching him the word shit! That's irony for you.

"Well Aunty Rose shouldn't have said that word. Shit is a bad word that you don't say ok?" she asked him while he just nodded his head. "And Aunt Rose is going to watch what she says from now on right?" she asked while I copied Paul and just nodded my head. It was silent again for a minute or two before Dimitri spoke up.

"Oh Rose don't you have something to ask your mom?" he said with a smirk.

"I'll ask her later." I told him trying to convey the message of 'drop it', but of course it didn't work.

"Why not now? It's not like she's busy. Plus I'd like to hear her opinion." He said.

"Fine!" I said glaring at him before turning to my mom. "Before you freak out on me, we have this all planned out. Mia asked Vika if we wanted to go to a karaoke club tonight and I promise I will not go off on my own this time I will always have somebody with me. Can I please go? Especially since I didn't really get to enjoy it last time.."

"Absolutely not!" she said.

"Please? Nothing bad will happen this time!"

"How do you know that? a group of teenage girls will have no effect on three grown thugs."

"Hey I'm offended, I almost got away on my own! Plus we won't put ourselves in that position again."

"How about if Dimitri goes with them?" suggested Abe. "Then he can protect them. Plus they're all comfortable enough with him that it won't be like having a bodyguard"

"I appreciate the thought, but he probably has plans with his girlfriend." I said trying to persuade him to change his mind.

"Well Tasha can come with right?" asked Olena innocently. I looked at Vika and gave her a look. I would have rolled my eyes but that's too obvious.

"Of course, I'll have to ask her first though." Dimitri said a little stiffly, not enough for anyone to really notice but I definitely did.

"Fine, if Dimitri goes then you can too," my mom said a bit reluctantly.

"YES!" squealed Vika. "Let's go get ready!" she said jumping up and heading upstairs. I quickly got up and followed. We hurriedly got dressed, she had picked out cute dark blue skinny jeans, a purple tight shirt that drooped at the top showing a little cleavage with a black sparkly belt that went around my waist and black leather knee high boots for me. She wanted me to wear a dress, but with the bruises and scrapes I quickly cut that out. She was wearing a similar outfit with a green sparkly top, regular blue skinny jeans, and light brown leather boots. I let her do my make-up since that's her specialty and was amazed with what I saw. She had done a silver smoky eye, with dark pink lipstick, and light blush. What amazed me was there was no hint of the bruises; in fact the only thing that you could still see was where my eye was still swelling just a tad. The bruises had all faded but not much in just a day, so I had been worried about them but Viktoria took care of that. I quickly ran a curling iron through my hair just to enhance my usual wavy hair and we were ready. We headed downstairs to find Dimitri in the living room wearing, get this, a purple button up with dark blue jeans and black boots. Luckily he was wearing a dark shade of purple where I was wearing a bright purple, if we would have completely matched, lets just say…awkward. I looked towards Vika who was smiling, she probably had something to do with this. When he looked at us his jaw dropped just a tiny bit but he quickly put his blank mask on.

"You two look nice. You'll be happy to know Tasha is not coming tonight, she says she's sick." He said but I could tell he didn't know whether to believe her or not.

"You're not too bad yourself comrade and Sorry to hear that," I said as I grabbed my clutch and started to the door.

"No you're not, you hate Tasha," Vika said as if she didn't what's happened between Dimitri and I.

"You're right I'm not. I am sorry she's bailing on Dimitri though," I said honestly. I hated to see Dimitri hurt but I couldn't outright tell him to leave her. He'll have to learn on his own or find out the hard way.

"Let's go!" I said heading to the car. Dimitri drove and I ended up stuck in the front seat with Vika in the back. Mia and Kristina would be meeting us there because there wasn't really enough room for Dimitri in Mia's car with the rest of us girls.

"So Dimitri, looking forward to a night out with the gals?" Vika asked laughing.

"Oh wouldn't miss it," he said sarcastically.

"Well you can just drop us off at the club and then go take care of your fiancé?" I suggested half being a smart ass and half hoping he would go for it. I wanted a night away from him yet AGAIN people had different ideas. How is it really this impossible to get away from him?

"I told you're mom and mine that I would go with you so I am. Plus Tasha is not really home sick," he said.

"Why do you say that?" I asked as if I really cared.

"Because we just passed her house and her car was gone," he said squeezing the wheel a little tighter. I put my hand on his. I might be mad at him for being an ass but he really doesn't deserve Tasha playing these stupid games with him.

"I'm sorry," I told him sincerely. He glance in the rear view at Vika but she had her heaphones in and was staring out the window bobbing her head (in other words she was listening to our conversation but trying to pretend that she wasn't).

"Don't be, it's because she's still mad at me for yesterday. She probably just went over to one of her girlfriends houses," he said so obviously ignorant of Tasha's real motive.

"HA," Said Vika with a laugh. I turned and looked at her questioningly and she tured her head towards me.

"OH DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD?" she said way too loudly, still trying to keep up the pretense she was listening to music. I nodded my head and gave her a look while she just smiled. "SORRY IT WAS A FUNNY LINE IN A SONG THAT I JUST FINALLY UNDERSTOOD!"

I just shook my head and turned back around.

"You really believe that?" I asked him.

"Let's just drop it," he said a little harshly.

"We're HERE!" Vika said excitedly from the backseat. Dimitri quickly parked and we headed in. We quickly found Mia and Kristina at a high top table by the stage, a pretty good way away from the bar.

"Finally!" Mia said. "I've already signed you up for songs when it starts in a little bit, but first let's dance!"

I'm not going to lie usually I am pretty self conscience about public dancing but tonight I didn't care. I followed them to the middle of the dance floor and we started dancing. Dimitri stayed at the table but I quickly tried to forget about him. Hilariously enough the first song that came on was 'Gangnam Style' by Psy. We were having a blast imitating the dance, some of us better than others, and my stomach hurt from laughing by the end of it. Quickly the song changed to a remix of 'Die Young' by Ke$ha. I guess because of my good mood I grew a little bolder than usual because when some stranger came up behind me and started dancing half way through the song I didn't push him away. I glanced over and saw Dimitri looking over, For a minute I almost felt guilty but then I realized I had no reason to, he's the one that's been an ass to me and as of right now he's the one that's engaged, I'm single. The music switched to an older song and the whole club cheered. It was "Get Low' by Lil Jon. I would like to say at that point I finally pushed the guy behind me away but I looked back over to where Dimitri was and he was glaring our way not even trying to hide his emotions. I met his eyes and I could see a tinge of anger and was that Jealousy? He had no right to be Jealous! So of course that sparked my vengeful side so instead of doing what I probably should have, I started dancing just a little bit dirtier just to mess with him.

"That your boyfriend?" the guy behind me asked noticing Dimitri's glare.

"He wishes!" I joked. Looking at the guy behind me. He was actually pretty cute, he had light brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He had one of those baby cute faces that could look really sexy on some people, and for him it definitely worked.

"Want to make him wish more?" he smirked at me.

"Definitely," I said with a grin. This time when the chorus came I dropped to the groundand came back up repeating it a few times before going back to regular dancing. His hands were on my hips but he slowly started raising them, that I wasn't comfortable with. I quickly put my hands on his and pushed down. He unfortunately got the wrong idea and started traveling his hads lower on my body before I grabbed them again.

"None of that." I told him.

"Thought you wanted to make him jealous?" he asked innocently.

"Not that bad," I said. When he started raising his hands again I quit dancing and turned around to face him. "I said no!"

"Oh come on. What are you a prude?" he asked smirking.

"The lady said no," came a voice behind me. Well shit, that worked in the complete opposite way I wanted it to.

"Whatever I was just trying to have fun," the guy said before walking away.

"You didn't have to come over, I was handling it!" I said turning to face Dimitri.

"I'm your body guard, it's my job to chase away scum like that," he said with a smirk.

"Whatever," I said before turning towards the bar area.

"Where are you going?" he asked grabbing my arm. I quickly yanked my arm away.

"To the bathroom. You going to follow me in there too?" I snapped. He held up his hands.

"No, go ahead."

"Oh thank you!" I said in a sarcastically over sweet voice.

I headed to the bathroom and just sat in front of the sink for a minute I glanced up in the mirror and noticed my eyeliner had started to smear a little from the dancing so I quickly started fixing it. When I looked better and had cooled down a little I left the restroom. I went and stood by the bar to get a water but had to wait on the busy bartender.

"You look like you could use a shot," said a voice beside me. I looked over and saw Ivan, Dimitri's friend.

"I wish, but I don't think Dimitri would approve very much." I said wistfully.

"Who's gonna tell him?" he asked winking at me.

"I don't know…." I said hesitantly.

"Trust me you need a shot. I would have been plastered by now if I were you." He told me truthfully.

"He told you?!" I asked.

"Told me what?" he asked giving me a look that told me he knew but that he would pretend he didn't.

"I'll take a shot," I said sitting on the stool beside him. He called the bartender over ad ordered two shots.

"If it helps any, I think he should pick you. I don't trust her as far as I could throw her." He said leaning down so I could hear him. Karaoke had started while I was in the bathroom and somebody was now on stage screeching so it was hard to hear.

"Not really. He's Dimitri Belikov, the good guy. The one that always does what he thinks is right so it's not like he'll leave her. Plus he doesn't like me like that. He told me himself."

"And you honestly believed him?" he asked like that was a shock. "You have to know he was lying even if he doesn't quite realize he was. He's so in love with you, he just won't accept it because like you said, he does what he thinks is right."

"Yea right. He is not in love with me but that's fine because I don't love him either," I told him lying. About then the shots were placed in front of us. Ivan quickly told the bartender to get us two more, I looked at him questioningly.

"Trust me you'll need it here in a minute." He said. We quickly downed the first set of shots. "So who are you trying to fool here, me or yourself?"

"I'm not trying to fool anybody," I told him. "Just telling the truth."

"You're a horrible liar. Want to know what I do for a living?" he asked. I shrugged wondering where this was going. "I'm in the military, and based on my tests, they trained me to read people. They can't send shrinks overseas with every group so they try to train at least one person in each group to read people, that way I can tell if a person is handling things well or if he's about to lose his marbles. Not only am I trained to read people, I'm one of the best at it so I can tell you're lying without you even saying a word. Why do you think me and Mia get along so well?" he joked. "So it's extremely pointless to even attempt lying to me. from the moment you got here this summer I could tell you loved Dimitri, even when you didn't realize it."

"Ok fine, so I love him! What's that solve? Absolutely nothing. He's still engaged with a baby on the way!" I told him frustrated. What's the point in admitting my feelings, when it does no good?

"Why did Tasha not come?"

"She's supposedly sick at home, but her car's not there." I told him.

"Ofcourse it isn't because look behind you by the exit." He said nodding his head in the direction. I looked up and saw Tasha laughing at something but I couldn't tell who she was with.

"Oh my gosh! Is she really that stupid? She came to the club she knew we were going to?" I asked astounded.

"She's never been very bright." Ivan said. I quickly pulled out my phone.

"Let me see your phone," I told Ivan. He gave me a questioning look but handed it over. I got it to the unlock screen where it said the date and time. I held it in front of my phone's camera and took a picture of her making sure to get his phone in the picture so Dimitri couldn't deny when it was.

"Smart idea," Ivan told me.

"Thanks now where's that other shot?" I asked. He handed it to me and I quickly gulped it down before getting up and heading towards Tasha. Ivan tried to stop me but quickly realized it was pointless. I yanked Tasha's shoulder making her face me.

"So much for being home sick," I said glaring at her.

"Oh hey it's the town whore!" she said cheerfully. Ivan put his hand on my shoulder to calm me down, it kind of worked but very well. "Damn Rose how many guys are you screwing? You've even added Dimitri's best friend to the list? That's low even for you, I wonder how Mia your so called friend would feel about that?"

"Ok for one I'm not a slut like you. Two I'm not screwing anybody especially not my friends boyfriend. Three I may not have proof that you're a lying cheating whore but I'll get some soon so Dimitri will finally see who you really are."

"Who do you think you are miss high and mighty? If you haven't realized he chose me. We're getting married and I'm having his baby!"

"Do you even know who the father is?" I asked. She gasped and slapped me. I balled my fists but didn't make any moves toward her.

"How dare you!" she yelled. "Get out of this fake reality you're in bitch. I have Dimitri wrapped around my finger and he's not going anywhere!" she said before storming out of the club.

"I'm proud of you for not hitting her," Ivan said with a small smile.

"She might be a bitch and deserved it but she's still pregnant. She tries it again I can't say I will say the same thing,"

"Rose there you are I've been looking for you!" Dimitri said from behind me.

"Perfect timing," I muttered. Dimitri didn't hear me but Ivan did and gave me a wink and a small smile.

"Sorry as I was coming out of the bathroom I saw Ivan and we got to talking." I explained.

"Why is your face red?" He asked grabbing my chin and tilting my face towards the light. "Did somebody hit you?"

I quickly yanked my face out of his hands. "Just some drunk girl in the bathroom. She was trying to hit someone else and I just happened to be in the way. No big deal."

"Well come back over to the table, the girls were starting to get worried," he said giving me a look like me didn't believe me but wasn't going to ask any more questions about it. I turned towards Ivan.

"Does Mia know you're here? Why were you at the bar and not with her?"

"I was going to get a drink then go surprise her but then I saw you." He explained.

"Hey Ivan, can I have a word with Rose really quick? We'll meet you at the table. They're just over there." He told Ivan pointing to our table. Ivan walked off but when he was out of Dimitri's line of sight he turned around smirked then winked at me. Dimitri was luckily still turned sideways not looking at me so I put my hand behind his back and flipped him off.

"I'm sorry," Dimitri said quickly getting my attention. I looked back at him and he turned towards me.

"Good start but what exactly are you sorry for?" I asked.

"For everything…except running that jerk off. I won't apologize for that."

"Honestly I don't want you to, if I was honest with myself I would have said thank you instead of yelling at you but you still do have to try and let me handle things by myself. I know you were trying to help but if I'm ever going to get over what happened I need to learn to defend myself not have someone else do it. But thank you I do appreciate it."

"Anytime…I'm sorry for being a complete jerk to you, you did nothing wrong and I never should have taken things out on you."

"You think?" I asked sarcastically. He gave me a look that said shut up. "Sorry it's habit, but it is the truth…shutting up now!"

"You were right about Tasha, I do need to seriously think about things with her. I'm tired of her games and how she is so clingy, but I don't know if that's good enough reason to end our engagement. I'm just really confused right now and I ended up taking that confusion out on you, like I said I'm sorry for that.. I need to seriously think about things and not make any hasty decisions. No matter what, you're still my best friend and always will be."

"Well you already know what I think about this so I won't say anything but start ignoring me and I won't forgive you so easily!" I told him. I probably shouldn't forgive him so easily but I miss my best friend. If he stays with Tasha and I continue to have these feelings for him, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to handle being so close to him so I really need to cherish our friendship while I can.

"I promise if there's a next time I might even get on my knees and beg your forgiveness," he smirked referring to our conversation a few days ago.

"Thought you were supposed to do that this time?" I asked.

"Well you already forgave me," he said with a smile.

"Who said that? I just said next time I won't be as easy as this time. I never said I forgive you." I said with a chuckle.

"Are you really going to make me get on my knees in front of a bar in this crowded club?" he asked.

"I guess not this time, but if there's a next time definitely!"

"Thank you!" He said gratefully.

"Now let's go have some fun!" I said dragging him to the table. About then Mia made er way to the stage. She sang 'Run The World' by Beyonce.

"Where have you been?" Vika asked.

"Sorry there were a few distractions on my way back from the bathroom. I actually have something to show you later. Remind me." I told her. She gave me a questioning look but I shrugged it off. By then Mia was done and it was Kristina's turn to go up. she sang 'Call Me Maybe' by Carly Rae Jepsen. Mia, Ivan, Vika and I decided to go dance again. As we were dancing I felt someone come up behind me and start dancing I turned around to tell them off but when I saw who it was I started laughing. Of course he'd be here.

"What? Can't I dance with you little vixen?" he asked with a grin.

"Whatever but no touching inappropriately" I warned not wanting a repeat of earlier. We started dancing again and before I knew it, it was Vika's turn. She did 'Blow' by Ke$ha. Soon enough it was my turn and I was curious what song they had picked for me this time. Luckily they had given me one I already knew so it wasn't too bad. It was 'Domino' by Jessie J. While I sang I danced around the stage, the shots from earlier making me a little braver than I usually was. Fortunately the song was over pretty quick. I went back to the table and sat down. I was just sitting there at the table with Dimitri not really saying anything, we didn't have to, and wasn't really paying attention to what song somebody was singing until one of the lines hit me hard.

**When the one you love's in love with someone else,**

**Don't you know it's torture? I mean it's a living hell.**

Well that solves it. Fate definitely hates me. Here I am starting to have a good time and forget the drama but then comes this song to remind me of my problems.

"I'm going to go talk to Vika real quick," I told him heading towards the restroom where I just saw her head towards.

**Still I want to touch you, hold you**

**When you look at me that way…**

Keep walking try not to focus on the song Rose.

**When the one you love's in love with someone else,**

**Don't you know it's torture? I mean it's a living hell.**

Just ignore it.

**One look in your sad eyes and suddenly**

**My heart can't tell you no.**

So much for ignoring it..

**I beg you for mercy.**

**When the one you love's in love with someone else,**

**Don't you know it's torture? I mean it's a living hell.**

**When the one you love's in love with someone else,**

**Don't you know it's torture? I mean it's a living hell.**

**Living hell**

**When the one you love's in love with someone else,**

**Don't you know it's torture? I mean it's a living hell.**

And there I go, tearing up damn it! Why would this song come on right now? It's just cruel! Here I am in this love triangle and here comes a song about a man loving somebody else. I honestly don't know what to do anymore.

"Vika! Help!" I said running into her in the bathroom. Luckily we were the only ones in there.

"Did you just hear that last song? It was so heartbreaking!" she said ignorantly.

"Really because that's not the reason I'm in here right now. I just heard a song about how horrible it is to be in love with someone who's in love with someone else! I can only imagine how horrible that must be!" I said sarcastically.

"Oh I'm sorry Rose, I didn't even realize. On the plus side the one you love isn't in love with someone else!" she said cheerfully.

"No, he's just engaged and having a baby with somebody else!" I smarted off.

"Only out of obligation but we're going to fix that soon right?" she asked. "Speaking of what did you have to show me?"

"Oh this!" I said as I pulled out my phone and pulled up the picture. "I saw her earlier, took the picture, then confronted her about it. Long story short I told her that somehow I was going to get proof about what a whore she is, she slapped me and told me to get back to reality cause she's not going anywhere."

"Seriously? And you didn't hit her back?" she asked shocked.

"Why is everyone so shocked? She's pregnant! I'm not going to hit a pregnant woman no matter how much she deserves it!"

"What do you mean by everyone?"

"Oh Ivan, he's the one that spotted her first." At that somebody else entered the bathroom

"come in let's go talk outside," she said pulling me out the door.

"Can we just head home? I think I'm done for the night. My mood plummeted and I don't see it coming back up tonight," I told her.

"Yea sure let's go get Dimitri," she said. We quickly found him and headed home. Nobody really spoke. I told Dimitri I was just tired. As soon as we got home Viktoria and I headed upstairs for bed. We quickly got ready and were laying down when she all of a sudden spoke up.

"What are you going to do about the picture?"

"I'm not entirely for sure. I think I might wait until I have more proof but then I feel like I should show it to him now. I know it's not enough for him to really do anything about it. If I could have gotten her with a guy that would be different but I only got her by herself. Plus I really don't want to hurt him like that."

"It's better to hurt him now then her do it later on down the road once they're married with a ginger headed kid with freckles," she said with a small giggle.

"That's not very nice," I chuckled with her.

"What? I'm just saying if her kid pops out a ginger then you know it's definitely not Dimka's considering she has black hair and he has brown!"

"Whatever, I'm going to bed. We can talk more tomorrow or whatever." I told her rolling onto my side. I yet again had the night replaying in my head. What if he doesn't leave Tasha? What if he stays with her? What does it eve matter? He doesn't love me! No matter what Ivan says. I doubt I will ever believe it until I hear the words come directly from him, even then who knows what I'll believe? Guys like that don't love girls like me. Girls with step-daddy problems, self-esteem issues, girls with my past…They just don't. I'm pretty sure it's a fact of life. Even if he did can I burden him with all of my problems? As I slowly drifted to sleep I had one thing replaying in my head on repeat.

When the one you love's in love with someone else,

Don't you know it's torture? I mean it's a living hell.

**Song used in end is 'My heart can't tell you no' by Sara Evans.**


	16. Chapter 15 I'm Getting Tired of Sorry

**Well this time I don't have a super long authors note. The reveal will probably next chapter unless something else comes up…or at least the beginning of it depending on how long I decide to make the chapter. I'm thinking about doing a short DPOV for the bit at the end, let me know what you all think. Oh I forgot to ever say who it was behind Rose dancing (sorry I was tired) I hope some of yall figured it out but if not it was Adrian. I had originally planned more interaction between them but it didn't ever happen so I forgot to tell you who it was so, sorry about that.**

**Thank you to:**

**Marija V….elliclairexo**

**Radioactive hearts….Belikovgoddess**

**Lovingbites…..Evy201**

**RozaRocks…..Bubblz-rulz98**

**LexiSoulsister….miia.s**

**Do'B….Lust-Onest-Valuable-Emotional**

**Benaqui2011…Vampire Academyy**

**Angelbbaby…..SinthiaLove**

**And, XxXLost-In-The-CrowdXxX for reviewing the last two chapters, I hope I got everybody, I'm pretty sure I did but if I didn't I'm really sorry.**

**A special thank you to RozaRocks who read through the chapter to make sure everything was good. Another special thank you to lovingbites for her awesome idea.**

**Well here's the next chapter. You'll probably be mad at Dimitri in part of it but I think he makes up for it later :) as always please Review!**

The next morning during our little training session, Dimitri was unusually cranky. As we were finishing I confronted him about it.

"So who peed in your cheerios this morning?"I asked before turning around to grab my water.

"Last night at the bar, who really hit you?" he asked. Well shit, this is not a conversation I wanted to have. "I have a pretty good suspicion on who it was so please don't try to lie to me."

"I didn't know I lied the first time," I said as innocently as possible turning to face him.

"Cut the crap Rose. Who was it? And remember I can read you like a book," he warned.

"Fine! It was Tasha ok. How'd you find out?" I asked.

"Oh just a very interesting picture I got this morning," he said. I gasped wondering how he could have gotten the picture when I was the only one who had it.

"Who sent it to you?"

"Does it really matter? Why wasn't it you who showed it to me? I'm guessing you're the one who took it seeing as Ivan's phone is in the picture and the only one alone with Ivan, besides Mia who had no motive to take it, was you," he said looking pissed.

"Before you get mad can you let me explain?" I asked. He nodded so I continued. "I was at the bar with Ivan when we spotted Tasha, I took the picture so I could show you, then I confronted her. We got into an argument as usual me calling her a liar and her calling me a whore to put things nicely, I pissed her off so she slapped me then stormed off.."

"You didn't hit her back?" He interrupted looking shocked.

"Why is it so hard for everyone to believe I can actually restrain myself from hitting a PREGNANT chick?" I asked getting kind of frustrated with everyones shocked reactions.

"It's just not normal for you to think before you act, and who is everyone?" he asked. I didn't want to let him know Viktoria was in on all of this so I lied.

"Well even I have limits and pregnant women are pretty high on the list of people not to hit no matter how much they deserve it. And just Ivan. Anyways, after she stormed off you found us, then you apologized and I didn't want to ruin the moment so I figured I'd tell you late but then the more I thought about it, the more I didn't know when to tell you because I knew it would hurt you. I figured I'd show you today. Now will you please tell me who sent it to you? I want to know how they got it when I didn't send it to anybody."

"It was Ivan, but it should have been you."

"I planned on telling you, I just wasn't sure when the right time was," I defended.

"There was never going to be a right time! You should have told me when it happened!" he said looking really mad.

"I didn't want to ruin the night, we had just started talking again and I didn't want to immediately burden you with that why are you yelling at me instead of storming her house yelling at her?"

"Because you're my supposed best friend and should have told me instead of hiding it from me! You should have never even tried to confront her and just let me handle it!" he half-yelled.

"Wait she is the one who lies to you and SLAPS me for trying to protect YOU, yet I'm the one getting yelled at? Get your freaking priorities straight. I didn't tell you because I didn't WANT to hurt you! She lied because she WANTED to hurt you! Consider that!" I said before storming inside. Did he have a right to get pissed? Yes definitely, but he also shouldn't be yelling at me for trying to protect him. I hurried up and took a shower before storming into Vika's bedroom.

"Viktoria Belikov or should I say Benedict Arnold! Wake the hell up! NOW!" I half-yelled at her trying not to wake the whole house up.

"What?" she asked groggy.

"What? That's what you ask! You should be asking for my forgiveness. How did Ivan end up with the picture that was on MY cell phone, yet I didn't send it?" I asked her pissed off.

"Oh I sent it to him," she said all nonchalant before rolling over.

"Really that's all, you're not even going to explain?"

"UGH!" she said sitting up. "You weren't going to show it to him anytime soon. I know it and so do you so don't deny it. You're too worried about hurting his feelings but he needed to know! Ivan isn't scared to hurt his feelings so I knew he'd send it to Dimitri."

"Yea well all you accomplished was getting him pissed at ME, not HER! He just was seriously yelling at me downstairs and said I was his supposed best friend! So thank you Viktoria. As if we haven't been getting in enough fights without you interfering!" I told her pissed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think he'd really be stupid enough to get mad at you instead of her. He's an idiot…Are you sure you love him because it seems like as more time passes he keeps getting further and further beneath you, and not in the good way," she said the last part with a wink. "In all honesty you seem way too good for that idiot."

"Whatever, if anything he's too good for me. Idiot or not. What do we do now?" I asked flopping down on my back beside her on the bed.

"We wait till Tasha slips up again like she usually does, we just have to pay extra attention to her, then we reveal her for the skank she really is and then my moronic brother will finally realize he's in love with you and you will live happily ever after! Until then you and your mom or whoever is taking you, have to go pick up Lissa from the airport while I attempt to go back to sleep," she said. Laying back down and rolling over. I seriously doubt her whole happy ever after plan but I had forgotten about Lissa. I hurriedly went down stairs to find my mom and Dimitri in the kitchen.

"Mark and Oksana invited us to go somewhere with them today so I can't take you to the airport but Dimitri offered to drive you! I'm taking our car so you'll have to ride in his truck."

"Great," I muttered. She didn't hear me but Dimitri did. He looked at me and gave me an apologetic look but I just shook my head. "Come on, we have a long drive ahead of us."

Unfortunately the airport was an hour and a half away so that meant I was stuck in a truck with him for an HOUR AND A HALF! I grabbed my satchel purse and headed to the truck.

"I take it you won't let me drive?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Nope," he said getting in the passenger seat. Yet again unfortunately it was a 1997 Ford F150 hunter green SINGLE cab, meaning no backseat. Now when we picked up Lissa I'll unfortunately have to sit in the middle in between them. About 15 minutes down the road Dimitri spoke up.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you. I was just taking my anger out on you and I shouldn't have. If I'm being completely honest yes I was pissed that she had lied, but I had already knew she lied I just didn't figure she would be out at a club. What I was the most frustrated about was that she hit you for defending me and I wasn't there to stop it. I am proud of you for not hitting her back but I know it must have taken a lot of will power. For that I am grateful."

"No matter how horrible she was or how much she deserved it, your baby didn't deserve it, no baby does." I told him honestly. "I am getting tired of these constant apologies though."

"I know and I'm sorry for that too, I told you I haven't been handling my confusion very well. I know that's absolutely no excuse but it's the truth. Like I said though I am mostly pissed about her hitting you. She should have never done that, and I should have never left your side long enough for you to find more trouble," he said the last part smiling at me.

"Hey I'll have you know, I can handle Tasha pregnant or not!" I said with a laugh.

"Glad to see you so confident," he said with a smile but I knew what he meant. Usually I wasn't very confident at all.

"Hey we all have our moments," I told him honestly. I waited a minute or so before speaking up again. "Don't be upset you weren't there to protect me from Tasha. You can't protect me all the time. That's something I have to learn for myself, just like I told you last night."

"You know I wish I could always be there to protect you,"

"Please don't say things like that. I wouldn't want you to get hurt trying to protect me, especially not like Aaron did…" I said remembering how Aaron had been put in a coma trying to protect me from Jesse and Ralph…I quickly shook my head trying to expel the thoughts of that night.

"Hey come here," Dimitri said pulling me to him and wrapping his arm around me in a side hug. I laid my head on his chest. "You know he would do it all over again even if it wasn't you. It was not your fault. He made the choice to go in there using his own free will. Plus he's fine. He made it out alive and all is well now."

"He shouldn't have had to make that decision. If I hadn't been so stupid he never would have had to."

"Will I ever get through to you that, that night was not in any way your fault?" he asked rubbing his hand soothingly on my upper arm.

"Probably not considering that's not true." I told him honestly. I felt him just shake his he and we both went silent for a few minutes until my stomach grumbled breaking the silence.

"Was that seriously your stomach? It sounded like a monster from a movie!" he exclaimed.

"What I didn't eat breakfast!" I told him. "Can we stop by a donut store?"

"Well we're in the middle of nowhere right now so you'll have to wait a little while the next town's not for a while and I'm not sure they have a donut store." He told me. I just groaned.

"Well then I guess its naptime." I told him snuggling into his shoulder. in no time I was out.

"Can..get..donuts…chocolate milk…thank you." I heard Dimitri talking. Am I dreaming? Suddenly I smelt the delicious aroma of chocolate covered glazed donuts. My eyes snapped open and a smile spread across my face. I looked up at Dimitri.

"Now you wake up. I tried waking you up several times but you didn't even budge. You smell donuts and immediately wake up! You didn't even notice when I had to move you to switch gears" he said surprised.

"Hey it's food what can I say?" I told him sitting up. I grabbed the box of donuts and started eating.

"I will never understand where you put all of that…" he muttered. I just shrugged and kept eating.

"So where are we?" I asked.

"About 15 minutes away from the airport," he said grabbing a donut.

"Hey!" I said pretending to be pissed.

"Did you seriously think I got a dozen donuts all for you?" He asked with a smirk. I glared at him.

"I guess I can share this time, but don't expect the same result next time," I warned him.

"I'll take that in consideration next time." He told me.

Pretty soon we were at the airport and sitting in the waiting area where the people came out. thanks to the security stuff we had to wait by the luggage area instead of at the terminal exit like people used to. Pretty soon I saw Lissa's Platinum blonde hair weaving through the crowd.

"Liss!" I hollered at her. She looked up and when she me started walk/running towards me.

"ROSE!" she squealed hugging me like we hadn't seen each other or spoken in years.

"Chill girl, it's only been like a week and a half!" I told her laughing. She pulled away then.

"Sorry I got excited!" she said with a laugh.

"I know. You usually do," I told her with a laugh. "Lissa, this is Dimitri. Dimitri, Lissa."

"Nice to meet you Dimitri. I've heard a lot about you. Nice to meet the face behind the name," she said politely shaking his hand.

"You too Lissa, I hope it's all been good," he told her with a laugh glancing at me.

"I think it was," I told him laughing. I grabbed Lissa's arm and started pulling her toward the luggage area. "Let's go get your bags."

"How many clothes do you need?" I asked amazed that she had 4 full suitcases. She had packed more than me and I planned on staying indefinitely. She was only staying a week…as of right now at least.

"Hey you never know what you're going to need!" she defended.

"That argument sounds vaguely familiar," Dimitri said looking at me while grabbing two of her bags, she grabbed 1, while I grabbed the last one.

"Hey I didn't have this much. Good thing you brought the truck." I told Dimitri. We quickly loaded the truck and hopped in. The ride for the most part was uneventful. Lissa talked most of the time telling me about "everything I had missed" in the last week and a half. There were a few awkward moments because his truck was a standard and thanks to the limited seating, the gear shift was in between my legs but either he or I would make a joke or ignore it as much as possible. Luckily he didn't have to shift very much since it was mostly the same speed the whole way. When we got to the house, Lissa and I decided to have Dimitri take us to the mall while he went to talk with Tasha. He was reluctant at first but finally agreed thanks to my amazing persuasion abilities.

We went from store to store, Lissa buying something in everyone until I finally decided it was time for food. Luckily she agreed so I didn't have to argue very much. We quickly got food and were eating when Lissa asked a question I had been dreading.

"So what's with you and Dimitri? You seemed pretty cozy with him earlier."

"Cozy? We were crammed in a single cab truck, it's kind of hard not to seem cozy with one another." I told her trying to get her off the subject.

"You know what I mean. Plus you've been really quiet which means you're thinking about something or hiding something. Either way spill!" she told me leaving no room for arguments. I quickly filled her in on everything that's happened since I got here.

"Oh my gosh! Why didn't you call and tell me about all of this?" she asked surprised.

"I figured I'd tell you in person," I said shrugging.

"Wow. All this has happened in less than a week? So what's the plan?" she asked. I told her parts of Viktoria's plan, leaving out the happily ever after part. When I finished we sat in silence for a minute while she let everything sink in when all of a sudden her phone chimed.

"Oh my gosh! It's Christian. He wants to know if we can go out tonight…like on our first date. Would you mind? If you do it's fine I promise I won't get mad," she told me.

"It's fine go ahead. You should get to finally meet your boyfriend in person," I told her with a laugh. I quickly dialed Dimitri knowing what was coming next.

"We need to hurry up and get back to the house so I can get ready!" she squealed standing up and gathering her bags. I told Dimitri that we were ready and he said he'd be there in 5-10 minutes. When he got there I noticed how tense he was. while Lissa was putting her stuff in the bed I gave him a questioning look.

"Later," he said with an annoyed sigh. This time I knew it wasn't me and it kind of felt good not be the reason behind it.

We got to the house and I helped Lissa get ready. Halfway through Sonya hollered at me.

"Can you and Dimka babysit Paul? Mama and Janine are still at Mark and Oksana's, Karo's at work, and Vika's who knows where and I just got called in last minute."

"Yea sure. I mean I can't answer for Dimitri but I'd love to. I like hanging out with him." I told her.

"Thank you! You are a life saver!" she said before running to go get ready. Pretty soon I heard a doorbell and hollered at Dimitri to answer it. I went to check on Lissa.

"Oh my gosh Rose! What if everything goes horribly? I can't do this!" she said letting her nerves get to her.

"Calm down. It's not like you don't know each other. You've been talking for a year now. He's not a stranger and completely head over heels for you. So just go be yourself and it will go great!" I told her.

"You're right we do know each other so it won't be too awkward." She said.

"Good now come on he's downstairs waiting for you," I told her. She broke out in a huge grin and headed out the door. I got downstairs and saw her go over to him.

"You look ten times better in person and look beautiful tonight," he told her.

"Aw thank you! You look pretty handsome yourself!" she told him. I cleared my throat and they both looked at me. I made my voice kind of deep and decided to mess with him.

"Now you better have her home by 8:30. No later! No funny business and if you even think about hurting her I'll have Dimitri over here take you out back and show you how hurt feels and then I'll…" unfortunately I didn't get to finish.

"Rose just let them leave!" Dimitri told me with a laugh.

"Do you always have to ruin everything?!" I told him playfully slapping his arm. Christian and Lissa turned towards the door. Lissa turned and said bye.

"Bye Liss, See ya Sparky. Remember what I said!" I called after them. Dimitri just laughed. By then Paul had entered the room and started begging us to play games. We of course said yes and spent the rest of the afternoon playing with him.

When it was almost time for bed, we put on the movie 'The Lion King' in the living room. Dimitri was propped against arm rest of the couch Paul beside him and me beside Paul. Pretty soon Paul laid his head in my lap and put his feet on Dimitri. I put my elbow on the back of the couch and leaned on it. Next thing I knew I was out. A little while later I woke up to find Paul gone, the tv was blue signaling that the movie had been off for a while, and Dimitri was asleep. Maybe it was the masochist in me or maybe I was too tired to walk upstairs but I wrapped the blanket that had magically appeared on me around Dimitri and I and laid on his chest bringing his legs up on the couch to make him more comfortable. I was now on my side laying on Dimitri who was propped up in the corner of the couch with his legs beside me. without realizing it, he dropped his arm off the couch and wrapped it around me.

Maybe I was just tired or maybe it was because of who was laying beside me, but I quickly fell back asleep and had one of the best nights of sleep I have ever had.


	17. Chapter 16 Insert Really Creative Title!

**Nobody ever said yes or no on the DPOV so I've decided to just do it anyway! I am extremely this is really short and does not have the reveal like I planned, I was going to combine this one and the reveal but I have an extremely hard essay due tomorrow (my last one for like two months or so : D ) so I have to start working on it. I promise tomorrow(or tonight depending when you read this) I will work on the reveal and it should be up by tomorrow night (tonight) or Friday morning.**

**I decided to go ahead and post this because it's better than nothing. It's a little bit of fluff and comedy for you until the drama starts up!**

**Thank you to:**

**Radioactive hearts…..benaqui2011**

**VAlover21….XxXLost-In-The-CrowdXxX**

**Dimkaisshmexy…..lovingbites**

**Kahlessi10…..LexiSoulsister**

**RozaRocks…..Evy201**

**For reviewing the last chapter, I'm sorry I didn't personally message anyone this time but I promise I'll make it up to you all! **

Dpov:

I woke up feeling a weight on my chest that wasn't there earlier and my neck killing me. I looked down to see Paul was gone but Rose was lying on my chest. I moved a little to ease the pain in my neck and then looked back at Roza. She looked so peaceful I didn't really have it in me to even attempt to wake her up. With everything I had put her through and everything she's gone through it was nice to see her so relaxed and calm.

I sat there just watching her for a while. I know I was horrible to her yesterday, I was just so pissed that Tasha had laid a hand on her, she couldn't do anything about it, and I wasn't there to prevent it. I shouldn't have taken it out on her. Yes I was pissed that she wasn't the one to tell me, but that wasn't the reason I was mad. I was mad that she decided to go confront Tasha, trying to defend me, and got hurt because of it. I know it was just a slap but still with Tasha it could have been worse. I always have felt the need to protect Rose and yet I keep failing…some best friend I am.

I laid there just watching her sleep for a while, it amazes me that she doesn't realize how beautiful she is. She never feels like she is good or pretty enough, yet she's one of the if not THE most beautiful person I've ever met, inside and out. Soon after the Jesse and Ralph incident, she confessed about Stan and how he's been treating her for years and lets' just say he's probably pretty lucky he didn't come with them because I wouldn't have been able to guarantee his safety. I can only imagine what will happen if Abe ever found out.

As I was lying there watching her, I felt my eyes start drooping again. I felt her shift and pulled her closer and kissed her forehead as I closed my eyes and drifted into one of the best nights of sleep I've ever had.

RPOV:

I woke up feeling unnaturally calm, secure and warm. I opened my eyes to find I was still laying on Dimitri, but now he was laying beside me with half of my body on laying on his. He was halfway on his side to keep from falling off the couch. My arm was lying on his chest and his arms were wrapped securely round me. I laid there for a minute basking in the comfort being in his arms brought. I wish I could stay there forever but I didn't know exactly how he'd react if he woke up and found us in this position. I wasn't entirely for sure how to get up without waking him up but I figured my best bet would be to first move his arms. I grabbed the arm closest to me and lifted, without waking, he just tightened his grip making it very difficult to lift his arm. I paused and thought about what to do next.

"About time you woke up," whispered a voice from across the room. I jumped startled and looked to see who it was. Unfortunately for me it wasn't just one person. It was Lissa and Viktoria.

"Why didn't you guys wake me up earlier?" I whispered making sure I didn't wake Dimitri up.

"You two looked too darn cute to wake up!" Lissa said happily.

"Well can you help me get up?" I asked. Vika shook her head no, smirked and then left the room. Lissa took a little more pity on me and tried moving his arm but just like when I tried, he just tightened his grip. He started to stir so Lissa let out a squeal before running out of the room.

"Great thanks for the help," I muttered to myself. Dimitri fortunately was still sleeping so he didn't hear anything. I finally realized the only thing to do was wake him up.

"Dimitri," I said softly nudging his shoulder. Nothing.

"Dimitri wake up," I said louder nudging him again. Still nothing.

"DIMITRI!" I half-yelled. He jumped but unfortunately for him, because of his close proximity to the edge of the couch he fell off. Unfortunately for me his arms were wrapped around me and when he fell, the grip only tightened so I fell with him. Now fortunately for me, I landed on Dimitri

"Ugh," he grunted from under me.

"Sorry, I tried waking you up several times but it didn't work," I told him apologetically.

"It's fine, just probably broke my back," he joked smirking at me.

"Shut up," I laughed slapping his chest.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"I'm not sure but probably later in the afternoon considering Viktoria and Lissa are up, I heard them in the kitchen,' I told him lying a little.

"Oh, well good morning," he said smiling at me. Seeing his bright smile made me smile.

"Good morning," I told him.

"Am I interrupting something?" came a voice from the doorway. I looked up and saw Karolina in the door way laughing at us. "I can leave and come back later."

"It's not what it looks like," I told her getting up. "Apparently we fell asleep last night and when I tried to get up I startled Dimitri and he fell and brought me down with him."

"Mhmm," she said still smiling. "Well Viktoria wants us all to go to the fair today, do you want to go?"

"Sure, when are we going?" I asked.

"Probably around 4 or 5,"

"Awesome, well I'm going to go take a shower and get ready in the mean time," I told her heading upstairs before there were any more awkward questions or conversations.

**I don't know if anyone will read down here, but I had this crazy, insane dream about Rose and Dimitri last night and I was thinking about turning it into like a 3-5 shot once this story is done or at least once it calms down. I'm just curious if anyone would be interested in reading it. It would be mostly a romantic type thing with a little comedy and hurt/comfort thrown into it.**

**Summary:**

** Rose and Dimitri started dating in high school. The year after Rose graduates, tragedy strikes. Dimitri can't handle it so he decides to leave (I'm considering him joining the army but that wasn't in the dream lol). A few years later he's back and finds that rose has a little boy. After finding out she's single he vows to make her fall in love with him again…the kicker? He says he can do it in just ONE night. Will it work and who's Rose's baby daddy? (I'm guessing that's not really a surprise to anyone….it's Adrians of course, just kidding)**

**Like I said it would be just a 3-5 shot and the chapters shouldn't be too long…let me know what you all think!**


	18. Chapter 17 Carnival

**Here it is! One of the chapters everyone has been waiting for! I'm sorry I'm a little later than planned but at least it was only a day.**

**Thank you to RozaRocks for going over it to make sure everything makes sense!**

**By the way, while she was going over it and I was waiting I started writing that one shot since it seems like everyone approves so it should be up soon!**

**Thank you to:**

**Do'b…..Radioactive Hearts**

**Benaqui2011…..LindseyLee**

**Dimkisshmexy…..lovingbites**

**Bubblz-rulz98….Onyx Maxwell**

**MarijaV…Kahlessi10**

**RozaRocks…luckylaurax**

**Acr421…LexiSoulsister**

**For reviewing. **

After I showered I just hung out around the house. We all sat in the living room talking and playing with Paul….well everyone except Dimitri who said he has some stuff he had to do and left. About an hour and a half before we were going to leave Dimitri showed up. he went upstairs, showered and got ready. Afterwards he came downstairs with the rest of us.

"Hey Rose can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked. I gave him a confused look but got up and followed him anyways. We went to the back porch and sat on the swing. We sat in silence for a moment before he finally spoke up.

"Tahsa's coming to the fair so if I seem like I'm ignoring you just know it's not because I want to, I just don't want her going after you again. It's not healthy for you or her and the more I ignore you the less likely she is to get pissy," he told me not looking at me.

"Do you hear yourself right now? You seriously are not allowed to hang around me because other wise your fiancé will start pointless drama…that's not very healthy Dimitri. Is it going to be like this the rest of your life? You're never allowed to have friends that are girls ever?"

"Well…not exactly…it's just you. You argue back and she hates that you don't cower down from her. That's what she's always been used to. you hold your own against her plus she's jealous of you. I know it's not healthy but I told her I'd give her one more chance and if she does anything to mess it up we're done. So I'm going to try it and see how it goes," he said still not looking at me.

"I thought it didn't go too well yesterday?" I asked curious as to what lies she tried to tell him.

"It didn't I confronted her and she tried to tell me some BS story about wanting to surprise me but then you showed up and upset her and the baby so she left. She then tried to tell me it was you who tried to hit her first but Ivan held you back or something like that. I told her I was tired of her lies and left. Today I went back and she apologized and said she would try to do better but we'll just have to see about that," he said with a sigh.

"Hey we're about to leave!" called Karolina from inside. We stood up but I turned to him.

"I will try to be as nice as possible but if she starts up I can't guarantee I'll stay quiet for very long," I warned him pissed about the whole situation.

"I would never expect you to stay quiet for very long anyways Roza," he told me with a smile.

"Shut-up! That's not the point!" I told him smacking his arm playfully he looked at me with revenge in his eyes so I ran inside, luckily Olena was in the kitchen so I hid behind her.

"HELP!" I squealed "He's after me!"

"Now that's not very nice Roza. You can't hide behind her forever," said Dimitri coming in after me.

"Dimka leave Roza alone she has to go get changed so we can leave. By the way we don't have enough room so we have to take two cars. Dimka you've got Rose, Vika, and Lissa,"

"But mama I've got to go pick up Tasha, I don't think the girls would enjoy that very much," he said.

"Hey we can take your truck and us girls can sit in the bed while you and Tasha take the cab!" I said excited. I'm not sure why but I love riding in the beds of trucks…well that sounds kind of dirty…I like the freedom of actually driving down the road in the back of a truck. Dimitri still looked like he wasn't sold. "Please? I did it last year and nobody cared…Plus Lissa's never rode in the bed of a truck."

She had come in at the end of the conversation. I knew she had before and she was about to correct me but I gave her a look saying shut up so she went along with it.

"Oh yea I've always wanted to!" she told him.

"Fine!" he finally agreed. He turned to me and smiled. "I'll leave you alone for now but I will pay you back later. For now we'll call a truce."

Olena walked into the living room after that and I went upstairs to change real quick. Unfortunately Lissa and Viktoria had ganged up on me and told me I had to look really cute so I was forced to wear silver flats instead of my usual summer flip-flops. They made me wear dark jeans, a blue halter top, the straps did this crisscross thing on my chest above my boobs then wrapped around and tied behind my neck. The back went right below my shoulder blades. The straps were about an inch thick and the shirt was tight enough that I didn't have to worry about showing anything, and still felt classy. I was just tired of feeling like they're life size dress up doll. I knew with it being hot and all the rides that I should put my hair up so Lissa had to make sure it was a cute ponytail. She had braided part of it and then put it in a side braid, then added a sea salt spray to make the ends wavier.

"We're amazing!" Vika said turning to Lissa and giving her a high five. I rolled my eyes and went downstairs.

"You look cute!" Karolina told me.

"Thanks, apparently I'm not fashionable enough so Vika and Lissa ganged up on me," I told her with a shrug.

"Well you definitely look awesome," she told me. I just smiled back and gave her a compliment back. Soon we were heading out the door and I was climbing into the back of Dimitris' truck. When we got to Tasha's house I couldn't help but laugh. Apparently Dimitri didn't let her know we were tagging along and he didn't tell her Lissa was in town. When she saw us she stopped in her tracks and glared at me until Dimitri looked her way to figure out why she had stopped. I quickly gave her a smirk.

"Why are they here? And who is that?" she asked disgustedly.

"Tasha," he said in a warning voice telling her to play nice. "That is Rose's friend Lissa and Christians' girlfriend. They're riding with us because there wasn't enough room in the other car and it was pointless to take three cars. Rose here was nice enough to volunteer to ride in the back so we could ride in the front together."

"I'm sure she was," she said like she didn't believe what he said. "I didn't know Christian had a girlfriend."

"Oh he didn't tell you? Yea him and Liss here have been dating for about a year now…except their first date was yesterday…" I told her but then started rambling.

"Oh," she said like she was pissed before Dimitri directed her back to the truck and helped her in. part of the way there Vika pointed out a mansion.

"That's Abe Mazurs house!" she told me.

"No way! I knew he was loaded but I didn't know he was that loaded!" I said I shock.

"Who's Abe Mazur?" Lissa asked. We spent the rest of the ride filling her in on him and my moms past history and how I met him at the store. I had already told her about the attack so I also told her he was the one who had rescued me.

When we got there, it looked like the whole town was already there. The first thing Vika and Lissa spotted was the thing I dreaded the most… the Ferris Wheel. They chatted excitedly about it while I didn't say anything, just tried to figure out how to get out of riding it without letting everyone know I was afraid of heights. Dimitri looked over and gave me a sympathetic look.

Quickly we got in and got tickets. Christian had met up with Lissa and Mia and Ivan ran into us and joined our group. We rode a few rides when I decided we should try a few games. At this point Tasha said she had to go to the bathroom so Dimitri was able to talk and be friendly with us again. I was playing a shooting game and kept missing when Dimitri came up behind me.

"You're doing that all wrong," he told me.

"Well then if you're so good at it show me how it's done!" I challenged. He gave the carnie his money, picked up the gun, and shot every can down without missing once.

"Pick your prize, or you could let the lovely lady pick something," the carnie told Dimitri with a wink. "You can have anything on this shelf," he pointed to a row of medium sized stuffed animals.

"What do you want?" Dimitri asked me.

"Hmmm I think I like the white tiger," I said pointing to the one I wanted. The man handed it to me and I thanked him.

"Why aren't you thanking me? I won it," Dimitri said jokingly.

"Oh yea thank you!" I told him reaching up and kissing his cheek before heading to where Karo had told me they were going to be. I planned on meeting up with the rest of the Belikovs until they left and was hoping that in the mean time, Lissa and Mia would ride the Ferris Wheel so I could get out of it.

"Where are you going?" Dimitri asked.

"To meet up with your family, I told Paul I'd play a few games with him before he left. Wanna join?" I asked.

"Yea let me just text Tasha and tell her where we're going so she can meet up," he said pulling out his phone. When he was done we met up with Paul at the fun house. He didn't want to go in alone but nobody wanted to go in with him.

"I'll go," I volunteered. "I love fun houses!"

We quickly went through. It was hilarious to watch Paul go through it he was laughing and smiling the whole time. His favorite part was the mirrors. When we got to the end we went down the slide, which doubled as the exit. I quickly saw that Tasha had joined the group but ignored her.

"What's next Paulie?" I asked. This time he chose the huge slide that you have to use burlap bags to go down. I agreed before realizing exactly what I had agreed to. To get to the top you had to go up some really steep and narrow stairs…they were really high. Luckily Dimitri had agreed to go with us and was behind me so when I froze part way up he grabbed my free hand that wasn't gripping the handrail.

"It's ok Roza, I'm right here behind you. Nothing is going to happen. Just hold my hand and look at the stairs. Nowhere else," he said softly enough so Paul, who was in front of me, didn't hear but still reassured me.

"Come on guys! You're going really slow," Paul called back to us.

"You can do it," Dimitri said softly. Slowly I started making my way up the stairs refusing to look anywhere besides the steps in front of me. Soon enough we were at the top.

"You guys are like turtles!" Paul told us. He was already in his bag in the middle slide. The Carny At the top snorted trying to hide his laughter. Usually I would have gotten mad but Paul was pretty funny.

"Well I bet I beat you to the bottom!" Dimitri challenged Paul sitting on the left of him.

"Uh no I'm going to beat both of you!" I told them sitting on Paul's right.

"One…Two…Three…GO!" the carnie said. We all rushed down but of course Paul won.

"I WON!" he shouted in joy at the bottom. Dimitri and I just laughed and walked out of the gate behind him.

"Momma I beat Auntie Rose and Uncle Dimka!" Paul said running over to where Sonya was.

"I saw! Good job!" she told him laughing at his excitement. I happened to glance over at Tasha who was glaring at me…I guess she saw our walk up the stairs…Whoops, not really.

"Why does he call you aunt? You're not even part of the family," Tasha asked pretending it was just an innocent question but I saw the sneer she gave me before everyone looked at her.

"She's my aunt!" Paul said defensively.

"It's ok Paul, Tasha didn't mean to be mean did she?" asked Sonya looking over at Tasha giving her a look, telling her she better agree.

"Of course I didn't I just was curious since she's not related to you all," she said innocently. I almost wanted to laugh out loud but in a way she was right. They're aren't my family as much as I sometimes wish they were.

"Roza is part of our family now, just like her mother is. That's that." Olena said looking at my mom before giving Tasha a look as if to say shut up now.

"What's next Paul?" asked Dimitri. We continued doing stuff with Paul before he started getting tired and hungry. They all left while we went to meet back up with Vika, Lissa, Mia, and their boys.

"About time, we're about to ride the Ferris Wheel, come on!" Vika said excitedly.

"I don't feel like riding that, and neither does the baby," Tasha said.

"For once I think I'm with Tasha, I think I'm going to sit this one out too," I told them.

"No choice, come on." Lissa said pulling my arm. The line was long so we were figuring out who would sit with whom, when Vika's friend just "happened" to walk by.

"Hey Nik! Would you come ride this with me so we have an even amount of people?" Vika called to him. He quickly agreed and came to join us. That left me and Dimitri in a car by ourselves.

"I really don't like this," I whispered to him.

"It'll be ok," he whispered back. "Just like with the stairs, I'll be with you."

Too soon it was our turn to get on, I thought I was going to have a full blown panic attack when Dimitri put his hand on my back urging me forward and calming me down…just a little. We sat down and the carnie made sure we were strapped in before stepping back.

"I don't think I can do this," I said.

"Too late," the Carnie said as we moved forward so the next couple could get on. I started breathing heavily and closed my eyes. I felt put his hand on mine before he grabbed his phone out.

"Tasha just texted me to tell me she was going to the bathroom again and it might take a while so if she's not here when we get done just tell her where we're going," he told me. I looked up and he was still looking at his phone but I saw something walking in my peripheral vision. I looked to see Tasha heading into the woods behind the Ferris wheel…not towards the bathroom. While I was watching the cart moved a little higher and I gasped before closing my eyes and burying my head in Dimitri's arm. He wrapped his arm around me and gave a small chuckle as I buried my head in his chest.

"It's ok Roza, I'm here with you. Nothing bad will happen." He told me still chuckling. I slapped him on the chest..not hard of course.

"It's not funny! I didn't want to ride this thing in the first place!" I told him. We started moving again but this time didn't stop. "I'm going to die!"

"Roza look at me. Just me." he told me gently pulling my chin up so I would look at him. I kept my eyes closed afraid of what I would see. "Open your eyes," he said and I reluctantly did.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

"Yes but…" he cut me off.

"But nothing. Just trust me. You are not going to die, I will be here to protect you, we're safely strapped in so you can't fall out. We're ok." He said softly.

"Yea of course, nothings going to happen even though we're 100 feet in the air! It's not like rides ever break or anything," I told him sarcastically.

"Hey just trust me. I've got you. Look at how beautiful it is," he told me. I just shook my head. "Come on, just try it and if it scares you more I will let you continue to bury your head in my chest with your eyes closed as tight as possible."

"Fine," I reluctantly agreed. I peeked out and what I saw made me gasp. You could see the whole city plus some. In a weird way I was terrified but couldn't look away, it was just too pretty.

"Told you,"

"Shut up, I'm enjoying the view," I muttered too scared to talk loud. Scared that if I did the lovely sight would go away somehow. He just chuckled. Too soon the ride was over and we were back on the ground.

"See that wasn't so bad," he joked.

"Whatever, maybe you win this one. But I can't guarantee I'll ever ride one again!" I looked and saw Tasha was still gone. I quickly told Dimitri I'd be right back and went to Vika.

"Hey I need you to come with me…NOW." I told her as I pulled her behind the Ferris Wheel where I saw Tasha head. I put my finger to my lips telling her to be quiet. Not too far in we found Tasha with some blonde guy. We crept a little closer so we could hear. Vika grabbed her phone out and quickly took a pick.

"Of course I don't love him! How many times do I have to tell you that?" she told the guy. I quickly pulled my phone out and started videoing her. I handed Vika my phone and took hers. I quickly pulled up her text messages and selected Dimitri. I attached the photo she took and added a message saying where we were and too be quiet but hurry. Luckily Vika had still been filming Tasha like I'd hoped she would.

"No, the baby isn't his! I've told you that over and over Todd!" she told him. He was standing bent over her while she was as close to him as she could be with her belly, with her hands on his chest.

"Then why won't you tell him and finally be with me?" the guy, Todd, asked her.

"I will but not right now! I've already told you why!" by now Dimitri was there. Instead of listening he just jumped right in.

"What's going on Tasha? Who's this guy?" He said storming up to her. At this she jumped away and ran to Dimitri.

"Oh thank God you're here! This guy wouldn't leave me alone even though I kept trying to get away so I could go back to you!" she said playing innocent.

"Bullshit!" Vika said coming out of hiding. I quickly followed. "Tell him what you just told Todd here!"

"How long were you spying on me?" Tasha asked in surprise definitely angry.

"Long enough," I added. "Why don't you tell him? Tell him what you said about the baby!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" she said playing dumb.

"Vika," I told her nodding to the phone. She quickly started the video and handed the phone to Dimitri. My heart fell as I watched his face. He looked so hurt and angry that I wanted to cry for him.

"Is this true?" he asked looking up at Tasha. She went to speak but Todd cut her off.

"Yes it's true the baby is mine not yours Tasha just refuses to tell you!"

"No one asked you. If you value seeing tomorrow I suggest you leave…NOW!" he said angrily. "Tasha is it true? And keep in mind we're done no matter what your answer is."

"Yes, it's true." She said in defeat. I would have smirked if I didn't feel so bad for Dimitri.

"How could you?" he asked betrayal written all over his face along with anger.

"It was that night of the party when you left early." Tasha said.

"Because I left you decided to go to the next guy that would hop in bed with you? That's really low even for you Tasha."

"Well I wanted somebody and you weren't there. You were off chatting away with _her_ and left me alone!" when she said her she made it sound like something disgusting and looked at me.

"Don't go blaming this on me I didn't cheat on you and then lie when it back fired!" Dimitri retorted

"Dimka, I'm sorry."

"I think it's time for you to leave Tasha. I need to sort this all out. I'm sure Todd won't mind giving you a ride home."

"But Dimka!" she half squealed.

"Tasha leave please." He said restrained. He went and sat down and put his head in his hands with his elbows on his knees.

"Fine but this isn't over!" then she turned to me "This is all your fault you stupid whore!"

"Yea because I cheated on MY boyfriend and lied about it." I said sarcastically. With that she did a little "hmph!" and stormed off.

"I'll give you a bit," Viktoria said walking away. I started to follow but changed my mind. I whispered I'd be there in a minute and walked back to Dimitri.

"Dimitri.." I started but then he cut me off.

"She's right you know," he said quietly.

"Right? About what?" I asked confused.

"This is my fault. And yours."

"Oh please explain how it's either of our faults?" I said in disbelief.

"Because I did leave her that night to go talk to you. If you hadn't called with all of your stupid drama I wouldn't have left. But no, you did call so I left and practically forced her to cheat." I was taken aback by that. Did he really not remember why I had called him that night? It wasn't pointless drama. Better yet was he really trying to blame us for her mistakes.

"Dimitri Belikov" I said angrily. "Do not believe her. This was not because of anything we did. There's no telling how many people she cheated on you with before or after that night."

"No this was because of both of us. You decided to think only of yourself and not of what I was doing or who else you would effect and I stupidly couldn't tell you no, and look at how that turned out," he started softly but as he kept going his voice got meaner and louder. For some reason, even though I would usually cower down, I got pissed and didn't back down. I guess it's because even though this side of Dimitri was scary, I knew deep down he would never hurt me.

"Do you remember why I called you that night?" I asked almost beyond mad, I was borderline furious.

"No probably some pointless drama that your life is so full of," he said. I knew it was his anger and hurt causing him to say all this but I couldn't care less. What he was saying hurt and cut me deep. I remember exactly why I called him that night…it was one of the worst nights of my life!

"If you really want to blame yourself and me for her cheating on you go ahead. But you deserve so much better than her. If I was her there is no way in hell I would ever even think about cheating on someone as amazing as you. You are so much better than her and deserve a hell of a lot better than her. But if you really want to blame me go right on ahead and I will remember for future reference not to call you again, because then your so called girlfriend makes stupid decisions. I know that this is just your anger and pain talking but right now I'm not even sure why I'm in love with you. I'm sorry to have bothered you with all my pointless drama I thought you honestly cared but now I see you didn't. Just know that honestly you deserve so so much better than her or me," by the time I was done I had traitorous tears streaming down my face. I quickly wiped them away and turned to walk away.

"Rose.." he started but I quickly cut him off.

"No you've made it clear how you feel, Don't worry though I'll be out of your hair soon so that I don't ruin your life again. I am honestly sorry that she did this to you because you don't deserve it." With that I turned and ran away. I wasn't sure where I was running to but I made sure to avoid where I knew the group was. I ran on the outskirts of the Carnival so nobody would see me crying and soon enough was on the sidewalk by the street and out of the field where the Carnival was. I kept running not really knowing where I was going until I found myself at a giant security gate. I quickly hit the call button.

"Who's there?" came a familiar voice.

"It's Rose, can I come in?"

**Don't get too mad about the ending…..everything happens for a reason :)**

**Can anybody guess where she went? I don't think it's much of a challenge but hey you never know! I wrote it so of course it's obvious to me : D**


	19. Chapter 18 Last Time I'm Asking You This

**So this chapter may not be exactly what everyone's hoping for, but it is good! Thank you to everone who has reviewed, alerted, favorite or even read this story! Can you believe I almost have 200 Reviews! You all are amazing!**

**Thank you to:**

**MarijaV….ilovedimitrixxxx….XBeautifulChaosX**

**Kahlessi10….dimitri007…Belikovgoddess**

**Dimkaisshmexy…Evy201…..benaqui2011**

**Miia.S…..XxXLost-In-The-CrowdXxX….kimmy32**

**Lovingbites…..aprilsgirl….LexiSoulsister**

**xX Dimka's girl 4 ever Xx…RozaRocks…..Radioactive hearts**

**and lastly the 3 guests!**

**Most everyone guessed it right, one person said Abe or Adrian an I almost changed it to Adrian because I never thought about her going to his house but I ended up deciding to stay with the original idea.**

**As always please Read and Review and I hope you all like the chapter!**

VPOV:

After a while I started to get worried about where Rose was. I know her and Dimitri were talking but I figured she would have texted or something by now. I went back to where Dimitri and Rose last were only to find Dimitri sitting on the damp ground alone.

"Where's Rose?" I asked.

"I don't know we got into a fight…a bad one, and she ran off…" he said not looking up from the ground.

"What did you say to her?" I asked worried last time she ran off she got seriously hurt and I know her, if she was hurt by something Dimitri had told her she wouldn't be thinking clearly. He didn't answer so I yelled it at him, "GOSH DANG IT Dimitri WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HER?"

"I told her Tasha was right ok?" he yelled back. "It really doesn't matter what I told her does it?"

"You freaking idiot!" I told him for getting into a fight with her, before running off to find Lissa.

"Lissa, I need your help! Rose ran off because her and Dimitri got in a fight. Do you know where she normally goes when she's upset?" I asked. At this the rest of the group surrounded us worried about Rose also.

"Ummm usually parks or places like that…"

"No I don't think she would go there, not if she knows we'll be looking for her. It's too obvious," Ivan said thoughtfully. We sat there in silence for a minute all of us contemplating when suddenly Lissa's face brightened up.

"Abe! She trusts him, he's rescued her before and you showed her where he lives earlier. She doesn't really have anywhere else to go. So why not go to someone who she trusts and is accessible."

"That's great! Good thinking! Ok I'll go to Abe's house see if she's there and if she is I'll try to talk to her. I'll let you know how it goes." I told them before running off.

RPOV:

After the gate opened, I ran to the door and pounded on it until he opened it. He took one look at me and quickly pulled me into a warm embrace while I cried my eyes out on his doorstep. Soon he pulled me inside and we sat on his couch with him still holding me.

"Want to tell me what happened?"

"Not really but I probably should. You need some reason for a random teenager randomely showing up at your doorstep bawling her eyes out," I said with a half laugh. Then I began to tell him everything starting with how horrible Stan was then what Jesse did and finally everything that happened today. It felt good to tell somebody besides Dimitri.

"I just want to get away," I mumbled at the end. All of a sudden there was a buzzing on some intercom looking thing.

"That's the gate," he told me.

"Don't answer that if it's Dimitri," I warned. He asked who it was.

"It's Viktoria! Is Rose there? I promise Dimitri isn't with me!" he looked at me questioningly and I nodded telling him to let her in. she quickly was knocking on the door. Abe opened it and she barged right in.

"What the hell happened? I go to check on you two only to find you got in an argument. Lissa suggested looking for you here and now I find you here crying. I thought you'd be ecstatic they broke up!"

I couldn't help but smile a little at her when she said 'crying' as if I wasn't allowed to cry, which in her defense she's barely seen it. I looked at Abe silently telling him to give us a few minutes. He nodded and walked upstairs while I pulled Vika to the living room with me and sat on the couch.

"Well thanks to Tasha Dimitri believes that it is my fault that Tasha cheated on him."

"What that's insane!" she said in disbelief.

"Before I tell you the whole thing, I have to tell you what happened the night Tasha cheated," I told her before bracing myself. I had already relived this too many times tonight and I wasn't sure I'd make it through it again. "That night, Lissa a few of my friends and I all decided to go to a party. While there somehow this guy named Jesse drugged me and got me in a room. Before I even knew what was going on he had half of my clothes off. I was too out of it to do anything about it but I was trying. Fortunately our friend Aaron had saw me going upstairs with Jesse following and knew something was up. I couldn't stand Jesse before that night so it was completely illogical for me to go to a room with him. Right before he was actually about to…well you know…Aaron and our other friend Jonathan busted the door down and pulled Jesse away. While Aaron was fighting Jesse off Jonathan managed to put his jacket on me and get me out of the room. He put me in his car then ran to check on Aaron. I later found out that Aaron ended up going to the hospital with a concussion but they didn't tell me that till the next day.

"Luckily the idiot didn't give me enough to last very long so I was quickly able to function again. At my insistence Lissa took me to my house but when I got there Stan, my step-dad, was drunk. My mom was out of town so it was just me and him there that weekend. He started calling me a slut and a whore and when I smarted off he punched me. After that I ran upstairs and locked myself in my room. I called Dimitri and when he heard how upset I was he left the party he was at to talk to me. I told him all about what happened and he stayed up almost all night talking me through it," I smiled a little thinking about his reaction. "He actually wanted to jump on the first plane but by then I had calmed down enough to talk him out of it."

Vika sat there for a minute with shock on her face before she finally spoke. "I'm really sorry you went through that and kind of mad you never told me but I understand. That's horrible and all but, I don't get how this makes it your fault that Tasha cheated?"

"Well out of his anger I think he forgot why I had called him and said that if it weren't for me and my selfish pointless drama then he would have never left Tasha and she wouldn't have been lonely enough to sleep with someone else."

"That's insane! Is he stupid or just plain dumb?" she asked in frustration. I just shrgged not answering. "Did you remind him why you called that night?"

"No…what was the point? He made it clear how he felt about everything earlier. No use bringing up my pointless drama," I told her defeated.

"Rosemarie Hathaway that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard!" she half-yelled at me. "Dimitri loves you whether he's too stupid to admit it or not. When he realizes just how stupid he's being he'll be begging for your forgiveness."

"I doubt that. He doesn't love me, who could blame him?" I said softly.

"You don't believe that anymore than I do."

"You didn't see the anger and hatred in his eyes, it was horrible. I have never seen him look so angry and broken. I just took his future away."

"Would it have been better to let him live a lie and be cheated on the rest of his life?"

"Maybe, at least he would have been ignorantly happy,"

"He would have been miserable! He was already miserable with her and they weren't even married yet!"

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's too late. He knew how sensitive I am, yet he still said all of those horrible things, that proves he doesn't love me."

"Or maybe he wasn't thinking about what he was saying and was just speaking out of anger?"

"I doubt that. If he said it on some level he really does mean it. The truth always comes out when emotions are high." I said softly. About then Vika's phone rang.

"Sorry it's my mom I have to get it," she said before answering. "Hi mama what's wrong?...Ok, I'll be right there…"

"Everything ok?" I asked.

"Yea she needs to go to the store but she's babysitting and Paul is about to lay down. Apparently Dimitri hasn't left his room since he got home and your mom is out visiting some friends or something so I need to go babysit. I would ask if you want to come but I'm guessing with Dimka that's not a good idea. Are you going to be ok here by yourself?"

"I'll be fine, I have Abe here and if I need anything I'll call you." I said giving her a half smile.

"He does love you Rose. Just wait till he calms down and you'll see." She said reassuringly. She hugged me and then ran out the door. I went in front of the stairs and hollered at Abe.

"Yes, Kizim?" he asked.

"Which room can I stay in?" I demanded not even asking if I could but, hey I knew he'd let me.

"Pick any you want, are you hungry or anything?" he asked coming down the stairs.

"No just tired, it's been a long day. I think I just want to go lay down for a bit."

"Ok well my room is downstairs, but all the rest are upstairs. Holler if you need anything," he said. I nodded ok and headed upstairs. I went to the last room on the right wanting to be as alone as possible. I didn't even look around to see what the room looked like, just went straight to the bed and laid down.

_I was back at the Belikovs. Dimitri and I were sitting outside swinging on the porch swing when all of a sudden Paul ran up and hit my leg._

"_Tag!" he shouted. I quickly hit Dimitri and yelled "tag!" and took off running. Dimitri quickly caught up. He grabbed me around the waist and spun me around causing me to laugh, he laughed along with me until all of a sudden we heard._

"_DIMKA!" in the high pitched squeal that only belongs to one person. He hastily put me down and we looked in her direction. "Dimka, come on. The baby needs you!"_

_Dimitri looked at me then walked to Tasha._

"_Dimitri what are you doing? Why are you going with her?" I asked in shock. "I thought you loved me?" _

"_I could never love you Rose. We're just friends…well not even friends anymore. You're too selfish…plus who would ever love you?" he said in disgust. He quickly turned to Tasha and kissed her then looked at me with that familiar look of hatred. Before turning and walking away with Tasha._

_I just stood and watched them leave with tears streaming down my face. _

I quickly awoke with a gasp. I noticed my face was covered in tears. I wiped them away and looked at the clock only to find I had only been out for maybe an hour. I knew I wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon. I took a look around the room and found a window with a balcony. I grabbed my phone and headphones and headed out there. There was a cement barrier that formed a half circle around the balcony. I went to one of the corners that was attached to the wall and climbed up. I leaned my back against the wall and pulled my knees up in front of me. I put my headphones in and turned on Pandora radio. I didn't pay attention to the station and didn't even really pay attention to any words of the music. I just sat there, numb, with tears still pouring down my face. I sat there for who knows how long. Suddenly a familiar sounding song came on, I didn't pay attention to the first verse but the bridge and chorus hit me hard.

"**Right before your eyes,****  
><strong>**I'm breaking, no cause****  
><strong>**No reasons why,****  
><strong>**Just you and me.****This is the last time I'm asking you this,****  
><strong>**Put my name at the top of your list,****  
><strong>**This is the last time I'm asking you why,****  
><strong>**You break my heart in the blink of an eye."**

The song broke my heart all over again. I would never be at the top of Dimitri's list. I will probably never be at the top of anyone's list. Hell I'm not even at the top of my own mothers, her job is. Who could really blame her though? I wasn't worth being at the top of the list, nobody wants to love the selfish home wrecker.

It's ironic how the parts of the song are true. I am breaking but nobody cares enough to notice. Somehow I managed to give Dimitri the power to shatter me with one conversation. He literally broke my heart in the blink of an eye, just like the song says. I just don't know if I'll ever recover. I've been damaged before but never completely broke. It's one thing to hear those things from a man you despise, another to hear it from the person you love with our whole heart.

**Dpov:**

I was sitting in my room not thinking about anything just laying there. It was like once all the anger was gone there was nothing. All of a sudden my door bangs open and I look up to find a very pissed looking Viktoria glaring at me, I sat up and looked at her confused before she stormed right up to me before slapping me hard across the face.

"Dimitri Belikov! Do you have any idea just how stupid you are?" she hollered.

"What are you talking about Vika?" I said exasperated grabbing my cheek.

"I'm talking about trying to blame Rose for your cheating manipulative ex!" she said as if it were obvious.

"Well I'm not lying she is the one who had me distracted with her silly drama. It's also my fault for not being able to tell her no. I should have been focusing on Tasha she was my girlfriend."

"Yes and Rose is your best friend! Are you really not allowed to leave Tasha for one night to take care of your BEST FREAKING FRIEND? She really couldn't be faithful because you left her for ONE night? You really don't remember why Rose called you that night do you?"

"Does it matter?" I asked.

"YES it matters you idiot. Rose told me why she called you that night and honestly I'm very surprised you could forget. Think about it what happened to Rose a few months ago? Still don't get it? Here let me give you a clue! It involved Jesse almost raping her and Stan punching her!"

I shot straight up when she said that. "Oh my God I am an idiot!"

"Ding ding ding!" she said frustrated. I can't believe I didn't remember that.

"I was so mad…not really at Rose, just at Tasha, at the whole situation. I didn't even stop to think about anything…and then I took all my frustration out on Rose," I said realizing just how idiotic I really was.

"Yea now she's freaking breaking down, thinking you hate her, and that everything is her fault."

"She's never going to forgive me after everything I said. She trusted me and I broke that trust, I knew how vulnerable she was and what did I do? I go and freaking call her names and say all of those hurtful things to her."

"She'll forgive you, Rose isn't that vulnerable. Hurt and upset but she's tough." she said.

"No you don't understand! Her self-esteem was barely even existent as it was then I go and practically destroy what's left of it!"

"What do you mean barely existent? Rose is the last person I would expect to have low self-esteem. She's way too confident for that."

"Because it's a front. She pretends to be confident so people wont know what's going on but freaking Stan has been slowly shredding her esteem for years…to the point it's barely there. She was healing and getting better but I could have just destroyed all of her progress,"

"That's what she meant when she said you knew how sensitive she is…Why didn't she ever tell me?"

"She didn't want anyone's pity…she didn't even tell Lissa. I'm the only one who knows about Stan."

"Well you need to figure out a way to fix this Dimitri, She's head over heels in love with you and I know you love her too whether you want to admit it or not. Fix it now before it's too late if it's not already," she said before walking out of my room.

I sat back down on my bed and thought about everything she said earlier. Saying she loved me but that I deserve better than her. Now she thinks I don't care about her or even love her. That's the furthest thing from the truth I've been trying to fight and pretend that I don't love her because I didn't think it was fair to Tasha, but in reality I'm pretty sure I've been in love with my Roza since the day we first met.

I quickly stood up grabbed my keys and ran out the door. Vika was right I had to fix this and fast!

RPOV:

I was getting cold so I took my earbuds out and went back inside. Distantly I could hear a raised voice so I crept out of the room I was in and softly walked down the hallway. At the top of the stairs I could hear Dimitri yelling.

"I know you think you have some stupid claim over her because you're her biological father, but honestly sir you don't now please let me see her!" he yelled at Abe.

"What did you just say?" I managed to get out. The last thing I remember was Dimitri looking up at me in shock.

**By the way the song clip used in this is "The Last Time" by Taylor Swift featuring Gary Lightbody**


	20. Chapter 19 Forgiveness

**Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, I'm not too thrilled about it but it's probably because I wrote it instead of read….who knows. Anyways I hope you all like it. **

** It's not very long but it's intense I guess…the next few chapters might be a little slower with the updates because I don't have them planned out or even partially written so I'm going to have to make it up as I go, so sorry in advance. **

** Thank you to:**

**ElEnA-NeNa…XxXLost-In-The-CrowdXxX….Evy201**

**Do'B…LexiSoulsister…MarijaV.**

**XBeautifulChaosX…benaqui2011….Kahlessi10**

**Angelbbaby…..lovingbites….RozaRocks**

**Dimkaisshmexy….BelikovGoddess…and 3 guests**

** For reviewing as usual. FOUR away from 200! You all are amazing!**

** As always, please read and review and I hope you all enjoy it!**

My vision went black and I felt myself fall backwards but never felt the landing. Suddenly I heard talking.

"Look what you did!" I heard Abe exclaim.

"If you would have just let me talk to her!" Dimitri retorted.

"Whatever, Rose can you hear us?" Abe asked me. I tried moving but couldn't just yet. So instead I tried to speak, but it came out as more of a groan.

"Well at least she's conscious." Dimitri said. "Roza can you try and open your eyes?"

"I don't wanna," I mumbled. He chuckled along with Abe.

"Why not?" Abe asked.

"If I do that means I'm not dreaming and this is all real," I said.

"I hate to break it to you but it is real. Dimitri's an ass and apparently I'm your biological father," Abe said cutting to the chase.

"Oh fun," I said opening my eyes. I slowly sat up. My head kind of hurt so, I was trying to be as calm as possible. "One thing at a time. How long have you two known? I feel like such an idiot because all of the signs were right in front of me I was just too distracted to connect the dots."

"I knew as soon as you told me who your mom was, maybe a little before because you look just like me when I was younger. I didn't say anything because your mom had good reason to lie to you and I wanted to see how she felt about it first but she won't talk to me." Abe told me truthfully.

"I figured it out that day. You look just like him and then your moms reaction when you mentioned him. I wanted to tell you but mama told me not to, that Janine had her reasons and was doing what was right," Dimitri said.

"Why am I the last one to know? Abe, you wouldn't happen to either have a sound proof room or a room that you won't be able to hear us?" I asked turning to him feeling my anger rise but not wanting to yell at Dimitri in front of my apparent new found father.

"Umm the room you were in isn't soundproof but the furthest away from mine, that or the basement," he told me with a laugh.

"Good, if you hear any yelling just try to ignore it, me and Dimitri need to have a little chat. I'll deal with you later." I told him standing up and walking to the room I had just left. When we got in there I didn't say anything at first just tried to organize my chaotic thoughts.

"Roza…." He started but I quickly silenced him by raising my hand in the air, in the stop motion.

"No, you don't get to talk right this second," I told him coldly. "You seriously get pissed at me for hiding a photo from you for ONE night to PROTECT you from getting hurt, blame me for your girlfriend being a whore, get mad at me several other times over stupid shit. And all this time you knew the one thing that has been plaguing me for years now! You've known that, that was one of the biggest things I've ever wanted was to find out who my father. Yet you hid it from me! you have less than a minute to tell me why I shouldn't be furious with you!"

"You should be furious with me. hell I'm furious with me, but not about the father thing. I begged mama to let me tell you and she told me it wasn't my place. I wanted to tell you so bad but she said your mom had her reasons, and honestly I can't blame her. Abe is not the kind of person you should associate with," he said which really pissed me off more.

"First off yes, I should be furious and I am. Second it was your place as my BEST FRIEND to tell me! My mom might have had her reasons but it is MY right to know. I'm 18 years old, I choose who I associate with or not. I don't care if he might be involved in illegal activities or whatever it was you said, he's also the same guy that saved me in that alleyway, that came to check on me the next day to make sure I was ok, he's my father!" I told him, the anger was starting to fade but was quickly being replaced with the hurt from being lied to, for being blamed today, for never being good enough. "I still have questions about it all, but that's up to me to decide where this all goes. What hurts me the most is I've cried to you asking why I wasn't good enough for my father to stick around. Why he didn't want me? Yet you've known that he was here and my mom just didn't want to tell me who he was. You listened to me bawl my eyes out and yet when you found out, you kept it from me then have the nerve to get mad at ME for a bunch of stupid things."

"You are right, I should have told you. I just wanted to figure out exactly why she was hiding it from you and then I got distracted with this whole Tasha business," he said.

"Yea, Tasha," I muttered knowing that was where we were headed to. "Have you talked to her since?"

"No and I don't need to, I know what I said to you was horrible and it was so far from the truth. I had all of these emotions that had built up over the last week, the most prominent being anger. In all of that swirl of emotions I quit thinking just started lashing and unfortunately I lashed out on the wrong person. Viktoria came in my room earlier and slapped me back into reality and I realized just how much of a jerk I was. I don't think it was your fault, and I love your phone calls. I never should have said that it was all stupid selfish pointless drama because that is the furthest thing from the truth. That night was a pretty important night, I think that was the first night I realized I had more feelings for you than just friends, I just wouldn't admit it, not even to myself. The night in the alleyway when we thought you were lost and then Pavel called telling me that you needed me, I realized that I could not live the rest of my life without you in it. Whether it was as friends or whatever I realized I need you." He said but I quickly interrupted him.

"You don't need me. Your life would be perfectly fine if I wasn't in it," I told him softly adding in my head _'No one needs me.'_

"Roza you have no idea. I can be having the worst possible day and just a text or a call from you instantly makes it better. I love talking to you all the time and my favorite part of everyday is when you call me or I can call you. I thought that was just normal between friends, but I was wrong. I was so wrong," he said softly grabbing my face making me look at him. "I didn't realize that I was head over heels in love with you. Sadly I didn't realize until you were gone. I started coming to terms with it the other day after our kiss, but I shoved it away. When you left the woods even though all I felt was the anger, I could actually feel my heart sink. When Vika came to my room earlier I realized I screwed everything up and I'm not sure I can fix it."

"What are you doing?" I asked giving him a weird look as he got down on his knees.

"I told you that if there was a next time that I would get down on my knees and literally beg for your forgiveness.," he said before clasping my hands in his. "Roza I am a complete and utterly dumb jerk that does not deserve your forgiveness, friendship, or even love. I know I'm going to have to work like crazy to gain your trust back, but if there's even the slightest hope can you please forgive me?"

I really didn't know what to say. Part of me wants to say 'yes I forgive you' but part of me is scared to. I don't want to forgive him and then him forgive Tasha and leave me high and dry. I don't want to forgive him and then him realize what I already know, that I'm not good enough for him.

"Honestly Dimitri part of me wants to say yes while the other parts still says no," I told him truthfully.

"I understand. Why do you want to say yes? He asked. I didn't know exactly where he was going with this, but I decided to play along.

"Because you're my best friend and I believe you are telling the truth and being 100% honest," I told him.

"Why do you want to say no?" he asked.

"Because what if after all of this you go back to Tasha and I just get hurt again? What if?" I had to stop myself before I revealed too much.

"What if….? What Roza? What were you going to say?" he asked looking me in the eyes. It felt as if he was staring directly into my soul like he already knows the answer but wants me to say it. I quickly looked away, not wanting him to realize just how deep my insecurities run.

"What if…you realize what I already know?" I asked still trying to avoid answering.

"What if I realize you're not good enough for me?" he asked already knowing he was right. I just nodded my head. "Roza I am so sorry. I am sorry that you feel that. Sorry that, that idiot Stan has made you think this and that I helped make you feel like this, but if you give me a chance I will try my hardest to make it up to you. I will remind you everyday of how amazing you are and how beautiful you are. I'm the one who doesn't deserve you and one day hopefully you will realize that. Just please start with forgiving me and we'll work from there. I can guarantee there is absolutely no chance of me getting back together with Tasha. Being completely honest I kind of got excited when I saw Tasha with that guy because it meant I was free to be with you. If you want we can just work on trying to be best friends again."

"I don't know if I can just be friends with you anymore. Not now that I know I'm in love with you," I told him pulling away and walking towards the door of the balcony. I paused and looked out the glass.

"I don't know if I can either but I'm willing to try. Anything to keep you in my life and not pissed at me or hurt because of me," he said coming up behind me. "I love you Roza more than anything and I will do whatever it takes to get your trust and forgiveness."

"Ok…" I told him.

"Ok? Ok what?" he asked.

"We'll try it. I don't know if I can fully trust you or even forgive you all the way but we can try."


	21. Updates

So I know I'm a horrible person! I should have already posted to at least one of my stories but I haven't yet. I'm posting this on three of my stories so if you're reading this on one you don't need to read the ones on the other stories.

**GEEK GUSH ALERT: **I have this extreme problem…I don't know if any of you watch Doctor Who but I just started so of course I can NOT get off Netflix to catch me up! My main problem though is I just watched what I am pretty sure is the saddest most heartbreaking episode in the entire freaking universe, so I've been in this little depressed slump for the last few days. I literally cried my eyes out, like full on sobbing. I have never done that over a tv show, movie, or a book (I did cry pretty good reading the last song by Nicholas Sparks but not nearly as hard as the last 15 minutes of that episode). Now if you watch the show you most likely know what I am talking about and might say it gets better, but I skipped ahead because I'm inpatient and it did bring me a tiny bit of happiness but I'm still not too happy with it, so I of course went to the Doctor Who fanfic to get a little bit of happiness and it is working a little bit!

So this is a major reason why I have not updated. Between watching all of the amazingness that is Doctor Who and being depressed because of it. If you do not watch the show I highly suggest watching it, I know most people who read VA love the whole forbidden romance thing so I almost guarantee that you would love DW.

Enough of my geeking out about Doctor Who, back to the stories:

**One Night- **Do to popular demand, I have decided to do a sequel. I will not do it right away, I want to finish Summer That Changed Me first and get a little further along in Insta Fame. That being said, I was thinking about doing an epilogue maybe a month or two in the future so that readers will get a little more closure before they have to wait for the sequel. I wanted to do it like a year in advance but with me doing a sequel, I don't know that I really want to do that big of a time gap, let me know what you feel.

**Summer That Changed Me- **I have not forgotten about you all, I promise. I have some good ideas to wrap the story up. Don't worry there will be more drama. I'm trying to decide if I want to wrap it up then do a sequel or just put it all in one story. The problem with doing it all in one story is, it will make it a lot, lot longer and I'm not sure if I like it all in one story or make it two…let me know what you think. I should update soon, I'm not entirely sure when but it shouldn't be much longer.

**Insta Fame- **Honestly, I've been wanting to update this story for the last few days but, I've been listening to some Alexz Johnson songs (the girl in the originally tv show that inspired this story) and it's given me some ideas but, to do some of them I would have to change a few things. If you've watched the show, you know there's the main girl (rose) her producer (Dimitri) her parents, best friend (Liss), best guy friend (Mase), her sister, and her three guy band members. In this new arrangement I didn't exactly want to do the exact same thing as the show but, there are some things that I'm thinking about doing like the show. I won't tell you exactly what I was planning but I do have an extremely important favor from all of you.

**I want you to tell me who you want in her band**. That being said I was considering changing it to where Adrian is in her band instead of her brother because I think that might be a better fit (If I leave him in the story as the brother he won't be in it as much, and I feel like he should be in it a lot more than what I have planned). I want you all to tell me who you want in her band, it can be **any character in the book or any character you make up**. There does not have to be just 3 and they do not have to be all guys, though I like the idea of all guys I'm definitely up to some differences. So tell me who you want and if you make up a character then give me details about them. The only people who can not be in the band are Ralf and Jesse because they will be used later on. If you want to change anything else up like make Lissa her sister/older sister, band member or something let me know. This is entirely up to you guys. I know usually people just tell me "Whatever you choose will be good" but this time I want you're actually opinions, I know that everyone has one so PLEASE let me know what you think!

So there are all of my notes on each story, let me know what you feel about them. I promise I will try to update them all pretty soon, I know it most likely will not be before Friday because I have 4 assignments due Friday but, I'll start working on them soon after. Sorry for being so bad about updating but I am working on it. I did pretty well for a while, hopefully I can get back in that rhythm pretty soon!


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Vampire Academy, Humor, Romance