Work Text:
Dimitri leaves with Tasha at the end of Frostbite instead of staying with Rose. Makes stipulation that after seven years, kids or no kids, he goes back to Rose no matter what. Three years in pregnant Tosha dies during Strigoi attack. Lissa is queen. Dimitri forms group to fight Strigoi with Lissa's permission. No one tells Rose. Rose graduates college, becomes Lissa's head Guardian has life experiences etc. Five more years total of nine years since she last saw Dimitri. Lisa and Rose are in Romania run into Dimitri's rogue/authorized Strigoi fighting group. Dmitri is obviously changed due to experiences with strictly fighting loss of Tasha and baby. obvious Scars but still desperately in love with Rose. Rose has had small fling with Adrian on and off with unnamed dmaphir that is currently in off position and looks to remain so when Dimitri explains what happened all those years ago…
Lissa manages to keep all of Dimitri's activities from Rose through the bond.
Abe Muzar gets involved of course.
Janine Hathaway and Rose have a decent relationship.
***
Adrian answered the phone, "hello?."
"is it true? you're dating Rose?"
"hello to you too cousin and yes we might be seeing each other. why do you want to know?"
" I swear to god Ivashkov if you hurt her, if you so much as even look at another girl while you are dating her..."
Adrian stopped him. "you're still in love with her. She's..."
The phone went dead.
---------------------------------
Scene where Rose finds out that Lisa has known all along where Dimitri has been and loses her shit. Dimitri thinks that she's handling it quite well, doesn't understand that she hasn't completely lost her shit yet but she will. Probably while training. With Dimitri.
***
At the lodge
After Rose left to find Mason, Dimitri went to find Tasha. He knocked on her door, waiting until he was fully inside before beginning. “If we do this, you know I’ll still be in love with her. That won’t change.”
“I’m not stupid, Dimka. I’ve seen the way you look at her. I’m surprised you’re still considering my offer, honestly,” Tasha said sitting on her bed. Dimitri paced in front of her. She watched him, trying to find the words he wanted, knowing that he would never truly be hers, but maybe, for a little while, she could share him. “What if we set a time limit?”
“What?”
“A time limit, if after so many years, we don’t have any children, you’re free to go.”
“And if we do?”
“Then we figure it out from there. I want you to be happy too, Dimitri. And I know I’ll never be the one to completely own your heart. But if I can at least help you with part of your desires, and keep a small part of you for myself, then, I’ll be happy.” She stood, wrapping her arms around his waist, pulling him close.
“You both want me to be happy,” he muttered into her hair. “I love her, but I want her to have time to grow up, to become the woman I can already see she’s going to be. And you, you’re offering me the one thing I’ll never have any other way. “
* * * * *
At St. Vladimir’s
He was waiting in the gym when Rose came in. “Sit.”
“What, no laps?” she quipped as she dropped herself and her bag on the floor beside him.
“Not today. You still need time to heal. You’re amazing fighter. And you’ll keep fighting, keep learning, keep becoming the woman I’m in love with.”
Rose looked at him, like he was explosives and if she said the wrong thing he would blow. “You’re leaving aren’t you?”
“I think it’s best.”
“Best for who?” she asked, trying desperately not to cry.
“Best for both of us.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Soon, Roza, soon.” He leaned over, cradling her face with both hands, and laid the lightest of kisses on her mouth.
* * * * *
There was a dinner later that night, Lissa made excuses for Rose. Everyone seemed to understand, how was she suppose to say goodbye to her first love in front of the woman taking him away from her? Tasha and Dimitri would be leaving at sun up for the airport. Minneapolis awaited, and a job that she had to get back to. They had already put off going because of Spokane. Everything that was keeping him in Montana was taken care of, including keeping Rose’s training going.
The dinner was small, just Dimitri, Tasha, Christian and Lissa. Alberta came by to say goodbye, as did Janine Hathaway. She spoke with Dimitri for a few moments in the hallway, wished Tasha a safe trip, and then was gone. Tasha and Dimitri left shortly afterwards, promising to let Christian know when they arrived.
* * * * *
A year passed. Rose graduated. She still missed him, still waited for the day when he came back, or at least contacted her to let her know he was okay. That he was happy.
Titania stepped down as queen, Lissa was elected after some backhanded moves that Abe threw in to bring about the fact that Lissa wasn’t in fact the last Dragomir to light.
Two years passed. Still no contact.
* * * * * *
“Come on, Dimka, one night off,” Tasha teased, rubbing the small bump where she was just beginning to show. “Let the boys go home early just this once. I’ve got something special planned.”
Dimitri eyed his charge/girlfriend, “Isn’t that what you said last week?”
“Guilty,” she laughed, “but that was in Rome, this is Paris. Plus, I haven’t had any morning sickness this week.”
“BOYS, GO HOME NOW.” Dimitri bellowed as he chased Tasha into the master bedroom of their hotel suite. He heard the laughter and chatter from the rest of the guardians as they headed towards the door to exit and set up outside guards. A sudden crash of broken wood and glass changed the mood immediately. “Strigoi!” came the cry from the hallway. The living room and hallway filled with the sounds of breaking glass and fighting.
Tasha grabbed two stakes from the bedside, throwing one to Dimitri. Just then, the windows burst open with three of the monsters streaming in from outside. Dimitri ran to the window, staking one before he was completely inside. The female jumped onto Dimitri’s back, but he crashed into the broken glass of the window, causing her to lose her grip. He quickly turned and staked her. The remaining male Strigoi rushed Tasha, grabbing her by the throat and dragging her into the living area.
Dimitri ran after the pair, surveying the scene in the room as he arrived. Three guardians down, two injured, five Strigoi still alive and Tasha and the baby being held on the opposite of the room.
“Let her go. Let her go, and you can all leave alive.”
The Strigoi holding Tasha laughed. “We leave alive anyway. And with food.”
“You don’t know who I am,” Dimitri said, slowly walking around the couch to put himself in a better position.
“Stop moving or I’ll kill her now. Who you are is irrelevant.”
He looked into Tasha’s eyes, hoping she would understand his next move. They had practiced this before, but not since she became pregnant. She blinked slowly, and he saw the fireball starting to form in her hand. He threw his stake at the Strigoi holding her, she threw the fireball at the four other Strigoi.
His stake hit dead center, but the warmth of the fireball had given the Strigoi a warning and he viciously tore Tasha’s throat out with his hand.
“Tasha, Tasha, derzhis', ya poluchu pomoshch', vse budet khorosho, prosto derzhis' v poryadke?” Dimitri begged as he threw himself across the room to try and stop the bleeding. (Tasha, Tasha, hold on, I’ll get help, it’ll be okay, just hold on,)
“Zashchiti yeye Dimka, ona tak mnogo videla, byla tak mnogo. Ona nuzhna tebe. Ty vse yeshche lyubish' yeye.” (Protect her Dimka, she's seen so much, been through so much. She needs you. You still love her.) Tasha used all her strength to tell him what she knew he needed to hear. She hoped it would be enough.
Dimitri watched helpless as the light left Tasha’s eyes. He knew there was too much damage to save her or the baby, she had lost so much blood. He stayed there holding her until the Alchemists came, until someone pulled him away from her.
* * * * * *
He was already waiting in the small room where Taianna held her tea parties, though now it looked more like a study. A large desk over in one corner, book shelves lining the walls, a leather love seat and a wingback chair in the middle of the room. Lissa entered and asked the guard to leave them. Dimitri still stood by the bookshelf.
“Please, Dimitri, sit. I”m so sorry. What can I do for you?”
He sat in the chair looking over the girl who had become queen in his absence. She was more mature now, better in control of her powers. He wondered how much of that was because of Rose. He shook his head, she was not the reason he was here. “The hotel was warded. Two guards patrolling outside. Two in the lobby. Five, plus myself in the suite. There’s no way we should have been attacked.” He paused. “You gave me more than enough guardians when we found out Tasha was pregnant. More than enough to protect one Moroi. Why did this happen Lissa? Let me find out.”
Lissa looked at him, eyes slightly closed, like she was trying to read his aura. He had no idea what she what see. “Okay. What do you need?”
“For now, just me. Some funds. I’ll let you know if there’s anything else.” He stood to leave.
“Dimitri--”
“Don’t Lissa. I know what you’re going to say and I can’t right now. Losing Tasha and the baby is too fresh. And there’s no telling if I’m coming back from this. So I can’t, not if it would only hurt her in the end.”
There was a silence, an unspoken agreement between them that Rose would not know about this mission of his. As he reached the door Lissa said “Keep me informed.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
* * * * * *
Lissa gave him a court credit card, several hundred dollars in cash, and a cell phone before he headed back to Paris. “I've only put three numbers in here. Mine -- a secure line no one else has access to before you ask. Your mother’s, and one for you to call if you find if you need any help that I can’t provide. Don’t ask how I know him, just trust that he’ll help us anyway we need no questions asked. And he expects nothing in return.” At that Dimitri gave her a questioning look before sliding on the phone to see the numbers programmed inside. The last number didn’t have a name, but was entered under the letter Z, so he could take a good guess.
“Very little of Mr. Mazur’s connections surprise me anymore, Your Majesty.”
Except maybe this newest one , she thought as he walked out of the room.
* * * * * *
He returned to Paris simply because he wasn’t sure where to begin. He started by haunting some of the Moroi clubs, and see if he happened to find any Strigoi. It worked, and he killed several that way. But killing them one at a time was never what he had in mind. So he waited and plotted. Followed up with some leads, and then, with the help of a used up feeder human, set a trap. He found a nest.
He waited until midday, then torched the place.
Moved across town, did it again.
And again.
He made it to the fourth nest before the Strigoi thought to put humans on guard.
* * * * * *
“Half the Royal Guard was lost, six new molnija marks for Rose, and nightmares that wake the entire block. Dimitri, please. She won’t talk to anyone. She swears she’s okay.”
“We talked about this Lissa.”
“No, you growled at me before I could even say her name last time.”
“Sleep with her,” Christian offered from across the room.
“Christian!”
“Not like that.” Though Vlad knows a she could use a good fuck . “Hold her,” he said to Dimitri. “Like I do for you, Lissa, when the stress gets to you and your nightmares come back. Just be a calming presence for Rosie. You always were before. Subconsciously, I bet you still are.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea.” Lissa looked impressed. “Are you trying to do something nice for Rose?” Even Dimitri raised an eyebrow at the idea.
“No! I’m trying to get her out of my hair. With her being on leave until further notice, she keeps coming to my classes and picking fights. She almost lost it when one of the Contas said something about the attack. Would have if Eddie hadn’t dragged her into the showers and turned the water on.
“So add even less self control than normal to her growing list of disturbing behaviors,” Lissa said. “Please, just try it. A couple of nights. I’ll even come up with a reason for her to stay here, so you don’t have to worry about someone catching you. I’ll get one of the rooms sound proofed. She knows she’s been waking people up.”
Dimitri stared at the couple. He apparently lost all reason when it came to Rose. “Okay.”
* * * * * *
Rose was curled up in the bed, completely opposite from any way he had ever seen her sleep before. She was curled into a fetal position, hugging a pillow. The blankets were a mess all over the bed; some tucked under her legs, some pulled over her shoulders, one tossed off the bed onto the floor. PIllows surrounded her head and body. She had made her burrow in almost the center of the bed. Thankfully for Dimitri it was a king size bed with plenty of room for him to stretch out, after rearranging some pillows.
Lissa did in fact have the room sound proofed. She had also let him install a small bug so he would be able to tell when Rose was truly asleep before entering the room.
Yes it was creepy if he thought about it too much. That’s why he was trying not to as he lay on the bed beside her. Olena and Yeva both would thwap him with a dish towel for not talking to her.
But if he was honest with himself, and he tried to be, he was still grieving the baby. Three years and he wasn’t over the loss of what might have been. He knew he was also still trying to live up to Tasha’s last request. Protect her. And right now he felt that meant protecting her from his damage, as much as from the monsters.
She uncurled, moved towards his warmth. He gently ran his fingers through her long hair. And maybe tonight, he could protect her from the pain.
* * * * * *
A week of sneaking in and out of her room.
A week of the best sleep he’d had in three years.
A week of torture.
“Mmm, Comrade,” she moaned in her sleep, pulling him tighter.
“Roza,” he whispered back, pressing kisses into her hair. She was on the edge of wakefulness, and knew he was playing with fire. He claimed her lips for the first time since the cabin. He knew this was a bad idea, knew he needed to leave soon if he wanted to go without her knowledge -- and he couldn’t bring himself to care. “I love you,” he said softly before climbing out of the bed. He stood at the door, waiting for her to settle back to sleep, before slipping out of her life once more.
* * * * * *
Six years.
No contact.
She knew Tasha had died. She had heard rumors of Dimitri going on a rampage, killing all of the Strigoi he could find in Paris, but no official word. And as she was bonded to THE official word, she figured that if Lissa knew anything about what was happening with Dimitri, she would tell her.
Still there were times when Rose felt like if she turned her head two seconds faster, she would be able to see him there staring at her, the way he use to when they were training.
And then there was the dream. The one where she was sleeping, and he was holding her, and kissing her, and telling her he loved her. It made holding off the advances of one Adrian Ivashkov a lot easier. But the man was persistent. And her edges were beginning to wear off.
She couldn’t even talk to Eddie anymore. He had told her a couple of months ago he’d been place on a special assignment. He’d be out of pocket for at least six months, maybe longer. When she asked Lissa about it, she simply said he’d been requested.
Maybe it was time to stop waiting on Dimitri to come back.
* * * * * *
After Paris and court, Dimitri went home for a while. Baia seemed like a good place to start again, and truth be told he missed his family.
From there, he meet some unpromised boys in Baia, they took him to Novosibirsk. There were a lot more Strigoi there. One of the boys died. The boys followed his directions after that.
He kept track of Rose, how she was doing.
He started recruiting other guardians to his fight. There were too many Strigoi, and fewer Moroi and Dhampirs every day. It wasn’t hard to convince those he wanted. Most were already in line with his way of thinking, that they needed to be hunted, taken out before hand. Setting up teams in major cities wasn’t a hard task, kept his mind off of Rose and the idea of her dating.
* * * * * *
Adrian caught her as she was walking away from her court lodgings. “Hello little Dhamphir.”
“What it is Adrian?”
“If one Ivashkov turns you down, do you think you’d give another one a chance?” he asked out of the blue.
She stopped walking. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
“Well, since Dimitri disappeared on you, do you think I stand a chance?”
Rose stared at him blankly. “Forget for a moment that you have this insane idea that I’ll date you, I say again, what in the hell are you talking about?”
“Oh, the whole, my father’s brother is Dimitri’s daddy dearest thing? I understand the dhamphir tradition of children taking their mother’s name, but he’s really missing out by not sharing with me.”
“Dimitri’s smarter than that. And if the name is all you have in common, then he’s not missing much.”
“Rose, you wound me.”
“You’re a spirit user, you’ll heal,” she tossed over her shoulder as she continued on her way to meet Lissa.
********
Dimitri meets up with the unpromised boys in Baia. They follow him. Heads to Norbrisk. Finds Galina. Kills her, but gets a scar across his face. He hesitates.
That's when he starts recruiting other guardians. Setting them up to run teams in major cities. Recruits Eddie to run the team closest to the Court. Heads back to Europe.
Rose ran her fingers down the scar bisecting his left check. "Even Russian gods can hesitate when faced with seeing a person you never thought would turn, turned, " he said sadly.
******
Dimitri explaining why he thought he needed to leave.
"If I let myself love you, I wouldn't throw myself in front of the princess. I would want to throw myself in front of you. I wouldn't be able to choose between you and Lissa."
*****
After Rose finds out what Dimitri has been doing:
"Take me with you."
"What, Rose, no! You're the Captain of the Royal Guard. If anything were to happen to you--"
"You would be right there. I want to see how you do it."