"So, doc, the thing is ... I'm sort of ... not ... the virgin I used to be anymore. Do you think you could give me a quick check to make sure I'm not preggers and give me a prescription for a stronger pill?"

"The chances of your being pregnant are very slim, Rose. Have you ever missed a pill?" she asked.

"No. I've taken my pill every day. I've never missed one."

"Have you been consistently taking your pill at the same time every day since you started having sex?"

I started to think. "Well, when I was at Court, I was unconscious for a few hours, so it was delayed, but other than that, I have been really consistent about the timing."

Doctor Olendzki smiled at me, "Even if you'd missed a day, you are constantly pushing your body to its limits and you live a very high-stress lifestyle. If you were only late taking it by a few hours one time and you've never missed a day, the chances are quite low that you'd be pregnant, but I'd be glad to administer the test if it gives you peace of mind, Rose."

After providing her with the necessary sample, she said to me, "It'll just take a few moments to get a result. Have a seat."

I sat down as Doctor Olendzki began running the test. "Rose, I know this is a strange time to tell you this, but I have to say, I'm really going to miss you. It's not often that a female novice is quite such a frequent patient as you - or that any student is, honestly. Most of the girls, especially, don't push themselves as hard as you do - or get into as many unexpected situations. In a way, I have spent so much time caring for you that I almost feel like a second mother to you."

"Thanks, Doctor O," I told her, "After most of the past thirteen years, it's not going to be the same to go to someone else instead of you when I have an injury."

"Seeing Guardian Belikov with you all the times you've been in the infirmary the past year, I can see that you both really care for each other. I know pregnancy isn't what either of you would hope for at this age, but if the baby would be his, I'm convinced that he would provide for you and take care of you."

"Umm ... thanks?" I say. Part of me was getting nervous that the reason she was going down this train of thought was that the little plus sign on the test was already starting to show a positive result.

"I'm glad to see you to have found someone who cares for you as much as he does. We have about twenty more seconds for a complete result, Rose, but so far, it looks like you're not pregnant."

I blew out a relieved sigh. "I'm not ready to be a mother," I told her.

"There," she said, as the timer beeped, looking down at the test, "Not pregnant."

"So how about some stronger birth control?" I asked her.

Doctor Olendzki opened up a drawer in the cabinet on the side of the wall and pulled out a packet of pills. "If you want pills, I have these here, or if you'd prefer, I could give you an injection or an implant?"

"What's the difference?" I asked.

"There are several. I can give you a pamphlet. The biggest differences are how long they last and how they're administered. The implant lasts for three years - or until you have it taken out, the injection lasts for twelve weeks, and the pills require daily use. I'll assume you already know how I would provide the injection and the pills. The implant would need to go in your deltoid. You'd need to be gentle with it for a few days."

"Implant me up, then, doc," I told her, "No better time than now, since I should be able to lay off the arm for a few days."

"Do you want to know about the other side effects first?" she asked.

"Are there any that I really need to worry about?" I asked her.

"Probably not," she admitted, as she began preparing the implant for me, "This is going to hurt, but it probably won't be as bad as a lot of the things you've already experienced."

I winced a little as she inserted it into my arm. "So how soon does this take effect?" I asked.

"It should be effective immediately," she told me.

-=o0/&\0o=-

Since all of the dhampir novices getting promise marks had their own ceremony, the actual graduation ceremony at St. Vladimir's is mostly for the Moroi. From what I know of the human world, it's relatively similar to any high school graduation ceremony, except for the fact that families have to travel to the school, leaving the seats somewhat more vacant than if the families lived nearby, and that many of the younger students didn't get to attend because they were packing up their dorms to go home for the summer.

Only those who did not get a promise mark the previous day were included in the ceremony itself, so we were able to sit in the audience with the staff and families. Though we still weren't advertising our relationship and were barely touching, I was able to sit next to Dimitri for the ceremony. It felt nice just to be close to him without any excuses of training or supervision.

The names of the graduates were being called in alphabetical order. When I heard, "Princess Vasilisa Dragomir," called out by Kirova, I cheered loudly, made some wolf whistles, and clapped. Most of the bond still hadn't returned yet, but Lissa's blush let me know that I had embarrassed her. When she looked up at me, I blew her a kiss and we both laughed.

When Christian's name was called, Dimitri joined me in cheering. It was so unlike Dimitri, but I think that we could both tell that Christian needed us rooting for him. I was glad to see Christian smile at our applause after everything that had happened yesterday. On the top of his graduation cap, Christian had written the words, "LEHIGH OR BUST," in big, bold letters and it made me smile.

After the ceremony was over, Dimitri and I walked over to Christian and Lissa. Lissa pulled me into a hug. "We did it, Rose!" she exclaimed.

Laughing again, I joked, "Somehow, we managed to survive through to see us graduate. It's a pretty big accomplishment to have lived that long."

Lissa brought a more somber tone as she said, "But not all of us made it."

I frowned and nodded, thinking of Mason and Tasha - and how close Jill came to being added to that.

As if she heard my thoughts, Jill walked up, with a woman who was unquestionably her mother in tow behind her. "Lissa!" Jill exclaimed, throwing her arms around Lissa, "Congratulations! I'm so proud of you! We just made it in time for when they called your name. Guys, I'd like you all to meet my mom. This is Emily Mastano. Mom, this is Lissa Dragomir, Christian Ozera, Rose Hathaway, and Dimitri Belikov."

Emily was beautiful, with dark blue eyes and sleek black hair, but she had the same heart-shaped face as Jill. It was easy to see the family resemblance. "Lissa," Emily said, extending a hand, "It's so good to finally meet you in person." When Lissa stretched out her hand, Jill took it in both of hers and just stared, smiling at her. "You're so lovely. You have Eric's eyes."

"Thank you. I've been told that before," Lissa said, adding, "Funny. Jill almost seems to have the same eyes as I do."

The words 'tasted like a Dragomir' came back to me.

Oh.

Jill.  

"Could we talk somewhere more private?" Emily asked.

"Let's all go to my dorm room," Lissa said.

"Just the three of us - you, Jill, and I," Emily corrected.

Lissa said, "I don't keep secrets from Rose or Christian."

"Alright. They can come, too," Emily said, "but what about Guardian Belikov?"

I looked at Dimitri. "Comrade, I'll see you in a little while?"

"Sure," he said with a smile, "I don't have any more shifts before leaving campus, so I'll go finish packing. Come by my quarters when you are done."

-=o0/&\0o=-

The walk to Lissa's dorm room was completely silent. The nervous energy among all five of us was almost palpable. When we arrived, Lissa entered and sat down on the bed, pulling Christian to sit beside her and leaving room on the other side of her for me to sit. She nodded for me to sit down beside her as Emily sat in the chair. Jill grabbed the bean bag and pulled it up.

"So, it sounds like you might have already figured this out, but I have some things to tell you about Jill," Emily said, "things that even Jill doesn't know."

"I think I might have. I take it you know about what happened yesterday to Jill and I?" Lissa asked.

"It'd be hard not to know about it, considering Jill was in the infirmary when I arrived. Doctor Olendzki thinks she has some Post-Traumatic Stress from it. She had nightmares about being a Strigoi and killing people all night last night."

"Did Jill tell you Adrian Ivashkov was healed? Or what he said about Jill afterwards?" Lissa asked.

"Healed, yes. It seems a little impossible to believe, but I trust Jill's judgment and she is safe. She didn't mention Adrian saying anything about her, though."

"Emily, Before he was healed, Adrian drank Jill's blood. And mine. He told me that Jill ... that Jill tasted like I do. That he thought she was related to me."

Emily looked down at the floor. "This wasn't how I wanted this to go," she said, "but I'm glad you know that much. That's actually what I started to look into when I talked to you on the phone. For what I'm about to tell you, I ask that you let me say this all the way through so that I don't lose my nerve. I wrote it down so that I would make sure I didn't leave anything important out." Emily pulled out a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and began reading out loud. "Jill knows that John - my husband - is not her birth father. Lissa, when you were very young, your parents were separated for eight months. He still loved your mother, but they were fighting over some things that they just couldn't seem to work through. They kept it very hush-hush and Eric left Court so that your mother could stay with you and Andre in the house. I met him while they were separated. I really thought I was in love with him. Inevitably, I encouraged him to go back to your mother and I'm glad that he did. Eric never stopped loving your family or you. I found out I was pregnant with Jill two weeks after he left to go back home. Jill is your half-sister. Your parents worked together to set aside a trust for Jill that she can access when she turns eighteen, but everyone involved agreed to be sworn to secrecy and that no one would know who she was."

Emily took a deep breath and set the paper down, looking Lissa in the eye. "I made some phone calls after our discussion about the quorum rule. I don't want Jill to be the kind of typical royal who is so cliquish and spoiled, but you are anything but that. You've shown Jill and your friends so much care and warmth and you've been such an amazing voice for those outside of the ruling class. I don't want Jill to be a part of the politics of Court, but I want her to be a part of your life, Lissa. She is your family - the only blood family you have - and you care for each other. And after the attack yesterday, I'd like Jill to be protected when she's not at school. Queen Tatiana talked on the phone with me last week. We sent her a sample of Jill's hair so that she has D.N.A. evidence to confirm it. The queen has agreed to allocate a guardian to Jill when she's not in school, to keep her anonymity until such time that Jill would choose to become involved in politics, and to give you a provisional seat on the council without revealing who the lost Dragomir is."

The whole room remained quiet after that, each of us sitting in our same spots, digesting Emily's words. The bond was still mostly numb, but I really wished I could feel what Lissa was feeling. If it weren't for the thick carpeting that adorned the floor in Lissa's dorm room, you could've heard a pin drop.

Jill exclaimed, her voice barely more than a hiss, filled with both excitement and remorse, "We really are sisters! My whole life, I never knew!"

Lissa was still silent and looking down playing with the edge of her sleeve as we all sat for a few moments longer. Emily broke the silence, saying, "Our family always drives Jill back to Michigan for the summer at the end of the school year, so Jill always has a separate bag packed for the journey, but this year, we'll be boarding the plane to Court instead, so that Jill will be able to have a guardian assigned to her. Due to the sensitive nature of her identity, I've asked if we can keep her from all of the fanfare that usually goes with selecting a new guardian and pick someone she knows who just got their promise mark yesterday. If it's okay with you, though, I thought it might be nice if Jill could stay close to you through her time at Court."

Lissa took a deep breath and looked up, saying, "How? Why? All these years! No one told me, and then they were just ... gone!" I got just a small taste of a feeling of rage coming through the bond, enough to let me know that with the bond half-numb, it was just the tip of the iceberg of seething rage Lissa must be feeling right now. Despite not knowing, I blindly tried to take the darkness from her without being able to feel it and felt anger coursing into me.

"No one meant to hurt you, Lissa," Emily said, reaching out and placing a hand on Lissa's knee, "Your parents loved you very much. We were all just trying to do what was best for you, Andre, and Jill."

"Best for me?" asked Lissa, frowning, "It doesn't feel like it was best. I had this whole other part of my family - of my life - that I didn't know existed. I thought I was alone!"

"Lissa," said Emily, "I'm sorry we kept this from you. But I can't take it back. I might be wrong because I didn't know you then, but I feel like you weren't ready to know this before. The past few years since your parents' death have been tough for you. I'm sure you've grown a lot since then. I know this will take some time, but please don't hold it against Jill."

Lissa inhaled again, visibly trying to calm herself down. "I don't," she said, "and I don't hold it against you, either, Emily. But this is gonna take some time. I need a little while. Could you all please leave me alone for a little while?"

Emily nodded. "Sure, Lissa. Take all the time you need."

Lissa walked us all to the door. Emily and Jill walked out, Christian gave her a kiss and left, and then it was just me and Lissa. I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. I had spent so much time with the Dragomirs that I had always felt a little like they were my parents, too, and no one had told me, either.

"Are you gonna be okay, Liss?" I asked her.

She shook her head, then said, "Yes. No. I don't know. I just need some time."

"I'm not gonna leave you alone if you're going to be cutting yourself again, Liss," I told her.

"I won't," she said, "I promise." I could feel the truth in her words through the bond.

"You're not alone. Now more than ever."

Lissa squeezed my hand back, then pulled me in and hugged me. "I know. I'll see you later, Rose," she murmured into my shoulder.

-=o0/&\0o=-

Author's Notes:

I was travelling for work on the day I originally wrote this, so delayed greetings to you all from Jill's home of Ann Arbor, Michigan!

I was dragging my feet on getting this chapter written just a bit because I was sort of having some mixed emotions about everything ending.  Then, my poor beta (THANK YOU AGAIN, CherryHathawayBelikova: you were there with me since chapter 16 - for over half of this story - OVER TEN MONTHS! and you've only missed two chapters in that time) had been so swamped with real life once I finally got this to her that she didn't have much of a chance to look at it. I didn't want to wait any more, so I published it as it is now.  Please know that if there are any mistakes, it's not her fault.

We're almost done! Only two more chapters remaining! What do you all think of Rose's meeting with Doctor Olendzki? I always thought with all of Rose's trips to the infirmary that she would've thought she played a more significant part in Rose's life than she did. What about the graduation ceremony or the meeting with Emily? I always sort of hoped and imagined that a lot of the nefarious circumstances that everyone assumed happened between Eric and Emily were all a lot less morally dubious than they sounded in the original story, so I hope you don't mind the slight detour it all took when Emily got the chance to explain it in her 'own' words. 

Who do you think Jill will choose as her guardian?

I know I said that Yuri would be in this chapter, but I decided to move him into the next chapter instead. This won't be the last we've seen of him yet.

Here's my question of the week:

If you had a long-lost sibling (separated at birth, for example), would you want to know?

For me, I have a younger brother who is adopted and I know that, even though he loves our family, it would mean the world to him to know his birth parents' families. If it was within my power to unite someone else with their family, I would definitely want that.