The ownership of all characters related to and involving the novels of The Vampire Academy and Bloodlines Series remain the sole property of Richelle Mead, the Penguin Group and any affiliates.

No copyrights have been infringed on maliciously.

A/n: For those of you following BTBOMS, I haven't pushed it aside, but because I make everything so involved, I haven't had the time to work on chapter nineteen yet. Don't worry, I will, but in the meantime I have decided to write a quick one-shot.

Based on Rose and Dimitri's conversation in bed before Lissa's coronation ceremony, I have expanded, elaborated and added in.

Rose and Dimitri One-shot

~ Sun Fall ~

Lazily circling the roughened pads of my fingertips over the exposed skin of an arm wrapped tightly around my neck, I felt my lips twitch as the silken flesh bathed in warm sunshine pebbled beneath them in reaction to my touch.

Mumbling softly at the disturbance, Rose shifted a little restlessly in my arms, but slept on.

Following the pattern of gentle bumps along the slimly toned musculature of her upper bicep, my fingertips found the edge of the binding bandaged tightly over her shoulders. Crossing over her chest and around her upper torso, the beige coloured dressing scratched lightly against my bare chest as it protected the wound that could have so easily killed her.

Closing my eyes in remembered agony of the crippling terror I had felt as my shaking hands had pressed against the gaping hole created by the bullet ripping through the soft tissue and muscle, trying to desperately staunch the flow of blood, I buried my nose in the thick tangle of Rose's hair and shakily exhaled.

My fear was unfounded; Rose was alive in my arms…her heartbeat strong and steady as it beat in unison with my own. I knew this, but rational, sane thinking was hard at the moment.

Inhaling deeply of her clean, warm scent, my lips pressed gently to her scalp. Running them lightly over the satiny filaments of her dark brown hair, I felt my arm contract around her for a moment before loosening. She was already in discomfort and I didn't want to make it any worse.

Rose had recuperated considerably since her shooting a week ago, but she was still fighting against the fatigue from blood loss and the constant ache in her chest. She tried, as she always did, to hide it from those of us who loved and cared about her, but the exhaustion eventually caught up with her and not even her stubbornness could fight against it.

Stretching in bed, I gently gathered Rose to me as I moved, careful not to jostle her. Resting back against the stack of pillows heaped at the headboard, my fingers continued to caress as I watched the sun filter lazily through the open windows and lazily billowing curtains with unseeing eyes.

The physical aftereffects of Rose's injury would one day be completely healed, but the ripple effect of it would take far longer to recover from….a ripple effect that had been created by the actions of Tasha Ozera.

Detained by guardians in the scuffle that had broken out after shooting Rose, she had been hauled off to the Courts prison to await her trial. It was a formality really as the evidence against her in the murder of our former queen and her duplicitous motives continued to mount against her, but she would still get her day in court…and they would execute her shortly after.

I couldn't pretend to myself or anyone else that the thought of her life as an expiration date didn't sadden me…how could it?

I had known her – or I had thought I had known her – for a long time and the affection and respect I had once felt towards her wasn't about to simply disappear overnight, but when I thought about what she had nearly cost me, I found that the feelings I once had towards her were now tainted with rage and disgust.

Refusing to leave Rose's side in the days she was unconscious, I had waited until she was used by Lissa as a go-between with Jill before I had gone in search of Tasha in the holding cells; confident that I could remain detached and emotionally distant as I asked her why she had set her sights on Rose as her scapegoat.

I already knew why, but the questions remained in my head and needed to be answered. The guilt of my own conscious that I was partly responsible for her actions demanded to know, and if for nothing else, I needed her to know that Rose was alive and had been exonerated…I needed her to know that she hadn't succeeded.

Descending into the cold, sterile depths, I had found Christian on his way out. Since my appointment as his guardian, we had only spoken for a few minutes. He had seemed pleased about my assignment, but the terrible truth of Tasha's murderous scheming had overshadowed everything else.

The sadness etched into the lines of his youthful face as I steadied and reassured him had only made the anger seething so close to the surface that much harder to control, but upon seeing her, I had felt it drain from me rapidly as I saw just how unhinged she really was.

Our conversation had lasted less than twenty minutes and with every mad confession and insane motive she had revealed, the last of any compassion I might have still felt towards her was lost as surely as she would lose her life.

When I had found Rose afterwards and she had somehow instinctively known by the defeated posture of my body or the sorrow that I had been unable to hide where I had been, we had talked about it for hours. The voice of reason for a change, she reminded me that a person's actions were their own…that those around them had very little to do with how they were influenced.

Rose had been right of course, but I didn't feel as though I had been absolved completely in what had been Tasha Ozera's fall from grace.

I had reluctantly made peace with it and had accepted that it was just another scar to add to my already battered and bruised soul, but it was a soul that was stronger for surviving. Wallowing in what I couldn't change wouldn't do me any good and would only make me lose sight of what I had already regained.

Shifting against me as I was again reminded of why I had a reason to leave the past where it was, I angled my head down as Rose began to wake. Smiling gently at her, I brushed away wayward strands of hair as they fell over her cheek. Tucking them behind the small shell of her ear, her eyes flickered restlessly beneath her lids.

Rubbing her cheek sleepily against the smooth skin of my left pectoral, her warm, moist exhalation roughed the skin around the nipple and created a corresponding shiver throughout my entire body.

Naked beneath the light covers of gold and crimson, the tiniest sensation was enough to send the blood rushing hotly to my cock. Thickening and rising, the throbbing head pushed restlessly against the sheets as the weeping head daubed pre-come along the fine linen.

Trailing my fingers up her arm, I stroked them softly of the downy skin of her cheek with the backs of my fingers and ignored my arousal. I knew that the more she slept, the faster she would recover, but I couldn't stop myself from touching her…I wanted to see the flare of loving amusement in her fathomless brown eyes as she found me watching her.

Tracing my forefinger along the high arch of her cheekbone, I felt the muscles beneath the caress pull up around her mouth. Sighing, Rose tilted her head and opened her eyes. Lips arching upward into a smile that was still half asleep, the fingers curling around my neck slide into the loose hair at my nape.

"How long have you been awake?"

Stroking down her cheek again, the tips of my fingers dragged lightly over her lips as I told her a half truth. "A little while. I think I'm still on a human schedule. Either that, or my body just wants to be up when the sun is. Seeing it is still amazing to me."

I wouldn't tell her that I had been awake for far longer than I should have been or that the reason I still wasn't sleeping probably was the fear that I would wake up and find that she was cold and dead in my arms. She was already concerned enough, so I would settle for an easy reply.

Nodding, Rose rested her chin on the hard vaulting of my ribs as she followed my gaze to the streaming sunlight. Stretching lightly, she winced before hiding a yawn against my skin.

"You should have gotten up."

Rubbing my hand consoling across her bandaged shoulders, I shook my head at the idea of separating from her for any reason…even one as enticing as feeling the hot radiance of the sun soaking into the skin that was still too pale.

"I didn't want to disturb you."

Propping herself up by her elbow, Rose frowned at the twinges and aches in her chest at the movement. Rubbing lightly at the thickest part of the bandage – less than an inch away from her heart – she prodded gently before grimacing down at me.

Tapping the tip of her nose, I pulled her more fully into my arms as I felt a smile twitch at the corners of my mouth. Resting against me again, Rose signed; the sound full of contentment even as she pushed aside her disgruntlement with her injury and the restrictions it forced on her.

Restrictions that last night we had found a very interesting way around.

Sex should have been out of the question, and after Rose's enthusiastic attempts to persuade me had left her sore and grumpy, I had reminded her that she had been shot three days before and wasn't going to be up for anything physical.

Not appreciating the reminder or her lack of ability to participate, I had eventually taken pity on her in a way that had left her smiling and limp with pleasured exhaustion…and me acutely frustrated.

Scratching lightly up my chest with the short edge of her nails, Rose smiled with feminine knowledge at the shudder I couldn't stifle as she slid her slender thigh between my own. This was her way of torturing me for not, as she had explained it last night, putting out.

Expecting more punishment, Rose seemed too languidly content to do much more than touch me and lie in my arms. "This is perfection. Is every day going to be like this?"

Cupping her cheek, I smoothed my thumb over the corner of her lip as I looked down at her. Although we had been officially pardoned, neither of us were on duty until after Lissa's coronation. Once we were; our relationship, although no longer confined to the shadows, had to revert to a more professional nature. We would have time off together, but this wouldn't always be the norm.

Both of us, after being apart for so long – both emotionally and physically, were greedy for more, but we both also knew that this was more than either of us had ever expected to have. We didn't have to hide…we didn't have to compromise, so we would make due with what we could have.

"Not every day," I answered softly as my fingers travelled downward. Gently grasping her chin, I tilted her head up as my lips ghosted over hers. "But most day."

Kissing her gently at first, the intensity deepened until we breathed for each other and out tongues tangled. Rose slide the flat of her palm down my chest. Skimming over my sternum, she continued on as she flirted with my ribs and the ridges of my abdominal muscles. Swirling her little finger in the indentation of my navel, I caught at her inquisitive fingers before they got both of us in trouble.

Pouting against my lips, Rose broke the kiss. Pulling away slightly, she narrowed her eyes at me as I gently squeezed her hand, but let it go. Pressing a soft kiss to my lips, she folded her hands on my chest and rested her chin atop them, sighing heavily in pleasure before murmuring.

"I was wrong…this is perfection."

Smirking in agreement, Rose closed her eyes in ease, but the relaxation and ease transmitting from her changed suddenly and unexplainably. Brushing my fingers along the slight crease of her forehead, her eyelids fluttered upward as she looked at me with something close to anguish.

"What's wrong?"

Propping herself up again, Rose looked down at me with an expression far more serious than I would have thought she was capable of at the moment. Not understanding, I kept my own light as I rubbed lightly at her shoulders.

"Do you think I ruin lives?"

Startled by the question I hadn't expected, I felt my smile slip at the very clear doubt I could hear in her small voice. "What? Of course not." Hugging her closer, I kissed her forehead, murmuring against the soft skin before rubbing my nose against it. "Where would you get that idea?"

Shoulders rising and falling in a forlorn motion, Rose pushed herself up and out of my arms. Sitting with her crossed legs, she hugged her arms to herself and didn't seem to notice at all that the movement would have caused her pain. Nude, but for the bandage, there was no expression of self-conscious behaviour, only genuine misery.

"There are just a lot of people whose lives are still kind of a mess. My friends, I mean."

Sitting up beside her, I wrapped my arms around her waist and rested my hands on her hips. Nuzzling into her ear, I kissed the rim before nibbling on the soft, fleshy lobe before whispering into it. "True. And let me guess. You want to fix everyone's problems?"

Gazing at me from the corner of her eye, Rose didn't answer…but she didn't really have to.

Knowing her as well as I did, what was concerning her more wasn't just the problems that she hadn't created and couldn't solve, but the problems that she had…namely, Adrian Ivashkov.

Whilst I had been listening to the deranged ramblings of a Moroi, Rose had been listening to the blistering condemnation from another. Returning to her suite, Rose had immediately offered me comfort for my encounter with Tasha, but it hadn't been until later that I had learned Adrian had been waiting for her return.

Unhappy that he had confronted her, though it hadn't been unexpected, Rose hadn't felt the same way about his tirade. Like I blamed myself for Tasha's unstable behaviour, so too did Rose blame herself for the pain she had inflicted on Adrian. She thought she deserved it.

"He hates me, Dimitri…and how could I blame him?" She had mumbled against the skin of my shoulder that night; misery making her voice small. "You should have seen his face. It was like I stuck a knife in his back. I did that to him after he was nothing but good to me.

Sliding my hands from her hips to the bare curve of her buttocks, I lifted Rose gently and easily from the bed and onto my lap. Straddling my hips, she looked at me curiously as her legs curled around me and her arms curved around my neck.

Locked together, I sunk my fingers into the hair at the base of her neck and pulled her closer. Kissing her until all she could feel was my love and all she could taste was my belief in her goodness, strength and soul, I nibbled on her lower lip as I tried to chase her doubts away.

"Roza. It's normal to want to help the people you love. But you can't fix everything."

"It's what I do," she grumbled against my lips, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and bringing our upper bodies into close contact. The dressing might have bound the generosity of her breasts, but I could still feel their warmth and shape mould to my chest.

"I protect people."

Hearing the peeved disgruntlement in her voice, I chuckled against her lips as my hands slide lower and cupped her buttocks. "I know, and that's one of the reasons I love you. But for now, you only have to worry about protecting one person: Lissa."

Cocking a brow at my caress, Rose wriggled experimentally on my lap. Brushing against the rigid length of my cock, I groaned before growling quietly at her. Smirking, Rose scratched lightly up my back as she continued to wiggle enticingly. "I suppose that means we can't stay in bed all day?"

Grabbing her hips, I held her still and tried to reason with her because I knew exactly where this was heading and she still wasn't up for it. "Afraid not. They come first."

"But not for a little while," Rose whispered provocatively, leaning forward, she bit on my lower lip and tugged gently. Shuddering against her, my hands left her hips and sank into the hair at the back of her neck. Holding her still, our lips met.

"No…not for a little while."

Angling her head, I sunk my tongue in Rose's mouth as she moaned. Lifting against me for closer contact, she ground herself against my pelvis and the hard ridge of my cock. Breathing harshly, I released her hair and clutched at her waist, rocking as she pushed against her. Aggressively aroused, Rose clutched at me tighter before groaning and wincing.

Pulling away, she exhaled gingerly and rubbed at her chest as she continued to breathe deeply through the pain radiating from the wound. Paler than before, the hectic colouring along her cheekbones was all but gone as a fine mist of sweat dotted her upper lip.

"Roza…Roza!"

Cupping her face with hands that trembled now in fear instead of passion, I looked into her pain-filled eyes and called myself a fool for allowing this. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"

Shaking her head, Rose slowly breathed out and tried to smile reassuringly. "I think I hurt myself. It wasn't you, Dimitri."

"Are you sure?" At her nod, I relaxed a fraction. "You have to be more careful."

"I know. Sorry for worrying you."

Pressing my lips to her forehead, I rested my own against hers. "It won't be too long. You should be up and about in a day or two and back to doing all the things you love. Be patient, all right?"

"Things I love?"

"Mmmm…fighting with me, arguing with me, trying to pin me to the mat, whining at me when I pin you first…all that kind of thing." I teased, rubbing the tip of my nose over the bridge of hers. Feeling her chuckle against me, I thought I had distracted her, but when the laughter faded, I could feel her tense against me.

"What is it?"

"There's something that I want to do now…and I don't want to wait."

"No."

"You don't even know what I want." She protested loudly as she heard my flat refusal. Pulling sharply away, the stubborn set to her chin and the challenge of an argument flaring brightly in her eyes put me on guard again.

"I know exactly what you want. You're not ready for making love yet, Rose. It will hurt too much. Remember last night?"

"I'm sorry…did you get a doctorate whilst I was unconscious?"

Sighing at the thick bite of sarcasm, I tried for patience and logic…not always a combination that was guaranteed to work on Rose. "Look at what's just happened. Please, just be patient. We have all the time in the world now. Nothing has to be rushed."

Ducking her head, Rose hugged herself to me and rested her head in the hollow between my chin and my shoulders. Narrowing my eyes suspiciously at her easy capitulation, and the fact that she wouldn't let me see her face. Stroking my hands gently down the tangled fall of her hair, my sense of unease doubled as I felt the string of small kisses landing over my collar bone.

"It's not going to work, Rose."

Sliding her hands down my abdomen so quickly I couldn't anticipate, Rose wrapped her cool, slender fingers around the heated girth of my erection. Clenching my teeth at her torturous touch, I glared at her as she smiled sweetly at me whilst running her hand teasingly from base to tip.

"Are you so sure about that, comrade?"

Shuddering at her throaty taunt, I opened my mouth to refuse her again, even as my traitorous hips rose with every upward stroke, but she pressed a gentle, delicate kiss to my mouth, speaking quietly against them. "You would never hurt me, right?"

Not knowing her angle, but happy to keep her distracted, I shook my head but kept my lips against hers. "No. Not ever."

"So if I asked you to make love to me gently, because then you wouldn't hurt me, would you?"

"Rose…"

"Please, Dimitri? This is our last day off-duty. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow? Lissa might be called away to some distant part of the country for one week and then to the other side of the world for another. If that happens and we don't see each other for weeks, won't you be happy that we at least have this memory to live on?"

Smiling in spite of myself at her cajoling and realising in the same moment that she had more of her smooth-talking father in her than she would ever admit, I shook my head…but it was in my own defeat and not in denial of her.

"You're very dangerous, you know that right?"

"Yes…besides, you should know by now that you can't resist me."

Reaching up to brush her thickly tangled hair back from her face, my fingers tucked it before they traced down her face. "Fine….but I want it noted that I'm doing this under duress."

Rolling her eyes, Rose snorted. "You're having sex with the woman you love, Dimitri…not walking the plank, you know?" Thumbing the head of my cock before I could reply, I lunged forward before I could change my mind and shifted her closer on my lap.

Feeling her guide me, the moist heat of her vaginal folds sucked and pulled teasingly at the flared head. Groaning at the feel, I forced my hips into stillness when all I wanted to do was plunge upright. Easing into her gently, the breathy sigh from Rose as she dug her fingers into my nape and rested her forehead against my own made my heart ache.

"Shhhh…gently, Roza."

Cupping my face as my arms curled around her hips and waist, we rocked gently together for endless minutes until the climax that claimed us both caught us up in a gentle maelstrom of a love and intimacy. There were no words between us, though our gazes stayed locked together as tightly as our bodies were.

Pressing gentle kisses from her hairline to her chin, Rose sighed weakly against me. Slumping back onto the mattress, I carried her gently with me. Keeping her wrapped tightly in my arms, I sighed as I caught my breath whilst her slim fingers rubbed over my thumping heart.

"How was the plank, comrade?"

Ignoring the taunt, I turned to face her. Keeping our legs intertwined, I nuzzled her nose with the tip of mine as she continued to draw lazy circles over my chest. "Forget about the plank, Roza. How are you feeling?"

"You really have to ask?"

"Humour me."

Kissing my chin, Rose snuggled deeper into my embrace. "I feel great. I'm going to have to stay away from Abe until after the ceremony though. He's going to take one look at me and know exactly what I've been up to."

"Hmmm."

Answering non-committally, I thought the same thing. I had already encountered the intimidating, Turkish Moroi and wasn't looking for a repeat performance. Making an enemy of someone who inspired fear by the mere mention of his name wasn't high on my list of things to do…especially when he was the father of the woman I loved.

Feeling replete, I closed my eyes and basked in the moment of peace, pushing aside thoughts of Rose's shady father and was surprised to find that I was actually on my way to dozing off. Fighting against the sleepless nights as they caught up with me, I felt Rose's fingertips drag lightly over my face.

Lifting back my lids, I found her smiling with gentle exhaustion at me. "Do you think the Moroi can wait a little longer for us?"

Tucking her beneath my chin, I nodded as I felt her tiredly hug me. "We've waited long enough for each, Roza…I think they can wait a little longer for us."