Rose woke up the next morning to find herself alone in the hotel bed. She wasn't too surprised, figuring Dimitri wouldn't have wanted to embarrass her or himself by waking up next to her. She hoped he would get past that soon, or they were in for a long ride. She tried getting out of bed, but had somehow become so tangled in her sheets that when she took her first step, she fell flat on her face with a big thump.

Before she could even think about wincing in pain, Dimitri had skidded into the room with his stake extended, wildly scanning it. Seeing no immediate threat, he then glanced around for Rose. She cleared her throat and his eyes met hers.

"Roza, what are you doing on the floor?" He asked, clearly sounding confused. His stake was still ready, but he was holding it with less certainty. She tried to keep a straight face for his sake, she really did. She knew he was just concerned for her and there was a genuine fear that they could have been caught. But she couldn't help it, and she snorted. Dimitri's face grew red.

"I fell off the bed, Dimitri," she exclaimed while chuckling. "Nobody attacked me, that was all my own stupidity."

He frowned, but came over to help her stand up. "Roza, how do you manage to make the simplest tasks seem life threatening?"

She untangled her legs and grabbed his outstretched arm, pulling herself up. "Hell if I know. It's just the Hathaway way!"

Dimitri rolled his eyes, but put his stake back in his pocket. Rose eyed it.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue, though, valiant prince," Rose smirked.

"Shut up, Roza, I thought you were in danger," Dimitri glared at her and she smiled innocently. He walked out of the room shaking his head. "Put some more clothes on," he called back to her as an afterthought. She glanced down at her spandex and t-shirt and stuck her tongue out at his retreating back.

She quickly threw on an outfit and then joined Dimitri in the side room. He was on his laptop, scrolling. Rose sat down on his foot rest, right as he was about to put his feet up. He just sighed.

"Found a plane yet?" Rose asked nonchalantly.

He rolled his eyes but she noticed he couldn't help the wide grin that spread on his face.

"I did," he said happily, and he turned the laptop to show her. "We leave tonight and should be there by tomorrow morning."

Rose just shook her head. It was hard to wrap her head around the fact that they would be going to Russia in less than 12 hours. She had never been out of the country before, so this would be new.

"That's great! Have you contacted your family to tell them we're coming?" Rose asked. Dimitri grew a mischievous look that rivaled her own normal expression.

"No, I don't think I will. I want to surprise them," he explained. Rose knew if she could raise her eyebrow, it would be raised right now.

"You want to give your family a heart attack?" She asked. He chuckled.

"No, no, I just want our reunion to be made better with the element of surprise. I haven't seem them since I came to America."

Rose felt a little guilty. Even though she and her mom had a rough relationship and didn't see each other often, she still saw her mom more than Dimitri.

"Roza, it's fine, we'll be seeing them soon," Dimitri promised, somehow reading her mind like always.

Rose thought of something and her eyes widened. "Oh, no," she muttered, and stood up. Dimitri creased his brow.

"What is it?"

She turned to him with panicked eyes. "They're going to have to tell my mom about this!"

"About what?"

"About you and me and our "affair" and then running away and—Oh my—the whole Academy is gonna know and—"

"And they're going to do nothing because you'll be on another continent," Dimitri said firmly. Rose tried to calm her heartbeat. "Calm down, Roza. I don't care about our reputation at the academy. What matters is that I get to be with you forever from now on."

"Yeah...but my mom is going to be pissed. I can see her fury now at the thought of her daughter dating a 24-year-old teacher."

"Mentor. Former mentor," Dimitri corrected.

"And you're sure your family will like me?" Rose asked, unsure. Dimitri smiled.

"They'll be so thrilled that I've finally brought a girl home that they won't even care to know the rest of the details," he assured her.

"Are you absolutely positive?"

"Never been more positive about anything in my life," Dimitri responded. Rose sighed.

"I just wish there was a different way for us to get what we wanted," she said. Dimitri looked at her thoughtfully.

"I understand," Dimitri agreed. "But there's nothing we can do about it now. And you can still contact everyone you want to."

Rose stood straight up. "Oh no, I forgot to text Lissa! She's got to be so worried!" Dimitri watched her in amusement as she ran out of the room and over to her phone by the bedside. She had texts from Lissa, Eddie, even Adrian. They were all the same: where are you, what happened, are you okay, and is it true?

Rose bit her lip as her fingers hovered over her phone keypad, debating her response. She decided to text Lissa.

I'm okay, Dimitri and I have found it necessary to live on our own for awhile. I can't tell you where we are, we don't want to be found. We're both very scared but excited. I don't know what you've heard but I can confirm Dimitri and I are in a relationship. Sorry I didn't tell you, I didn't tell anyone (too dangerous) but that didn't work I guess lol. I'll miss you. I love you

Rose