Hey guys seriously, thanks so much for all of your reviews on these drabbles. This is just one I needed to write; I hope you like anyway.

Prompt. Time heals.

Time heals has been something I'd been hearing my whole life. But I was starting to think that maybe that was just something people said to make themselves feel better. And I understood, because being a guardian meant we lost people often. But you see, there were some things, that no amount of time could heal.

Today marked three years since Mason, a good friend of mine left this Earth and that was putting it lightly since he'd had his neck snapped by a strigoi, the evil undead vampires which nightmares were made of. It still hurt like a bitch, that Mason-sized hole in my chest. So no, I didn't believe in time heals all. I believed that time made grief manageable.

I learned to breathe around the pain in my chest. The hole he left behind had become a part of me, another scar to match the ones my heart already bared. I learned to look back fondly on his memories, on all the times we got in trouble for doing something stupid together and all the dumb inside jokes that only we got. Or I could, on most days. But today wasn't most days.

Today, everything hurt. Today it felt as raw as it had in those early days. Today breathing was hard. I didn't want to do anything except staying in bed. And I could I realized, because I didn't have a shift until tonight. I'd find some way to get out of it when tonight rolled around, but for now I just pulled the blanket tighter around me and let the tears fall.

I'm not sure how long I laid there like that, but at some point, the front door had opened and Dimitri had entered. Moments later he'd crawled into bed with me. He didn't ask for an explanation; he just held me and rubbed my back while I cried. I clung to him; my face buried in his chest.

I didn't realize it until that very moment, but this was what I needed. I'd needed him, needed his arms around me. He had always grounded me in a way that no one ever had before, and it was no different now. His arms around me reminded me that I wasn't alone and made me feel safe enough that at some point I fell asleep.

That night I was able to get out of my shift. I was sure Lissa had something to do with it, seeing as how Hans told me that I'd either have to go with her majesty or report for duty. I really contemplated just working my shift, there was probably not going to be much to do anyway, but there weren't many people I trusted with Lissa's safety. So, I slipped on some black jeans and a black hoodie, left my hair down and trotted out to God knows where with her.

Little did I know that everything was going according to her and everyone else's plan. We ended up in one of the court's many gardens, this one secluded and almost at the edge of the wards. Someone, probably Lissa again had set up a cozy little picnic with all of our friends and Mason's favorite foods.

And I would be the first to admit that even though I'd wanted to stay in bed away from everyone, it felt good to be surrounded by all of my friends. We huddled together long into the night sharing licker and food, retelling stories about Mason and moments we all shared with him. Many tears were shed, but many laughs too and at one point when I looked up, I caught sight of his ghost just briefly. He shot me a smile as he lingered outside the wards, a happy, peaceful smile that instantly set me at ease. I leaned back against Dimitri's chest with the knowledge that at least he was ok.

Let me know your thoughts lovelies and feel free to send in prompts I'll be happy to write them

XXX

Roza