A month outside the gates (a VA fanfic)ON HOLD

Chapter 16

DPOV
Day twenty-two had just started, the sun was rising and Rose was returning to the bed after having-reluctantly- done perimeter shift last night. We'd given in just before dinner, and I was glad we finally had. We held the other's innocence and we'd treasure it just as we would the other.

"Morning, my love," I smiled at my soulmate, girlfriend, lover, and (according to others) student as she climbed into bed and snuggled into my embrace.

Yeah, she'd never been my student and never would be. She was my soulmate and that was what mattered to me most of all. She was learning from me? Most definitely. But her wellbeing, happiness, and safety meant more to me than anything else.

I'd do anything for her, even if it was being her mentor to keep her in school and training so she could guard her best friend. Because she was going to be more dangerous, more lethal, and already was more worthy of guarding the last Dragomir than me.

"Morning Comrade," she smiled sleepily, "now get back to sleep, we're fine."
"Just 'fine', Rose?" She'd never used that descriptor, it was usually 'all good', 'all safe', or 'still secure'. Her using 'fine' had my alarms going off.
"Had a run in with a human burglar," she tried brushing it off. But I knew she was hiding from me. I could tell because I read her like she did me. She wasn't lying, she just wasn't telling me everything. I could see she wasn't completely fine, she'd had a run in alright, but not just with a human.
"And a Strigoi," I sighed, the pain in my voice and my face contorted with it.

I pulled the sheets back to inspect her injuries. She'd had a run in with a Strigoi alright. Luckily, she hadn't received anything other than a few scratches, but I knew they were Strigoi claw scratches not human fingernail scratches- a human wouldn't be able to touch her before she had them pinned. And (this thought made me squirm because she was my woman) any human male would be too distracted by her looks to think of her as anywhere near as dangerous as she was, let alone fight her before she'd pinned them.

'Dangerous'? She was already lethal apparently. Okay, I had already known she'd be deadly. But having a kill at seventeen? Not something I wanted her to go through. I was meant to protect her, not the other way around. "Oh Rose. Oh, my Roza."

"I've cleaned them and done first aid, Comrade."
Did she have to use that nickname? It made me want to kiss her. And more. "Oh Roza."
"I love you, Dimitri. I love you and I'm your guardian. I did my duty to protect you."
"God, woman. I love you too. I just don't want you going through the trauma of a kill. Let alone so early in life."
"You trained me to be ready, and I've already come out of the land of the dead. I think I can handle it. And I know I can with you right here," she pulled me into a kiss. One which grew to rival all we'd done last night.

God I loved the woman and she'd always get what she wanted and needed from me. I couldn't tell her 'no', I couldn't hurt her by refusing or rejecting her. She'd been through too much already. She knew how to embrace life and love because she knew how precious each second was.

She'd been given a second chance at life, and she was going to live it to the full. Especially when she had the chance to live her life for her rather than Lissa.

So, how could I argue with the one I was scared to lose? How could I deny her the support she wanted and needed? And how could I deny her when she'd just saved my ass from a Strigoi? I couldn't. I couldn't and wouldn't. I loved her and I let her know it. I let her experience just how much I loved her.