Why did Dimitri have to know me so well? I couldn't get away with anything anymore! I was about to turn and hide behind the corner of the building when he looked up and met my eyes. There was amusement, disappointment, excitement, and frustration in them.

I was going to try to bluff and lie but I immediately dismissed that thought when I saw the duffle bag at his feet. I was confused to say the least.

"Hi" I said a bit sheepishly.

"Hey" he said smirking just a little as he pushed himself off the wall, looking me over as he continued. "And where are you going this early in the morning? It's not like you to be up before your alarm goes off ten times before you get up late to go to training."

I glared at him even though the smirk on his face got bigger as he spoke, and it started to make me melt.

"I'm assuming you already know seeing as you're apparently ready for me and are not surprised to see me here."

"You've got me there though I think you will be surprised as to the why I'm here."

I attempted to raise one eyebrow again and failed, bet he got the hint.

"I'm here to take you on a field trip that will count as your field experience. I knew you would leave as soon as you could to find your mom; and seeing as I would never let that happen without coming with you I talked to Alberta"

"You what?" I was too shocked to form any other response.

"I went to her and told her I thought you'd bolt, so I suggested that instead of losing a promising female novice. That I go with you for one month that's all the time I could get you instead of you dropping out and going on your own."

"Seriously!" I shouted as I started to run forward to jump in his arms before I stopped myself knowing that someone could be watching.

He gave me one of his rare huge smiles.

"Okay then let's go." I was so excited.

"A few things before we leave, first you have to promise that you will obey everything I say, I know you're already better than most guardians, but you haven't been in the real world yet."

I thought this through and promised I would. Well at least I would try but he didn't have to know that.

"Secondly, there is someone waiting inside to talk to you, before we leave. While you talk I'll go let the guardian who is taking us into town know we are about ready. Lastly we go to my home town Biai first. There are three people we need to talk to to get us the help we need."

I was curious about this last condition but before I could ask about these 'people' he had walked away. So I decided to push my curiosity aside and go talk to whoever was in the office. I checked the bond quickly and realized it was Lissa. I had been so inside my head I didn't notice she was so close. So I took a deep breath and headed in.

I saw Lissa as I walked in and she was not happy.

"Well I'm glad Dimitri knew what was going on in your head because I have a feeling you would have left without a word otherwise." She said angrily.

"I was going to leave you a letter I just knew you would try to stop me if I told you, and I couldn't be put in a place that I would have to choose between you and my mom." I said honestly.

The anger left her eyes as I spoke and her face turned gentler. "I'm selfish enough to know you're probably right. I don't want you to go and I hate the idea of you not being with me all the time. But Dimitri and I talked and I'm more ok with the idea knowing that he's with you and that you will only be gone a month. I'm still not happy with you but I know I have to let you go."

"Thanks Liss it means so much that you're trying to understand. I'm going to be far away but I'll always be in here." I tapped her temple.

She smiled a little and said "I love you so much promise me you will stay safe and come home to me. I can't lose you!"

I saw tears spring in her eyes and I did everything not to join her. "I promise I will. I love you too!" I said as I saw a black suv pull up outside. I gave her a huge hug and said goodbye before I turned to leave her. As I turned to wave before I climbed in the car I saw her start to sob. I felt horrible but I knew I had to do this. So I shut the door and leaned back in the seat to start my journey to eliminate the stragoi that my mother had become.

I knew that there was a talk coming at some point from Dimitri but I knew I had at least another hour until we reached the nearest city and were left on our own. I figured that's when it was going to start. However I needed to let him know we needed to stop at the bank and I needed a word with Mason before we went on so I could find out where my mom was exactly. I didn't want to have that conversation with an audience so I was waiting on that too.

We finally got to town and got dropped off. Before Dimitri could say anything I said, "Hey I need to stop by the bank before we take the bus to the airport."

"Why?" He asked.

"Adrian is lending me some money for the trip, and before you say anything. I'm going to get it worked out because I agreed that he could dream walk at least once a week to check up on me while I was gone, and I'm pretty sure that he'll do it even if I don't take his money. I'm not about to endure that for nothing."

"Fine." Was all he said but I could see he wasn't happy about this at all. If I didn't know better I would think he was jealous. Though the more I thought about it the more I realized that that was exactly the problem. Weirdly it made me smile to myself because apparently I wasn't the only one who got jealous.

We got to the bank and easily got everything situated. Then we walked to the bus station where I went to the bathroom to get a little privacy to talk to Mason.

When I got back to Dimitri our bus was ready so we got on and sat down. I began to tell Dimitri what Mason had told me about my mom going home to Scotland, when he reached over and took my hand in his. I looked up in surprise and smiled at him. In the rush of everything I hadn't had a chance to stop and think about the fact that Dimitri and I would be alone away from prying eyes for a whole month! Which meant we could be a real couple while we are away!

I felt a huge grin spread across my face and started thinking of all the possibilities. As if knowing that my thoughts were turning dirty, Dimitri looked over and winked at me. I about died. So I proceeded to snuggle up to his side to get comfy for the reminder of our bus trip when he let go of my hand and put his arm around me. I fell asleep soon after.

When I woke we were at the airport, so we went in and got our tickets then proceeded to get through the extremely long security lines. When Dimitri waved at someone and proceeded to pull me out of line and to the side where we bypassed the security check all together. I was shocked.

Dimitri looked down at me and said "I have a few friends here so we didn't (change 'didn't' to 'don't' it sounds better) have to explain our stakes to the guards seeing as they would take them."

I nodded in understanding and we went to our terminal. It didn't take long until we boarded and started our trip. I knew now was the time to question Dimitri, and get my lecture.