Chapter 22

POV: Dimitri

Anger. Pain. That was all I could feel at that time. Ivan is back. How can Ivan be back? He's dead. I was at the funeral. I gave the eulogy. How can Ivan be back?

I did not know where I was going until I found myself in front of the smallest gym in court. My favorite gym, it is small and secluded. Not many people come here anymore so it is a fairly private place. It made sense that I found my way to the gym while I was upset. I have always found that working out can clear my mind and help me to forget my problems for a moment. I worked my way over to the supply closet and hung a punching bag then got to work on wrapping my hands. The repetitive and familiar motion is calming to me. As I walked up to the punching bag I tried to let it take away the emotions that I am feeling.

POV: Rose

As I left Lissa's house I made my way to the gym that I know Dimitri is always going to. He says that it is quiet and calm, not busy like the other guardian gym. He has always loved to work out while he was upset.

As I walked into the gym I saw Dimitri beating the crap out of one of the punching bags. I slowly came up behind him and placed my hand gently on his back. He spun around quickly, panting and obviously frustrated. It was clear that this was one instance that working out was not going to take his mind off of the problem at hand. When Dimitri noticed that it was me behind him he let his walls come down. He grabbed me by the waist and pulled me close shoving his nose in the crook of my neck. I let him hold me there for a few minutes while he calmed himself a little bit, then I decided to break the silence.

"You have to talk to him, you know."

Dimitri walked over to the bench and started to unwrap his hands. With a heavy sigh he said, "I don't know if I can. It has been so long since I have talked to him. I was finally starting to move on, you were helping me move on. And now he is here, and it's like all that progress is undone." I had no idea what to say to that. He made perfect sence and I knew it. Ivan had no right to just leave him like that, I don't care what his reasoning was Dimitri didn't deserve the pain that Ivan caused him. At a loss for words I just sat next to Dimitri and rested my head on his shoulder, letting him think the situation over.

After a few minutes there was the sound of the door opening and I saw the last person I wanted to see walking straight towards us.

Ivan Zelkos.

I felt Dimitri stiffen next to me and heard him take in a sharp breath. I stood up and angeled myself so that I was slightly in front of Dimitri, "What do you wan?"

"I just want to talk to you," I van stated softly looking straight past me and to Dimitri.

"I don't think so," I crossed my arms and moved so that Ivan could no longer see Dimitri and had to look at me.

He sighed running a hand through his hair, "Not to be rude, but this is a conversation I need to have with Dimitri. Not his girlfriend. How old are you anyway?"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" He was starting to piss me off, especially because he brought up my age.

"I am Dimitri's best friend and I need to have a conversation with him, little girl."

That was the last straw, I started stalking towards Ivan, "You are not his best friend anymore. I am. I am not a little girl and you should have a little more respect if you still see Dimitri as your best friend because I am the woman that he is marrying!" I pulled my hand back ready to punch him in the face and hopefully break his nose, but a very familiar hand stopped me before I could.

I turned around and looked at Dimitri and saw the war that was going on inside of him. He wanted to defend me and make it clear that no one disrespects me. He also felt the need to protect and hear out the person that he grew up with. The person that he spent his whole life training to defend. In an instant I saw that he had made his decision.

He turned towards Ivan and began to speak, "First of all, no one talks to Rose like that, I do not care who you are. She is the love of my life and if you still claim to be my best friend that also means treating the woman that I love with respect." He took a moment to make sure that Ivan understood him then turned towards me, "Roza, do you mind giving us a little bit. I need to talk to Ivan in private, clear up some things." His voice had significantly softened and his eyes were pleading with me.

I nodded my head, "I'll just be at the house if you need anything," I kissed his cheek then turned to leave.

P.O.V. Dimitri

As I watched Rose leave the gym I took a deep breath and turned to my former (believed to be dead) best friend. I looked at him waiting for what he was wanting to talk about, "Okay, we are alone what do you want?" I was not going to go back to chumming around with him when he had been gone for so long. He had some explaining to do first.

A small grin came to his face and he let out a small chuckle, "I see you have found yourself a little firecracker. But seriously, she seems quite young and possessive. I thought possessiveness annoyed you, isn't that why you kept turning Tasha down?"

I took a deep breath knowing that I was going to have to answer his questions about Rose before he would explain himself. "Rose is 18, only seven years younger than me, that is not that much in the grand scheme and it does not feel like there is any difference when I am with her. She is not possessive, she is protective. She knows how much it affected me when I thought you were dead. I blamed myself for so long, in the time that I have known her she has made me realize that it was not my fault and has been the reason that I am the person that I am today. Tasha was just annoying in her advances no matter how many times I told her I was not interested."

"Okay dude calm down I was just asking."

"I do not like people insulting my fiancée."

Ivan got the message and changed the subject, "Look I never meant for you to beat yourself up. I scheduled my fake death for when you were on vacation to make it easier for you."

"You planned this? And how was my being on vacation going to make it any easier?" I was starting to get frustrated with this. Ivan was not giving up much information and he was making less since the more he spoke.

Ivan ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "Can we sit down, this is a bit of a long story."

I nodded my head and we went to sit on the bleachers. Once Ivan sat down I motioned for him to begin this story.

"As you know my family consists of a bunch of conceded assholes." I nodded, the Zelkos family were the jerks of royal morois and that is saying a lot seeing how most royals were huge jerks. I found that Ivan was an exception and was quite a nice person. "Well we developed our fair share of enemies, being assholes and powerful as we are. I was approached a few weeks before you went on vacation, I was threatened along with everyone that I cared for. It seemed that my father had pissed off a pretty powerful non-royal. Tony Vilano was doing everything that he could to hurt my father. I am still not sure why threating everyone that I cared for would get back at my father, but that was his play. I knew that he would deliver on his promise if I did not do what he asked." Tony vilano was the head of the Italian moroi mob. He was a very dangerous man and I was starting to feel bad for Ivan and what he had gone through. "His demands were that I disappear, no one was to know where I was or if I was even alive. I was to leave absolutely no trace. So that is what I did. I faked a Strigoi attack and my death, so that no one would go looking for me when I went missing. Then I set out to defeat Vilano. It took a lot but I am now free from his influence and to resume my life." Ivan looked at me trying to gauge my reaction.

Anger. That was all I could feel at this moment. Not exactly at Ivan, but at Vilano and the situation he put my best friend in. However, Ivan was the one here and was the only person I could take that anger out on, "Why the hell did you not tell me? It was my job to protect you, I could have-"

"What were you going to do? Single handedly take on the second most influential non-royal of our time? It was my turn to protect you, you had been protecting me since I could remember. There was nothing you could do take care of the situation."

"I would have found a way to protect you! I always have, there was no reason for you not to trust that I would that time as well."

"It was not that I did not trust you. It was that I knew you would go to any ends to take care of the situation and you would probably die doing so. Like I said it was my turn to protect you."

I stood up and started pacing in front of Ivan. This was all a lot to take in Ivan had been forced into hiding. Everyone that was close to him was in danger if he did not fake his death. And the fact that he did in fact FAKE HIS DEATH. This was some serious soap opera shit. I honestly had no idea how to respond to this. Still in a bit of shock I stopped my pacing and turned to Ivan, "So why are you back now, I know that Villano is not dead. How are you sure that he will not come back for you?"

"I got the help of the only man who could influence him." Ivan said almost proud of himself. The only other mob that was more powerful than the Italians was the Russians. That means that Ivan had been in contact with Abe.

"Abe Mazur," I said. This was absolutely unbelievable, to think that Rose's father had known where Ivan was this whole time. I mean it was not like he even knew who Ivan was to me, so I could not be upset with him, but it was just crazy how close he was.

"Yes, he is not really as bad of a person as people say he is," he was completely unaware of my inner monologue.

"Yes, I am aware of how decent of a person he is. He helped me keep my father away. He is also Rose's father."

Ivan looked at me with shock evident on his face. After a few moments a wicked grin was on his face and a hearty laugh escaped him. Once he had calmed down he looked me in the eyes, "Well I guess I can see where she gets her spunk from. Man, how did that conversation go when he found out you were dating his daughter?"

Just like that we could laugh together again and it felt great. I never thought that I was going to be able to speak with him like this again. No matter how much better Rose made me feel I still missed this. Us just hanging out and laughing.

"So, does this mean that you forgive me and we can go back to the way thigs were?"

"I forgive you, but it's going to take some time to get things back to the way that they were. It has been five years, I had moved on. I have fallen in love and so much more has happened. We cannot just flip a switch and go back to the way things are." Ivan's face fell a little, "That does not mean that I am unwilling to work to make things the way they used to be."

Ivan's face lit up, "That is all I can ask, I guess. Thank you."

I nodded, "It is getting rather late, Rose will be getting worried. I should head back home." I started to make my way to leave but turned back for a moment, "She is a lot like you, you know. I think you two would get along well. She was just looking out for me. Try and give her a chance I know you will see why I love he so much."

Ivan nodded his head towards me, "I think I already do, she is very fierce and protective both qualities that you admire. I will keep an open mind in the future."

So I know you hate me for the late up date. I am so sorry. I want to make it clear that Dimitri did not just give in. He is a forgiving person, that does not mean that he will forget. Please let me know what you think and if you have any ideas. Love you all!