Into the Ether - Complete

The Winter of Our Discontent: Part 9

I woke up shivering, hearing persistent knocking at my dorm room door. It was 5.30 pm – a good two hours before I'd planned to face the world.

"I hope you're decent because I'm coming in," a vaguely familiar female voice said, and I heard a key turning in the lock. Sitting up, and closing my robe around me, I saw Guardian Matthews standing in the doorway.

"Shit, Hathaway! It's freezing in here," she said walking across the room and closing my window. "It's snowing out there, you know?"

I shrugged. Honestly, right now everything just felt numb. I'd sat beneath the window crying for hours, eventually crawling into my bed as the sun started climbing into the sky. I'd obviously slept the entire day away.

"Get some training gear on, and we'll go to the gym," Matthews ordered, yet looking at me kindly. I just stared at her. I couldn't figure out why she was here. She sighed, coming to sit on the side of my bed.

"I know where Belikov has gone and why," she started, "and I know he'd want you to keep up your training. I'm not trying to replace him as your mentor, but I thought you might need a training buddy."

I didn't know what to say. The idea of training with anyone but Dimitri was abhorrent, yet I couldn't avoid the gym forever.

"He was my guarding partner for two years," Matthews explained, "and we grew to be quite close," she added looking at me meaningfully. I wasn't sure what she was trying to say. Was she telling me she was in love with Dimitri, too?! "He's a very private person, but I know you're very... special... to him. I thought it might help if you had someone to train with who you didn't have to pretend around?"

She grabbed my hands, giving me a pained look as she saw the tears welling in my eyes.

"Thank you," I mumbled, swiveling my legs out of bed and grabbing some clean workout gear. I went to grab my bag, forgetting it was still full of my clothes from Missoula. I sighed, quickly emptying it on the bed before stuffing some clothes for the day into it. The pack of photos from our weekend away spilled open, a picture of Dimitri and I with our arms around each other showing on top. It wasn't too incriminating, but it wasn't your usual student/mentor photo either.

Matthews looked at it and smiled. "That's a really nice shot," she said, giving me a kind but knowing smile.

I nodded, picking up the pack of photos and putting it in my desk drawer. When I got back after class, I'd pin some of them up. No one ever visited my room, Lissa's being much larger and more comfortable for any get-togethers, so it wasn't like anyone would see them.

Matthews stood, looking at my photo wall in an obvious attempt to give me some privacy to change, so I discarded my robe and put on panties and a workout bra, topping it with a pair of sweatpants and a TShirt. I didn't even know why I was complying with Matthew's request, other than it seemed easier to go along with what she wanted than tell her to go away. And I had to attend classes and try and hold it together in a couple of hours. It would be easier to do that if I started my interactions with someone who knew the truth about Dimitri's departure, and by the looks of it had a pretty good idea about he and I, too.

I shouldered my bag, and we exited my room, walking through the quiet hallways and exiting the dorms heading towards the gym. When we arrived, as per usual it was deserted.

"You don't usually workout at this time," I observed, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, I'm usually on shift at this time, but with Dimitri leaving Alberta's changed the roster. I'm now taking over Dimitri's old shifts, and Emil is taking over mine."