DPOV
Rose and Lissa had once commanded this Academy's respect, and as the day wore on, I noticed how nothing was going to stop Rose from reminding them of that. No grief over Ivan, no slander over nor verbal attacks on her Jenée were going to get in her way of regaining her status as a campus legend. Lissa let Rose take the limelight and answer all the questions unless they were specifically addressed to her and by her name at that. I also noticed how few specific details she gave out about their "vacation". One question she always went rigid on was the one about Jenée's father. Why he was such a touchy subject for her I didn't know nor could I puzzle it out.

Sometimes when the topic was breached she would set her eyes on where Jenée was and in them I saw flashes of regret and sadness, wistfulness and longing, but also undying love and protectiveness. Hiding his identity was a burden to her, I could gather that much. She wanted her daughter to have a father, I was beginning to see, but then she'd look up at me and all those emotions were hidden by a hope and happiness so strong I could almost taste it, almost embrace it like a tangible thing. And trust, so much trust underpinned her hope and happiness when she saw me looking after Jenée.

"Take Jenée straight to the gym," Rose directed as she walked past me and out of her last class. What was the point of that, Rose? Now I know for sure you're going to sneak off to find Lissa, do you really think I'm going to not follow you?

"Rose, do you really believe you'll be able to stand splitting them? Being away from her father again?" I heard Lissa ask when I approached the corner behind the commons they were hiding their meeting. I indicated to Jenée to stay silent. She obeyed.
"This isn't about them, or me, it's about you!" Rose hissed in a whisper.
"It's not just about me anymore, Rose. It hasn't been just about me from the time we realised you were pregnant. It hasn't been about just me from the moment you conceived her! Rose, you have a family of your own, one you need to start being. Properly."
"I can't, Lissa!" Rose's quiet retort was full of longing and heartbreak. "You know I can't. You know I want to, but I can't. You know why I can't."
"It's going to backfire on you soon, Rose. Just think about it. I'll look after me, you look after them. She's my niece and I think she deserves to know."
"She's too young, Lissa. She's better off in the dark. Everyone is until we know what happened."
Jenée shot me a confused and sad look. "Momma?" she whispered in my ear. My hand ran over her untameable hair before I nodded. It was time to step in.

"Rose, you're late for training. Princess."
Rose looked between me and Jenée and tears pooled in her eyes. She turned to look at Lissa. "I can't, Lissa. I'll see you later." Rose shook her head at me and took off.
I was left looking at Lissa in confusion. It was an emotion Rose's words or actions rarely elicited in me. "Princess?"
"Just let her cool down, Guardian Belikov. She's been through a lot today and since... well..." Lissa nodded at Jenée. "Since she fell pregnant with her." She clapped her hands and smiled at Jenée while reaching for the baby. "You coming with Aunty Lissa while Momma relaxes, Princess Jenée?"
"Mr 'Mitri?"
I smiled and nodded. "Go on, Miss Jenée. I'll get Momma back to you in time for dinner."
She hugged me tightly before letting me hand her over to Lissa. The Princess was watching us closely, speculatively.
"Be careful with Rose, Guardian Belikov."
I nodded. "Of course, Princess."

My gut told me I knew where she'd gone. I just hoped I was right. It was where I'd retreated to many times over the time she'd been missing. It would only be logical for her to go there to calm down. For the half hour of space I gave her I couldn't sit still or concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds at a time. Worry bubbled and boiled away until I slammed my novel on my bedside table and jumped off the bed in my dorm to go find her. She may want space and she may need it, but I needed to be there for her. She'd been devastated by the news about Ivan but had remained strong for me. She'd been strong for too long today and I needed to let her know I was still there for her. That I'd always be there for her no matter what.

When I found her she was exactly where I suspected she would be. Only, she was curled up asleep. She looked so peaceful and beautiful but I could tell she'd collapsed from stress, exhaustion and tears. I don't know how I knew, I could just tell. Softly I closed the door to the old watch-post cabin and locked it. Nearly every guardian had a skeleton key to the old, worn log-cabins but the action was reassuring nonetheless as I moved away from it and to the single bed. My shoes came off before I joined her under the covers and protectively wrapped my arms around her.
"Comrade," she mumbled as she curled into my side. Her head rested over my heart and she tugged me closer, clinging to me as if I would slip through her grasp like smoke. Never. Never, my Roza. Never.
"Go back to sleep, Roza. I'll wake you for dinner."
The only response was a soft, delicate snore.

She'd grown and changed, matured and developed so much in two and a half years. As I studied her I found the signs of how Lissa had survived all along her neck when I brushed her hair behind her ear and over her shoulder. Anything. She'd always sworn to me she'd do anything to protect Lissa. Her friendship was that intense and her dedication was that strong she had become the princess's blood source. Not many guardians had the guts to do that, but Rose had. At the tender age of fifteen and while pregnant she'd become a source of blood to keep her best friend alive. That woman never ceased to amaze me, entrance me, inspire me. There was so much more to Rose Hathaway than she let on.

Her face structure had become more defined, more teasingly mature for her age. Her curves had been impressive for a dhampir before she'd had Jenée, but now her hips and chest were even more attractively curvy than anyone else I'd ever met. How was any Moroi or dhampir male going to resist her now? She was as toned and tan as ever. "Beautiful" didn't describe her anymore. "Heavenly" came close. She was Rose, and that was the only real way to describe her. She was exotic and alluring. A mystery I wanted to unravel again- a mystery I needed to unravel again. She was so strong and resilient, so recklessly over-confident and self-sufficient. But she was also so incredibly vulnerable and all I wanted to do was to keep her here in my arms for the rest of our lives and protect her.

It was a rare moment of peace and serenity, a rare moment of privacy to be with her in this way. And to think it's only day one. It was so wrong, but so right to be with her like this. I'd made my peace with how I felt for her years ago. With Ivan's help and guidance, no less.
The platinum bangle on her wrist caught my eye. He'd died while trying to spoil her. He'd died two months before we'd actually found her. He'd been murdered because he loved her and wanted to give her a token of that love, that relief she was safe. He was the Moroi, but he'd been more concerned about her safety and happiness. Just like Lissa. Those Moroi were rare and an honor to guard. And such a tragic loss regardless of the way they died.

Rose's eyes fluttered open and my heart skipped a beat at her happy and contented smile. "I love you."
"I love you, Roza."
Before I knew it her warm lips were on mine and I finally felt like she was home. The kiss was soft and gentle, tender and full of emotion. But it didn't take much to morph into something more urgent and animalistic. It became heady and heated, leaving us breathing deeply but unable to stop, unwilling to stop. My lips moved to her jaw, her throat, her neck.
"Dimitri... no... stop... Dimitri, stop!" Rose puffed out the demand as she pushed my chest. The rejection stung, deeply. It cut. She'd started it, so why'd she end it? I pulled away so quickly I nearly fell off the bed. She ran a hand through her hair as a frustrated look dominated her expression. "We can't," she sighed and turned away from me.
"Rose...?"
"Please Dimitri, don't ask me to do something I can't. We're back at square one. Maybe not even on the board... I don't know how to explain it so don't ask me to."
"Explain what, Rose?"
"Why we can't do this." She gestured between us and the bed. "I love you, Dimitri, I just can't do this."
I guided her face back to look at mine and tipped her chin up so our eyes could meet. "Look at me, Roza." Her eyes finally met mine with a focus in them. She was with me so I took the chance to tenderly cup her face in my hands. "I won't push you. I never have, have I?" It was a rhetorical question but I loved how she answered it anyway.
"No, never," she confirmed.
"So I won't now. I need you safe, Roza. Okay? If that means none of this, then I'll live with it. I just got you back, Rose, I can't lose you again."

Not after Ivan. I can't lose you too, Roza. My heart won't cope with losing you, the one whose return gives me hope. My sanctuary- she always has been and always will be. I can't stand the thought of losing her again.

"I love you." She pecked my cheek. "And you are allowed to kiss me, I just can't let it get too heated," she whispered in my ear before crawling over me to get out of the bed.
I growled as I removed myself from the sheets and started straightening them. "You tease!"
"What ungodly hour are you going to expect me and Jenée to meet you in the gym in the morning?"
"Depends... You have more than two years of work to catch up on."
"Oh, come on, I took your ass down."
"You, caught me off guard by breaking basic sparring rules."
"You surrounded my charge and my daughter, why would I play by the rules? Why should I? Strigoi don't."
"How much theory have you missed?" I knew her basic fitness and sparring skills were more advanced than I let on I knew. Her theory? That I wasn't too sure about.
"Officially? Quite a bit. Technically? Not that much."
"Meet me at four. We'll put in three hours in the morning and two in the afternoon." She wouldn't know what hit her... even though I'd mentored her before. "Don't wake Jenée until breakfast."
Rose rolled her eyes as I locked the door after us. "Don't count on her sleeping in past five-thirty. She's an early-bird. Unlike her mother."
"You were up at two," I pointed out.
"Toilet training. She's good during the day, nights... not so much. She still needs prompting. But she also often doesn't go back down yet."
I smiled when she grabbed my hand and tugged me back towards campus. "You're one brilliant mother, Rose."
She shrugged. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm enough for her, but I do my best given how unplanned she was."
"You know I'm here to help, right?"
She snuggled up to my arm and nodded against it. "Yeah, I know. And she loves you, you know. She won't let me stop you from helping."
I stopped short and held her at arms length to look at her in shock. "What did you just say?"
"Jenée loves you, Dimitri. I can see it in her eyes, in the way she clings to you and trusts you. She doesn't trust anyone but you, me and Lissa for a reason: she loves us." I didn't know how to react.
"I won't hurt her, Roza. I promise."
She grinned. "I know. You're a natural with her." She grabbed my shirt and tugged my lips down to hers. "And I love you all the more because of it." Rose's soft, warm lips met mine for a teasing second.
"I'll see you in the morning with a sleeping Jenée." She was out of sight before I could register she'd pulled away.