I'll admit, this isn't my best work. Though the only real reason why I had so much struggle with this story was because I had to personify Rose a bit differently. She has grown at an alarming rate due to changes in her life. So I had to make her somewhat more sophisticated, yet still her old funny self. I've worked a bit on their photo descriptions. Cause I didn't want to go in and have to describe every little detail to them. -_-* It's a waste of time. So instead, I converted their names into "hyperlinks." So I hope that's easier for you all. Anyway, the story is based 4 years later. And yes, Dimitri did leave in regards to guarding Tasha . Originality, anyone? No. I'm going to try to change this up as much as I can from being anywhere remotely similar to all the other "Dimitri leaves Rose" stories. XD Umm let's see, Rose did graduate. She did become Lissa's guardian. Though her status is very lenient. She has other things to worry over. So without further due. I hope you enjoy and please, review! :D I need to know how the heck I'm doing. Because I'm not really confident with this story.

~Rose's POV~

"They should be here soon" Lissa clapped happily.

I smiled, shaking my head in confusion, "Who's coming?"

"Christian's aunt Tasha wanted to come over for the traditional Christmas ball"

I gripped the arm rest on the Victorian chair I was sitting in.

"What?"

"Yeah, I mean. It's been a while sense we've last seen them so-"

"Them?" I was beginning to panic. This heavy feeling began to transform in the pit of my stomach and I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what Lissa was going to say.

"Guardian Belikov is accompanying Tasha while she stays here." Lissa smiled

"Ooh." I nodded, crossing my legs and looking down at the floor

"What's wrong Rose?" Lissa asked, laying a hand on my shoulder.

Clearly, my muteness was worrying her. I didn't do quietness.

"Um, nothing," I stood up, "I…have to go pick up Yulian and Damyan from the academy…uh," I glared at the floor, shaking my head in attempt to get Dimitri out of my head, "I'll see you later, kay"

I didn't want to hear anything else Lissa may have had to say. It's easy enough to say that I bolted the hell out of there.

"Rose!"

I grabbed my car keys from my pocket and unlocked the new white Infinity I had purchased a week ago.

Well…that got my mind off of Dimitri…..fucking fantastic.

I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity.

"Whatever" I breathed out, pulling in through the large stone gates in front of the Academy.

I lowered my window as I came to a stop in front of the iron-clad entrance gates for "verification before entry."

"You are?"

I clicked my tongue in annoyance, having an urge to knock his ego down a peg or two, but held it instead.

I grabbed my Instructor's ID and flashed it at him, not giving him a second glance for his safety and my sanity.

"Alright," he nodded to the other guardian stationed as a gate keeper, "let 'er in."

I rolled my window up and revved the engine. I was not amused in the slightest.

Finding a parking space back then was a bitch-though I didn't have a car when I was attending in this academy. But you get my drift. Anyways, being a guardian had its perks. No struggling in finding a parking space, I don't have to deal with Stan-as my teacher anyway. Okay, so maybe there weren't many perks.

I stepped out of my car and locked it up, making my way in through the—yet again—large gothic iron doors. Surprisingly enough, they weren't heavy.

Everything was quiet enough, which is a norm for the quad during class hours. Nothing had changed much sense I took my one year leave. The only differences here and there were more planted trees, a couple of daffodils, and a newly restored water fountain that had been destroyed in the middle of the infiltration the strigoi had caused.

I walked towards the eastern wing where the children with the ages of 4-10 were now being taught. It was my idea to bring all the students together this way. It was way less ground to cover and every guardian would be united—which means more strength in numbers and of course strength itself—besides, students from 4-10 have different attendance hours from those that are older.

I opened the door to the classroom Yulian and Damyan were assigned to and stepped inside. As of this age, the children were taught the basics of being moroi and damphirs. So their requirements were just to know of what they are, who they were expected to be, and who their elders were.

Surprisingly enough, it was utter chaos in the classroom and Mrs. Emir was having a hard time controlling the kids.

"Oh! Guardian Hathaway! Thank god you're here!" She said, sighing tiredly.

"Uh…..need help?" I smiled questioningly

"Yes, please!" She said desperately

I gave a small laugh and walked towards the troublesome kids, "Who wants ice-cream?"

I crossed my arms as I watched each and every kid stop in mid-step and turned to look towards me.

"Mama!" I heard two distinct voices yell right before I felt the weight of two pairs of arms go around both my legs.

"Well, hello to you too boys" I smiled down at them with so much gentleness that the person I use to be back then would have scoffed at the idea of being around kids.

"Now…..why is everyone giving Mrs. Emir a hard time?" I looked around at everyone

"We just wanted to have fun, Miss. Rose" A little girl with the most adorable eyes spoke up.

I chuckled, "There are other ways to have fun Juliana"

"Really?" They all asked.

I nodded

"Like…..ice cream!" A blonde haired boy with freckles on his face shouted

I motioned with my hands up in the air, shrugging my shoulders in agreement.

"I think you've gotten yourself into a bind Guardian Hathaway." Mrs. Emir said

I looked at her confusedly, "What do you mean?"

"The mention of ah," she placed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "ice-cream"

"Ice-cream!" Yulian and Damyan yelled

"Oh no…boys, mommy doesn't have ti-" I began to crouch down towards them, when the entire class shouted in protest

"We want ice-cream!"

I sighed in defeat.

They erupted in joy, jumping up and down excitedly

"Alright, alright," I stood up and quieted them all down, "let me just…sign you all out and we'll see how this goes. Okay?"

They all nodded eagerly, literally trying to push me out the door.

"Go mommy! Go sign!" Damyan shouted

I shook my head and walked towards the main building.

Why did all the doors have to be huge here?

I gripped the steel handle and pushed it open, making my way inside, rubbing my shoulder as I reached one of the secretary desks there.

"Hey Hathaway, how goes it?" The cheeky young woman typing away looked up from the screen of her computer and smiled at me.

I shook my head exasperatedly and grabbed the sign out sheet, motioning for a pen

"Oh!" she turned in her chair and reached to grab a pen from a box and handed it to me, "here for the boys?"

"Them….and their classmates" I said, grinning at her

"Are you allowed to do that?" she asked, laughing away

I dropped the pen on the clip board and began walking out, "I guess we're going to have to find out."

I made a grab for my cell-phone inside my pocket and dialed a number I had long sense have known by heart.

"Petrov."

"Petrov, this is Hathaway-"

"What can I do for you, Rose?" I smiled

"I have..," I stopped for a moment and set my free hand against my waist, "a favor to ask."

"Nothing to the extreme and get to the point. Shoot."

"Right…the children from class B4 have asked for a special outing."

"A special outing…..such as?"

"An…Ice-cream outing."

"I see; unfortunately, that's not an appropriate request, Rose. You and I both know what the up most importance of protecting these children is, including your own."

"I understand, Alberta. It's just….these kids to get their freedom infrequently. They deserve to be out of these suffocating walls."

And if I knew Alberta-which I do-I know she's smirking at my remark.

"Well, what do you suggest we do likewise to the children's protection outside of these walls, Miss. Hathaway" Snarky.

"Permission for two additional guardians—at the most, Guardian Petrov" I really hated talking like some private in the Army.

"Two additional guardians," she sighed, "Rose, where do you suppose you will get these extra's from?"

I clenched my jaw and rubbed my forehead, making my way back to the kids' classroom.

"Come on, Alberta. These kids deserve a break from their classes."

I heard her sigh again, "Permission granted-"

"Yes!"

"But I, along with the next available guardian are to follow close behind you, Guardian Hathaway. Don't disappoint."

"Do I ever?" I smirked

"Goodbye, Rose" she laughed

"Bye~"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"I want Strawbuurry~!" Little Alec said

"Alec, It's strawberry and yes, you're going to get it" I motioned to the cone being past to him.

"Everyone, sit down. I need to make sure we're all here!" I said over the loud voices that now quieted down, licking away at their ice-cream

"Alright" I said, looking down at the chart and reading their names quietly and looking over at the kids every once in a while.

"You're doing a good job, Hathaway. I never thought you'd ever have maternal instincts in you to control all of these little devils." I heard Eddie chuckle next to me.

"Very funny, Castile. I have my boys to thank for that." I smirked, and pushed the clip board hard into his chest and grinned harder when he groaned.

"Did you have to do that?"

"Of course" I turned and walked towards Yulian and Damyan, watching them eat away at their rocky road and vanilla ice-creams.

I smiled, these were the moments I cherished the most, the ones where I can act like we're actually a normal family with no worries of ranks and strigoi.

I noticed that Yulian's ice-cream began to drip and I stepped forward, grabbing his napkin and cleaning the mess on his hand, "My love, you need to make sure you don't get dirty"

"Okay, mama" he nodded and continued to lick happily away at the ice-cream cone.

"Miss. Rose, I'm done~" I turned and looked at the strawberry wine haired girl.

"Here, give me your napkin and follow Guardian Petrov to the bathroom, Sarah"

"When you're all done, please don't get up on your own. Tell me that you're finished so I don't have to worry about one of you missing."

"Yes, Miss. Rose"

I smiled and reached down towards Alexander and grabbed the cone that he put on the table to talk to the boy next to him, "Alex, your cone's going to fall if you don't pay attention."

"Oh!" he opened his mouth wide and grabbed his cone quickly

I shook my head and took a step back, watching each and every one of the children's faces.

The things these kids would do to take care of trivial things such as an ice-cream cone.

"Not easy, is it?" I turned and faced Alberta, giving her a tired shake of my head

"I feel like I'm about to rip my hair out."

"But you look calm" she pointed out

"Doesn't mean I'm not in turmoil on the inside" I crossed my arms and leant against a tree that was next to the children's table.

She laughed, "I think it's time to get the kids back to the academy"

I nodded and looked at all the small trouble makers, "Boys and girls, it's time to go back home"

A chorus of groans was heard all around as the children began to form a line.

I groaned jokingly along with them, "I know, I know. But you've had your fun and your fill of ice-cream. Now it's time to go home and close your little eyes to sleep."

"But were not tired, Miss. Rose~" They whined

"Come on~ all of you" I motioned to the van that was now parked on the curb close to our table.

"Aww"

One by one, all of the little munchkins filled up the van and of course, not to my surprise, all of them fell asleep on the way back.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"How are we supposed to carry all ten of them inside?" Eddie asked from the driver's seat.

I shrugged, feeling tired from all of the kindness that I showed around the kids. I normally wasn't like this all the time—I had to show some insensitive of maturity somewhere.

Once all eight of the children were in their rooms, I came for my two boys who stayed with Alberta in the van.

"Thanks, Alberta. I really appreciate it." I nodded towards her, grabbing one twin and opening the door to my car and settling him inside his car seat, then grabbing the other.

"Don't worry about it. You were right, they deserved some fun." She smiled, watching me while I closed the door to the car and running around to the driver's side.

"See you tomorrow"

"Likewise" she waved

Ring! Ring! Ring!

I groaned, 'What the hell?'

I opened an eye lid and looked at the clock.

3:29am

My eyes narrowed at the ringing cell-phone on my bedside table and grabbed it, seeing it was Lissa who was calling.

I glared even more.

"This better be an emergency!" I whispered harshly

"Umm…no, I just wanted to know…why the hell didn't you call me!? I've been worried sick over you!" she yelled

I shook my head and tried to open my eyes more, "Why would you stay up so damn late just for that?"

"Becauuuuuse…..you left my house as if the devil was behind you and didn't even bother to call me! I haven't even let Christian sleep because of it"

"Thank you very freaking much Rose! I'm losing my important siesta because of you!" I heard Christian shout

I smirked, "And just like that, my anger has dissipated."

"Oh Rose, just call me next time, please!"

"I will and I'm sorry for worrying you. Now go to sleep. My kids aren't even awake yet." I grinned.

"Bye, Rose"

"Bye"

I threw the phone back on the dresser and laid my head heavily back on the pillow, going back into my blissful sleep.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Guardian Hathaway, are you going to be attending the Christmas Ball?" I turned around and seen an intern guardian standing behind her.

"Yes….I'm required to go; but you already knew that." I replied

"Right, I forgot." He smiled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

I turned my attention toward the fountain and slowly looked back at him, "Was there something you needed, Guardian Shulz?"

"Uhh… I wanted to ask you if you….were going alone…maybe I could accompany you?"

I crossed my arms and smiled, "Actually, I don't think that's a good idea. My kids…..aren't used to being around strangers and they're my top priority…I'm sorry" I shrugged apologetically and walked away, shaking my head at the sap of a man.

"I see you're still breaking hearts, little damphier" I stopped and looked at the person in front of me.

Had he been there the entire time?

'Great look out, Rose' I groaned internally.

"Adrian…I thought you were in Kosovo?" I grinned.

"I decided to come back early…..couldn't miss the annual Christmas Ball," He smirked, reaching to give me a hug, "plus, Aunt Tatiana would hound my ass if I missed it."

I laughed, hugging him back, "I missed you!"

He sighed dreamily, "Now I can die a happy man."

I stepped back and punched his arm, "Don't say that you ass."

"That hurt!" He joked, rubbing his arm

I shrugged, "Not my fault you can't take it."

"Oh, I can take it. I can assure you that." He breathed into my ear

The sly prick!

"Riiiight, anyway ….We'll have to continue this little rendezvous later. I've got to get ready for tonight."

He bit his lip and moaned, "I can't wait to see what you have in store for me."

"You wish." I scoffed and walked away.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Clean, pristine, and ready to go.

I winked at the mirror, praising myself for a job well done on my looks.

I decided to wear a little number that I had bought a couple of months back. A red halter neckline, high-low chiffon dress that was just begging me to try it on, it was like love at first sight.

"You look wonderful, darling." my special hair stylist squealed, clapping her hands quickly in approval.

"Thank you, Roxanna. You did an amazing job on my hair" I turned and reached around to give the older woman a hug.

"Eh~ It was nothing." She scoffed, all the while smiling.

Knock! Knock!

"Come on, Rose. Lissa's waiting for you downstairs." Eddie's voice sounded through the door.

"I'm going Eddie." I called and grabbed my handbag from the vanity, giving a kiss to Roxanna's cheek as I made my way to open the door.

He looked…..surprised.

"Eddie….you alright?"

He shook his head, "Uhh….yeah….nice—" he cleared his throat, "you look amazing."

I grinned, "Why thank you, now let's go."

He nodded and offered his arm, which I took.

Once we reached the top of the stairs, Eddie….though late, decided to give me an input on something.

"Oh! Before I forget," he smiled fondly at me, "you won't believe who's here."

I smiled back, "Who?"

"Your old mentor, Guardian Belikov"

I felt my body go stiff as we continued down the corridor.

"Is something wrong, Rose?" he asked

I shook my head slowly, "Nope…...not a damned thing."

"You don't seem happy by the news."

Thing is…..no one knew of my relationship with Dimitri—except Adrian—big shocker. Wanna hear another one? He's also the only one who knows about who Yulian's and Damyan's father is. (I'm pretty sure you're starting to get the drift here—either that or you probably got it waaaaay before. :P)

"I'm…," I turned to him stiffly, mustering up the best smile I could damn well put on my face at the news, "I am happy."

He rolled his eyes, "Right. Anything happen between you and Belikov before he left or something?"

Anything?

Hell yeah.

Anything I'm going to tell you?

Hell no.

"Mmm…it was nothing really. Just…," I laid my hand over the rail of the grand staircase and let it slide as we walked down, not noticing the attention we were causing, "me being me—back then…" I smiled sheepishly

"Ahh….I get it now. The tempered Rose" He smirked

I glared at him, "Shut it."

He laughed and patted my hand resting against his arm.

"Is Mia here yet?" I asked, looking around for the short blonde haired girl.

"She should be around here somewhere~" he too looked around.

"Knowing her, she's probably wreaking havoc." I snorted jokingly

"No, I think you're mistaking yourself for me, Rose" I heard behind me.

I grinned, "Nope, still talking about you." I pointed at her before giving her a hug.

"How's motherhood treating you?" she asked

"Believe it or not, my life is a hundred percent better than it was back when we were students" I smiled, thinking about my two sons.

"Speaking of my sons…..," I looked down and around me, "where are they?"

"Don't worry, they're being taken care of by my other guardian's Rose" Lissa's voice came from beside us.

I turned to look at her and of course, she looks as beautiful as ever.

Lissa's eyes went wide, "Oh my god Rose! See! I told you it would look perfect on you!"

I nodded, rolling my eyes at her over-exempt emotions.

"Yeah, yeah, Dragomir. Bring it back a notch."

She pouted, "I like you better when you act like a mother."

I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Real mature, Rosie Posy"

I glared at the man behind her, "Call me that again, fire crotch and we'll see who's got the best hook."

Eddie coughed, knowing full well how that felt. "That would be you"

I set my hands on my hips, smirking at him, "Damn straight."

"Whatever" I heard Christian mumble.

"See~ they're right there." How I heard that voice from a ways back, I don't know. But I wish I hadn't.

My insides began to crawl and twist.

0-0-0-0-0-0

And there ya have it! XD I hate cliff hangers. But the next chapter and the ones after will get WAY more interesting because someone is making a surprise entrance in the next one. And more drama to come after! Well, you know what do to~ ;)