OTMA: I'll Meet You On The Bridge

Chapter 13: Anastasia POV

Here's another chapter! I think I'm going to start updating twice a week because I have the story done now. Hope you enjoy!

Despite everything that had just happened to her, Anastasia's first thoughts were still of Dimitri.

As she ran down the hall, she realized just how close to death she had been. Gleb had been pointing the gun at her. She had nearly died. Only his own conscious had saved her.

She ran into the study of the palace, grabbed the ten million ruble check, and kept running. She had to catch up to Dimitri before he left. She didn't know where he was planning to go, since he hadn't taken the money, but she was scared that he might have already been on a train. What if he's going back to Russia? She though, panicked. He couldn't go back to Russia. He would get in trouble for leaving. He could be killed. And all of the hard work he'd done to get himself to Paris would have been for nothing. Why is this corset so darn tight? She thought to herself. As her memories had come back, so had some of her old tendencies. She could tell that one of the ones that had come back strong was a hatred of fancy dresses. She kept tripping over the hem of the big floofy skirt. The stupid dress was fancier than most of the ones she'd had to wear as a Grand Duchess. At least then, the craziest thing she had worn was court dresses.

"I hate this dress, I hate Gleb," She muttered as the thought about everything that might have led to her not getting to Dimitri before he left. "I hate Dimitri . . ."

She burst out of the doors of the palace. She was so close to the Alexander bridge. She kept running. She could do this. She had to get to him. She had to, she had to, she had to . . .

There he was.

He was sitting on his suitcase with his head in his hands. She paused, not sure what to say. She was relieved when he looked up at her first. He did a double take when he saw her. Then looked back down.

"If you ever see me from a carriage, don't smile, don't wave." He said. He stood up and grabbed his suitcase. "I don't want to be in love with someone that I can't have for the rest of my life." He started to walk away.

"I always dreamed that my first kiss would be in Paris with a handsome prince." She said. Her grandmother had called Dimitri a prince. And he was definitely handsome. He turned back and stared at her, then looked away again. He was so close to just walking back to her, and yet, something was holding him back.

"I'm not your prince, Anya." He said. Status, she realized. She was officially recognized as a Grand Duchess. All she had to say was that she wanted him, even though she was royalty. And she was willing to give that up for him. For her own handsome prince.

"The Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov-" She walked up to him and grabbed his suitcase. She would be too short to kiss him if she wasn't standing on something. Why did she have to be so short? "-Would beg to disagree, Dima." She grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss. Finally, a real one, one where he didn't pull back. This boy she had met in St. Petersburg that had been rude, and then less rude, and then that she'd finally began to love, was going to be hers.

She felt him put his hands on her hips. She pulled away for air, and he lifted her up and spun her around in his strong arms. She giggled, delirious with happiness. He was hers. He was hers.

"Anya, I, I love you so much." He said to her.

"I love you too." She smiled. "And guess what." She held up the check.

"You took the rubles?!" He asked. "Anya, you stole from royalty, you can't do that!"

"I am royalty." She said calmly. She had lived as a street sweeper for so long, and yet, she remembered everything about her past life now. She really was royalty. "Besides, Nana won't mind. She'll figure it out. She's a smart woman." He smiled.

"You're insane, Anya." He said. His lips came to hers again for a moment, and she giggled into the kiss. She heard someone on the bridge 'awww' ing.

"I suppose we should find a place to live." Anya said, pulling away. She really just wanted to stay in his arms, but she knew she had to do something.

"Oh, um, I actually already had living arrangements planned. Vlad got them for me. I wasn't sure how I was going to pay for it, though." Dimitri said bashfully. God, was he adorable. And those little dimples on his cheeks . . .

"Well, let's go there. I think we can afford it." She laughed. "Come on! Lead the way." He started walking, with her happily following him. They fully crossed the bridge, Anastasia thinking about how his bridge was truly the one she would cross. It would be going from a life of royalty to a life with Dimitri.

Dimitri led her to an apartment building. They walked up to the woman at the desk, who gave them their keys and led them to their apartment. She told them that rent was strictly due every month.

"It's only one one bedroom." He said. "But, that'll be enough, won't it? And it's furnished." She walked into the apartment, and found a nice spacious room with a kitchen and living room. Walking down the hall, she walked into the bedroom. She was glad to find that it had a double bed.

"It's perfect." she turned around and kissed him. "Now, I hate this dress so freaking much, and that lady was staring at us funny. Can we please go shopping?" He laughed.

"Here. Your Paris dress." He reached into his bag and handed her the white dress he had bought her in Paris.

"Remember that little boy that was doing cartwheels?" She asked, remembering the cute little boy who had bumped into them. "I wonder who he was."

"His mom seemed pissed" Dimitri laughed.

"Well, you will be too, when your kid misbehaves." She watched a look of horror cross Dimitri's face.

"Wait, you're, but we never-" he stuttered

"God, you're so gullible." She laughed. "I'm gonna go get changed. Hey hang on, why did you even have this dress? I took it off in the room at the hotel." She watched his face turn bright red.

"I found it and I thought it would be a shame to just leave it there." He said.

"And it had nothing to do with meeeeeeeeee?" She batted her eyelashes.

"I hate you Anya, you know that?" He said.

"I hate you too, Dima!" She skipped off the the bathroom to change, nearly tripping over her annoying red dress. It was a nice bathroom. It had a working shower and everything. She changed quickly into the dress, then took off the crown she was wearing. She wasn't sure what to do with it. Finally, she just walked into her room and left it on the bed.

"Ready, Anya?" Dimitri asked.

"Yep, I'm ready." He held out his arm for her. She took it.

And off she went into her new life.