Reality Bites - Wattys 2018 Shortlist

Chapter 37 - She's Our Girl

It was still a few hours until dinner, but since lunch had been a disaster, I hadn't eaten.

"Come on, Roza," Dimitri laughed, taking my hand and leading me down to the kitchen. Suzanne was there chopping meat ready for tonight's meals.

"Dimitri, Rose," she greeted us pleasantly. "I'm just in the middle of this, but if you're after a snack, there are some sandwiches in the fridge."

Checking out the fridge, sure enough, there were a few plates of sandwiches under plastic wrap. Snagging one for me and one for Dimitri, we took them to the meals area and sat, eating in companionable silence.

"Looking forward to going back to the Academy?" Dimitri asked.

"Yes and no. It seems like a lifetime ago that we were there, but I'm looking forward to doing my trials and graduating. You?"

"Yes. I can't wait to see you ace your trials," he grinned. "I'm looking forward to training with you again every day. And I'm looking forward to being with you twenty-four seven," he said softly.

"Yes. Together all day and night. Just you, me and my mother," I giggled.

"Ugh. I'd almost managed to forget that part of it!" Dimitri laughed. "It will be ok," he promised me, leaning over to kiss me softly. "It's only a couple of months, and I'm going to insist that we have at least an hour alone together every day just for us."

Dimitri was just about to say something more when Alberta walked in from the gym. She grabbed a water bottle and sat down beside us.

"We're meeting in the dining room in half an hour. Pavel wants to run through plans for your visit to talk with Kirova and our return to the Academy tomorrow."

I looked at Dimitri, it was all becoming very real, and out of the blue, I was nervous. But his calm eyes looked back at me, soothing me instantly.

"You'll have to be careful with that once you're back at the Academy," Alberta commented. "The way you two look at each other is a dead giveaway."

"It'll be ok. We've had practice hiding it before," I said.

"Ah ha," Alberta acknowledged. "And you did such a good job of that!"

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you ever wonder how the two of you got allocated a one-on-one field session together? And then permission to extend it to four days?" she asked with a wink, picking up her drink bottle and heading upstairs with a chuckle.

Dimitri looked at me, his eyebrows raised. I didn't often get to see my Russian God stunned, but Alberta had managed it. Shaking his head and laughing he mumbled, "Not much gets past Alberta!" We sat in the deserted meals area for a little while holding hands.

"Do you think we'll be able to do it?" I asked, apprehensively.

"I do, milaya. Last time it was hard because I loved you so much, but I was constantly fighting it. Now I'm fighting for our love. It makes all the difference in the world," he said, his love in his eyes. I nodded. Giving Dimitri a quick kiss, I took his hand and together we headed to the dining room.

I should have realized that the 'coming out of Rose Hathaway as Abe's daughter' was not going to be a subtle event. Abe had stage-managed what can only be described as a complete spectacle. In total thirty Guardians would be accompanying us, not counting Dimitri, Pavel, and Mom. Because the plane could not accommodate so many, Alberta, Adrian, Lissa plus fifteen or so Guardians would be going in advance. Lissa, Adrian, and Alberta would quietly return to the academy ahead of our arrival, while the Guardians would wait off-campus for the rest of us to arrive.