When Dimitri and I arrived at the door to the banquet room, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Just grabbing and holding his hand seemed so simple, but it was so rife with meaning that I didn't immediately reach for him, even though I knew I could. Even though some girls - including Lissa - dream about growing old together with someone or walking through the park as senior citizens holding hands, I had never thought that was in the cards for me as a guardian. Although I certainly hoped so, I wasn't even sure if we would live long enough to retire. Though sweet, and certainly conveying a message about our connection to each other, it also seemed a little childish to walk around holding hands.

I hadn't even realized I was still standing there in the doorway, unmoving. Most of the people in the room hadn't seen me yet, but they were all waiting for either Lissa or me.

Before I could question it any further, Dimitri put a hand around my waist and whispered in my ear, "Rose, are you feeling nervous? You seem uncomfortable."

I looked straight at my mother, across the room, and nodded, then said to Dimitri - whose hand was still around my waist - , without breaking eye contact with my mother, "What will they all think?"

Dimitri used the hand on my waist to steer my body, turning my face to his. "Roza, you are eighteen, which makes you legally an adult. You have killed more Strigoi than most guardians ever live to see. You have saved lives. And most recently, you not only obtained a promise mark, but you received the single highest final trials score ever recorded by a dhampir novice at any academy. They will think you are an exceptionally strong, intelligent woman who is now free to make her own choices. And I hope that you choose me." With that, Dimitri placed a kiss on my forehead and then took my hand in his own, pulling me into the room.

The room was filled with people Lissa and I knew and loved - many of whom were also graduating: both of my parents, Lissa, Christian, Jill, Eddie, a few other students, Doctor Oldendzki, Yuri, and Alberta. When they saw me enter, everyone clapped or cheered. I wasn't used to the attention, which was usually all on Lissa.

Jill walked up to me and immediately gave me a big hug. "Rose! I'm so happy to see you! I was so worried earlier! And I'm so glad you're okay!" she said, sounding very much like her usually happy and chatty self, but then: "Oh!" she exclaimed as she looked at our joined hands together. Most of the people in the room still didn't appear to have really noticed it yet. Jill's eyes got bigger than I had ever seen them and then she smiled. "You're ... together - aren't you? When did this happen?"

I couldn't find my ability to speak, so Dimitri answered for me, "Officially, right after Rose's trials."

Jill let out a light chuckle and asked, "But unofficially?"

"Let's just say that we've known how we felt about each other for a while," I told her, seeing Alberta and my mother both within hearing distance.

Alberta walked up and gave me a hug, saying, "You know, Rose, you and Dimitri are not my problem anymore. It doesn't matter to me what you do - as long as it didn't happen while you were a student here!" I could've sworn she winked at me as she finished her statement. She whispered in a low tone, "So sorry about how things worked out with your flowers earlier. Dimitri picked them out, but I helped him get the approval for the flowers and donuts to be delivered after your trials. I've arranged for the flowers to be delivered to your dorm room before you leave, but I couldn't figure out where the donuts went to get those to you."

For the first time, my dhampir appetite seemed to be a thing of embarrassment when I told her, "Actually, I ate them."

My mother, picking up part of the conversation asked, "Ate what?" at nearly the same time that Alberta asked, with wide eyes, "All of them?"

I ignored my mother and answered Alberta, "Yes, all of them. I took them back to my dorm room and ate most of them on the way, and the last few just before I got in the shower."

Janine asked, "Am I missing something here? What did you eat?"

Dimitri stiffened and pulled me closer to him. Speaking loud enough for the rest of the room to hear, he said, "I gave Rose a dozen chocolate donuts as a gift for successfully completing her trials - just before she accepted my offer to begin dating each other, now that she is not a student anymore."

I looked around the room and saw a full range of emotions. Zmey had a look of smug satisfaction on his face. Yuri seemed genuinely overjoyed. Many were startled. Though there were definitely those in the room who looked less surprised, My mother and Eddie were clearly the most shocked. Even though he knew about Dimitri and I, Christian appeared to be shocked, also, though quite tinged with sadness.

With everything that had happened with Adrian, so many of those in the room were still reeling, but perhaps none more than Christian. Tasha was the closest thing that Christian had to a mother, at this point in his life. Hearing that Dimitri, the man who Tasha had assumed was going to be the love of her life, was beginning a relationship with someone else, right as Christian was dealing with her death, may have just been too much for him. Christian bolted out of the room, the looks of hurt and anger clear on his face. I wasn't sure if he had known Dimitri would be his guardian yet, which would probably only make matters worse if we didn't resolve this.

My mother and Eddie could be dealt with later. "Could you please excuse us for a minute?" I asked of everyone, taking Dimitri to follow Christian.

We didn't have to go very far to find him. Christian was sitting in one of the conference rooms just down the hall from the banquet room. The room was dark, but Christian was creating flames on each of his fingers, letting them dance in the air.

"Can we talk to you, please?" I asked him, as we each walked in and took a seat at the conference table across from him.

"I don't want to talk right now," he said, scowling at me and making a flame come up from his closed fist in the shape and position of a middle finger.

"I know it's bad timing," I said, "and I know that it hurts to know that she's gone, but this happened before Tasha died."

"Then what was he," he pointed at Dimitri with a flaming thumb, "doing in the cabin with her?" Christian choked out.

"Tasha found us there," I told him, "After Dimitri asked me."

"So, she knew? About you two together?" Christian asked, half-sobbing, "And the last thing she experienced before she died was heartbreak?" His voice broke on the last word.

"She wasn't supposed to find out like that," said Dimitri, "but it doesn't matter. I never cared for her the way that she cared for me. We were talking it through when everything happened."

"I don't even know what happened! No one will tell me yet! All I know is that she was killed, on-campus, and that her body was found with you," he said.

Dimitri was astounded. "No one told you?"

"It only happened a couple of hours ago. When would they have had time to give me details? Who would have even told me?"

Dimitri let out a deep breath. "Someone should have," he said, "The first thing you should know is that she died trying to protect you. She loved you very much."

"What happened?" Christian asked.

I sat quietly as Dimitri explained, firmly but with a degree of friendliness I really hadn't witnessed with anyone else before, "If I'm going to tell you this, I'm going to have to start at the beginning. Not many people knew this, but the day after Adrian Ivashkov left campus, he killed a dhampir at a commune - by drinking her to death. He proceeded to leave a trail of dead Moroi and dhampirs - along with several threatening letters each day to Rose, Lissa, and me.

"In each of Adrian's letters, he threatened to capture and turn - or worse - Rose and Lissa. We knew he'd be coming for us all after graduation. That's part of why each of you were allowed to learn how to stake. You were each to be given stakes of your own at graduation, too. That's also why Rose's trials consisted of having to deal with facing a Strigoi she knew and trusted who was turned.

"Adrian used what he knew of the St. Vladimir's attack to break wards with stakes - both at the dhampir commune and then here today. He came while Tasha and I were talking alone. He was threatening Tasha and had her arms so that she couldn't use her magic. If I would've tried to attack him, he would've killed her instantly. He wanted to know where Rose was and Tasha made him a deal that if she told him, he would leave you unharmed. As soon as she told him, he snapped her neck. Then, he knocked me out before I could even try to stop him. He only let me live because he wanted me to suffer - by Rose's hand."

"So, you're telling me that the Strigoi who killed Tasha is the same Moroi I had known - even if I didn't always like him - for most of the last six months? And that he was with Lissa and didn't kill her?"

I nodded. In disbelief, Christian asked, "Then how was he a Moroi when I saw him being escorted by the guardians in handcuffs out of Lissa's dorm this afternoon?"

"We're not entirely sure," said Dimitri, "Lissa had the stake that she had been working on for Rose - the one with the healing charm imbued. According to the princess, she used it on Adrian. She drove the stake in, trying to kill him."

Christian stopped him, saying, "That doesn't make any sense. Rose, do you know? Did you sense anything from the bond?"

"I was in her head," I told him, "There are probably some things you don't want to know. Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"Yes. Please."

"Adrian was pretty aggressive with her as a Strigoi. He had drank from Jill and she was lying unconscious on the floor. He tried to hurt Lissa. He forced her to kiss him and then drank from her for a couple of seconds. While he was drinking from her, she plunged the stake in. I could feel it; her aim was right to kill him. But then ... it was like a healing using spirit, times about a thousand. And then the bond went numb."

Christian suddenly looked frantic. "You don't have the bond anymore? So Lissa is completely defenseless right now?"

"Christian, calm down. There are at least three guardians in the banquet room with her right now," Dimitri reasoned with him, "She is far from unprotected."

"It's not gone forever," I told him, "I can feel enough to know that it's still there. And I think it's coming back, a little at a time. But I think it was just too much power coming through it."

"So, what happened after the super-healing thingy?" Christian asked.

"After that, all we have to go on is what Lissa told us," I told him, "and that would be better to get straight from the source."

Christian closed his eyes and swallowed deeply, clenching his fists so hard that they were turning white. "Okay. I'll talk to Liss for that part." He looked at Dimitri. "Why were you and Aunt Tasha talking alone like that in her cabin if you were already planning to be with Rose? Were you leading her on?"

Dimitri opened his mouth to answer when I interrupted, placing a hand on Dimitri's arm, saying, "I think I'd better handle this part, Comrade. Dimitri and I didn't really know that Tasha was planning to be at the cabin today. We were there together when she arrived." I cleared my throat and added, "Alone."

That last word was full of hidden meaning and I was both hoping and not hoping that Christian wouldn't think too much about it.

Christian's eyes lit with realization and fury. "So Tasha walked in on you with the guy she thought she was in love with - that she wanted to start a family with - and then ten minutes later, she was killed?"

Guilt was plaguing me and I didn't have the words for what to say to comfort and appease him. Luckily, Dimitri did. "We didn't want that to happen, Christian. Tasha and I had talked about her becoming my charge months ago and I told her that I could never love her like that. When I applied to be transferred to a new charge, I think she just got hopeful that maybe things had changed, but I've always loved Rose. Tasha is," Dimitri cringed, all pretense of his guardian mask dropping, "- was a good person and my friend. I'll always care about her, but I never could've been what she wanted me to be."

"So you think that this makes it all okay?" he asked, "You think you can just be together now - that Adrian and Tasha are both out of the way?"

"No, Christian," I told him, "It's not like that! Not at all! Do you think I didn't cry when I found out? I liked Tasha. I may not have liked that she wanted Dimitri, but I really liked her. And if she was who he really wanted, then I was willing to let them be together. But Dimitri chose me. I left Dimitri with her this morning so that they could talk it out, because she deserved that. She deserved some closure and some time alone with him to say goodbye. But she didn't get that and that was not my fault - or Dimitri's. I was one of the first people with the guardians on the scene where Tasha died. I went to her body. I helped carry her. And I talked to her. I know it was probably stupid, and it was too late, but I talked to her. I told her that I was sorry. And that we both loved him." I was starting to lose it again. It was not often in my life that I cried, especially in front of people, but I felt another tear trickling down my cheek. "Christian," Dimitri said, taking over, placing a hand on Dimitri's shoulder, "she loved you and she didn't deserve to die today. But she died trying to protect you."

"Wait," Christian said, taking a deep breath, "If he wanted to know where Rose was, why did he go to Lissa's room?"

"Rose was planning to go there and that's what Tasha told him," Dimitri said.

A look of confusion cross Christian's face. "So Tasha was willing to send a Strigoi to my girlfriend's room? Even if he had kept his end of the deal to not hurt me, he would've killed Lissa. And Tasha just sent him there?"

"I think," said Dimitri, "Tasha thought that Rose could stop him. But we'll never know for sure."

"I need a few minutes," Christian said.

"Before we go," said Dimitri, "there's something else you should know."

"What?" Christian asked, a bit too harshly.

Dimitri replied, "I don't think you've been informed yet. Since I was allocated to be Tasha's guardian once we got to Court and that allocation was never fulfilled, the allocation passes to her next of kin needing a guardian. If you'll have me?"

Christian sat quietly for a moment and Dimitri broke the silence by saying, "If you don't want me, I'm sure I can find another charge, but I'd be honored to defend you with my life, Christian. You don't have to decide right now, though."

As we started to walk out, Christian said, "No. I think I do want you as my guardian, Dimitri. I don't know why, but I guess I feel like I trust you - despite all of this. But I still need some time to be alone and just process all of this. Can you close the door behind you on your way out?"

"Sure."

-=o0/&\0o=-

Once Dimitri and I were back in the hallway, he pulled me to the side of the doorway. Cupping my face in his hands and looking me in the eye, he asked me, "Rose are you okay with this? Christian's not the only one who is going to have some misgivings about our relationship."

I nodded, taking a deep breath and licking my lips. "As long as we're not in trouble for anything, I'm fine with it, Comrade. I never thought I'd really fall in love with someone before. It feels good to tell people out loud, even if it makes some of them uncomfortable."

Dimitri kissed my forehead and said, "I could say the same, Roza. You're all I ever want." Dimitri put his arms around me and pulled my body close, holding me there for a few more moments before we walked back in to the party.

-=o0/&\0o=-

As soon as Dimitri and I entered the room, Lissa walked over to us. It was really the first chance I'd had to talk to her since we were in her room earlier. Lissa grabbed my free hand and pulled me in for a hug. Dimitri stayed close to me, but released my hand.

"Rose, is Christian going to be okay?" she asked.

I told her, "He's hurting. It's going to take a while for him to be 'okay', but he will get there."

"I haven't had a chance to talk to you since everything happened, either. Are you okay?" I couldn't exactly feel it through the bond, but I knew my best friend well enough to know that look on her face meant she was worried more about me than herself.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that, Liss? You faced a Strigoi with no guardians around. And you used a stake. You were prepared to kill."

Lissa replied, "Rose, you've faced a Strigoi like that several times now - and killed most of them. Don't you think of it as 'no big deal' at this point? Plus, you were there with me in my head. I could tell you were feeling it through the bond. And I knew you were coming."

"Do you really think it gets any easier after having done it? Do you think it didn't feel like I was going to die every time I faced one? Or that - even though they were really already gone - I was taking a life every time I put a stake through a beating heart?"

"I'd never really thought of it that way before," she said, sadness tinging her eyes, "Is that what you felt every time?"

"Every single one," I said, "And I could feel what you felt right up until the point the healing got too powerful, Lissa. I know you were affected."

"I was," she said, "Is it true that the bond is gone? I still feel connected to you."

"I can still feel a little bit. It seems to be coming back a little at a time. I think it's just overpowered for a little while. Maybe like a power surge or something," I offered.

Lissa grinned and giggled a little, "So what you're saying is that this is my chance to do stuff I don't want you to know about?"

I scoffed, "Oh, please! I'm still going to be your guardian, if I have anything to say about it. I'm going to be keeping my eye on you. Besides, that was what the whole field experience was for - to get used to being able to guard someone I didn't have the bond for."

"How long do you think it will take for you to have the bond again?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. At this rate, maybe a couple of days?"

"I hope this isn't too selfish, but I kinda like having my thoughts to myself again, Rose. Even if it's only for a little while. Are you glad to not have to know what I'm thinking all the time?"

"Actually, I miss it, Liss. It's a comfort to know you're safe and to not have to try to guess what you're thinking." She smiled. "Besides, if I had to get saddled with anyone else's thoughts in the world, I'm glad it's yours. Not just because you're my best friend - though that's pretty great, too - but because you're just so genuinely ... nice. I mean, could you imagine being bonded to someone like Avery?"

Lissa's face turned pale, looking at Jill, as she added, in a low tone, "Or Adrian."

I knew Lissa well enough to know what she was getting at. "You think she's bonded to him?"

"I know it, Rose. I've seen her aura. There's shadows - ones that weren't there before. It looks just like yours."

"But this means that Adrian saved her, too."

Lissa nodded. "It does. And he regrets all of the things he did - both before he turned Strigoi and after. Maybe there's still hope for him. I can feel it in him, Rose - he has changed."

"Let's not confuse doing the right thing with being a hero - or even a good person. Even if he was a Strigoi when he did it, Adrian was the one who killed Jill. And Tasha. And even if you can manage to look past those things he did because of his regret, Christian's not gonna."

"What if Jill is related to me? She already feels like a sister. Can I really let her live with experiencing his life in prison?"

"We may not have much of a choice."

"I just wish everything didn't have to be so difficult."

I hugged her. "Story of my life, Liss."

"Rose, I'm still proud of you, you know? You did incredible on your trials."

"Thanks," I told her, "It helps to have an incredible mentor." I turned to smile at Dimitri.

"Our whole lives are about to change, Rose."

"Yes, they will change."

-=o0/&\0o=-

Author's Notes:

Well, there you have it. Writer's block is not my friend and neither is my son's school, so this chapter was my single longest time period to write. The party will be continued in the next chapter and I think we'll get to hear more from Yuri, Eddie, and Janine, though maybe not in that order.

Here's my question of the week:

What fandoms do you read fan fiction in? As a follow-up question, if a fan fiction writer you really like writes for a fandom you're not familiar with, do you ever read it?

For me, while I've certainly been most focused on Vampire Academy, I've also been reading Arcana Chronicles (I love these books!), Mortal Instruments/Shadowhunters, a little bit of Twilight, some Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Immortals After Dark (this one's a pretty new book series to me, but the amount of writing in the fandom is still pretty small, too), and a few Supernatural.

Honestly, the reason I asked the second part of this question is because I'm thinking of possibly taking on one of a couple of Immortals After Dark (IAD, for short) stories after I finish with Playing Adult or Hot for Teacher. One of them would be a rated-M IAD/VA crossover with the IAD world and VA characters (a Romitri story with 25-year-old Valkyrie Rose and 350-year-old 'Forebearer' - vampire who doesn't drink human blood from the living - Dimitri), but the other would be a much shorter rated-T story (in an entirely rated-M book series' fandom!) based on a few IAD characters whose tragic love story together was alluded to but never told in the books.  For a preview of the M-rated crossover, you can view the preview in the last chapter of Playing Adult!

In my personal experience, I have looked at a few fandoms outside of what I'm familiar with for some really good writers and a few of them were interesting, but I haven't always been able to follow the plotlines. If you know of a specific fic that's outside of the VA fandom that you think would be good reading for someone who isn't familiar with that storyline, let me know about it and I'll give it a shot, though. I'm all ears.

P.S.  If you ever see a chapter without SOME notes from me, I probably omitted by accident, so I don't mind a quick shout-out to let me know