"Comrade, he actually just said 'Montan-ee'! Really?" Rose asked, giggling and cuddling up to Dimitri on the couch as the video continued to roll, "And are there really five more hours of this story?"

Dimitri held Rose close, saying, "Roza, give it a chance. Lonesome Dove is a great story. Even if the video version is never as good as the book."

"Oh, but look at the cute little piggies following the wagon!" Rose said, motioning to the screen with her hand, "Oh, they're so adorable! I want one!"

"Why?" asked Dimitri, "You don't live on a farm! I know you like bacon and pepperoni, but there are much easier ways to get it."

Rose scoffed. "Not for bacon, Comrade! As a pet! Camille Conta has a pet pygmy potbelly pig. They're very intelligent and affectionate."

Dimitri looked at Rose amused and raised an eyebrow. "Amazing, Roza. Would you eat bacon in front of your pet pig?"

"Of course, I would. The pig wouldn't know what bacon's made of."

"Would you feed bacon to your pet pig? Once it acquires a taste for flesh, it might turn predatory."

Rose looked at Dimitri with her man-eating smile. "If last night is any indication, Comrade, maybe you've developed a taste for flesh?"

Dimitri leaned in, clutching Rose's hip with one hand and running his fingers through her hair with the other, cupping her head as he began nibbling at her neck. "Maybe I have," he told her against her neck, with a chuckle.

As Dimitri was kissing Rose with her back to the door, the apartment door opened and Ivan walked in, seeing only Rose's back, still wearing Dimitri's shirt. "Dimk - whoa, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I'll come back la -" Rose turned around to face Ivan. "Rose!" Ivan's stunned expression was priceless and he couldn't find any more words.

"Hi Ivan," said Rose, looking at him somewhere between a challenge and like the cat that ate the canary.

"Dimitri," Ivan said, acting as if Rose wasn't even in the room and getting more frantic with each word, "Please do not tell me this is what it looks like. Please don't tell me that the reason you didn't come home last night is because you spent the night with Rose."

"Okay, Ivan, I won't tell you that," Dimitri said.

"Alright," said Ivan, calming down slightly, "So tell me what you were doing last night, then."

Dimitri arched an eyebrow and gave Ivan a lopsided grin. "You just told me not to tell you, Ivan."

Ivan pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, inhaling for calm. "Oh, Dimka, this is not good. You're going to lose your job. Once this gets out, you won't be able to teach in this state again."

"So it won't get out, then," Rose said.

Ivan looked up at Rose from under his hand. "You're going to stop seeing each other, then?"

"No, Ivan," said Dimitri, taking Rose's hand in his own, "because I love her."

"And how do you plan to keep this a secret for the rest of the school year? To keep from the other students from finding out? Or to keep the school staff from finding out? Or to keep her fucking parents from finding out, for that matter?"

"We'll have to be careful," Dimitri said, giving Rose a hopeful look, "but I think we can do it."

"And what happens when this goes badly? What if you break up and Rose decides to ruin you, Dimka?" Ivan asked, "One wrong word from her to the wrong person and no amount of hiding and sneaking around now is going to keep people from digging deep enough to discover the truth."

"I would never do that!" Rose exclaimed.

"Are you willing to sign something legally-binding to that fact, Rose?" Ivan asked.

"What do you mean? If there's a legal document, isn't that already legally-binding proof that we are involved?" Asked Rose.

"There's a loophole in Title Nine," Ivan said, "After that first night, I had a feeling this thing with you two wasn't going to die, so I did some research. If you both testify to the fact that you, Rose, were over eighteen and that you were romantically involved with each other before Dimitri started working at St. Vladimir's, on a back-dated document prior to the first day of classes, then as long as Dimitri isn't directly responsible for your grades, you'll be fine."

"Absolutely," Rose said, "I'd definitely sign that."

"I'll draw up a document right now. And I'll throw in a non-disclosure agreement for good measure," Ivan said, adding, "By the way, Dimka, you owe me for six hours of my legal services for this. You get the best-friend discount, so I'm only charging you a five hundred dollars."

"Ivan, brat, that's harsh!"

"A man's gotta eat, Dimka."

"I pay for all of our food! And half the rent!"

-=o0/&\0o=-

Author's Notes:

For those of you who are interested in following/liking, I created my author Facebook page around the time this chapter was originally written. 

You can find me at
facebook dot com slash (that's the one that goes up from left to right) HonestPassion13
(without the spaces). 

I'm planning to use the page to communicate updates, delays, maybe a few sneak peaks, and possibly some links that I can't put on the actual story. Right now, I still have a few more chapters to publish here to catch up with what I've put elsewhere, but once I have, you'll see live previews for new chapters on the page.