"The 40-Year-Old Virgin?!" Christian groaned. "I'm not watching that!"

"We've seen everything else here at least three times," Eddie argued, appreciating if they didn't pick a film, soon, Lissa would demand they see The Notebook. Again!

"It's a romantic comedy," Lissa said, weighing into the argument. "It could be fun?"

"It's stupid. Like anyone gets to the age of forty still a virgin," Christian snorted.

"Well, I'm over half-way there, aren't I?" Rose retorted with a bitter laugh.

All conversation in the room stopped, Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Meredith, and Dimitri looking at Rose in surprise.

"What? You're twenty-two and still a virgin?" Christian scoffed about to say something cutting when the wounded look in Rose's eyes stopped him.

Really, Rose? Lissa asked through their bond. Since they graduated, and Rose became her protector, their friendship had slowly morphed into more guardian and charge. Over time, Rose shared less and less of her life with Lissa. Whenever Lissa asked, Rose claimed there was nothing to tell. Still; Lissa assumed that sometime at Court on their occasional weekend visits, or during the long summer college break, Rose had found someone to have a little fun with but chosen not to say anything.

Rose stood up, blushing.

"It's no big deal. There's only been one man I wanted to do that with, but he didn't want that with me. Anyway… since there are a few hours of sunlight, I'm going to go for a run. Eddie, Meredith? I'll be back to clock on by 7:00 pm."

Usually, on a Sunday, the six of them would watch a movie together; a concession to their split schedules and lack of time together. But today, Rose needed to get out of the house she shared with her charge and colleagues.

Officially, Dimitri and Rose were Princess Vasilisa Dragomir's guardians, Eddie Castile and Meredith Edwards assigned to guard her boyfriend Lord Christian Ozera. However, since they were all living together at Lehigh, and the Moroi were running on a diurnal timetable, early in in the piece it had been decided that as the strongest fighters, Dimitri and Rose would take the night shift since that was when a Strigoi attack was most likely. Accordingly, Eddie and Meredith had the day shift, attending classes alongside their charges and doing the whole college thing while Rose and Dimitri slept during the day, waking to spend largely silent nights guarding their sleeping charges and coworkers.

"Do you think she is?" Christian asked Eddie after Rose walked through the lounge room in her running skins, setting out for her exercise completely unaware of just how beautiful she looked. Regularly spotted running around campus before sunset, other than the occasional appearance at a party where she spent the whole time glued to her housemates, no one knew anything about the stunning brunette on campus. But one thing was clear; if Rose was a virgin, it wasn't because of a lack of admirers. At college, and at Court, numerous men would have been by her side in an instant had she given them even the slightest encouragement.

"Maybe," Eddie said. "I don't think she had when we graduated… and it's not like she's exactly putting herself out there, is it?"

"What do you mean?" Lissa asked, her voice sharp. She and Rose might not have the same relationship they had when they graduated nearly four years ago, but she still considered Rose her best friend, and wouldn't tolerate anyone speaking ill of her.

"I mean, she sleeps during the day, trains every second day with one of us, runs by herself, and guards while everyone else sleeps," Eddie explained. "Even if she wanted to have a social life, we're the only Moroi and Dhampir on campus. Humans aren't likely to understand her weird hours."

"I hadn't thought about that," Lissa murmured. "What about when she has time off at Court?"

"She usually spends the first few days in her room binge-watching TV series and eating pizza. Then she signs up for extra shifts," Meredith supplied.

"She works during her vacations?" Lissa gasped in dismay, stunned she didn't know this. She knew the relationship between the two of them had changed, but there had been a time when they'd told each other everything. That had obviously altered, but Lissa was determined to get back to the close, loving relationship they'd once shared.

As she ran the paths of Lehigh, Rose was lost in her own world. The time before she started work was her favorite part of her day. An hour and a half to run in the dappled sunlight. It was the space she took for herself.

Before her shift, she ran to the east, waiting for the sun to dip toward the horizon before turning her feet home to shower, eat, then guard.

Over the last four years, she and Dimitri had their schedule down to a fine art. Clocking on at 7:00 pm, they'd eat their breakfast while Lissa, Christian, Meredith, and Eddie had dinner. The other four would do coursework, study or watch TV while Dimitri and Rose took turns to patrol outside, an hour each. Once the household settled in for the night, they secured the premises, splitting up to guard. One upstairs, one downstairs.

Needing to be quiet as the others slept, they'd spend their time apart moving from room to room, checking there was no threat while doing whatever housework could be accomplished noiselessly. Sometimes Dimitri would read, or Rose would spend her time shaving her legs, doing pushups, or watching TV with the sound off and subtitles on. No matter how they filled the long hours, they'd always meet downstairs at 1:00 am to spend fifteen minutes together for 'lunch' before trading places – one moving upstairs while the other went downstairs.

"Hey, I'm back," Rose announced walking through the door and going straight to the kitchen to chug down a bottle of water. After her announcement, earlier, she'd been embarrassed, so in an attempt to wipe it from her mind she'd pushed herself extra-hard during her run today.

The first lesson is to run. Even nearly five years later, Dimitri's words stuck. It was still the thing that got Rose up at 5:00 pm every day, even though she and Dimitri rarely ran together anymore.

"We're having apricot chicken with couscous, and it's poached eggs and bacon on toast, fruit salad, yogurt and granola for you two," Christian announced from the range.

The food sorted, Christian and Lissa disappeared into the laundry to consume a blood bag quickly, each, while Dimitri, Eddie, Meredith, and Rose set the table and served their meals. In a few minutes, the six were seated, bowing their heads obediently as Lissa insisted on saying a prayer.

"This tastes good," Eddie said after a mouthful of chicken, filling an otherwise awkward silence.

"Yeah, thanks," Meredith agreed, nodding to Christian.

Rose kept her eyes downcast, focusing on her eggs and bacon. She didn't want to talk. Chewing her food slowly, her plate finally clear she thanked Christian for breakfast.

"I'll go shower. Belikov? You want to do inside or outside first?"

"You don't have a preference?" he asked, looking at Rose directly for the first time since her earlier declaration.

"Happy either way," she stated, never lifting her eyes.

"Then I'll do outside, first," Dimitri announced. The others wouldn't understand, but the few hours of daylight their schedule afforded them were precious. Dimitri usually stayed in during their 'morning' to give Rose the opportunity to run, then she typically took the first shift inside to let him enjoy the fading daylight as he patrolled the perimeter of their house.

"Fine. Give me ten to shower and change," Rose said in a voice that sounded oddly flat. Rinsing her plate, then placing it in the dishwasher, Rose headed up to her room spending a few minutes in the shower before dressing in black cargos, a tank top, and a jacket. Tying her hair up into a tight chignon, Rose moved downstairs.

"Taking over," Rose said right on 7:00 pm, formally letting Eddie and Meredith know their shifts had switched. A loose term, since if there were an attack they were, of course, all expected to respond. However, it meant Meredith and Eddie were now on their own time unless necessity required their assistance.

"Also on duty," Dimitri stated seconds later, nodding to Meredith and Eddie before stepping outside to patrol the garden outside their house.

"I made chicken filo parcels and fries," Dimitri said quietly when Rose came into the kitchen at 1:00 am. He knew all her favorite meals and made them in rotation.

"Thanks," Rose replied, flopping onto a chair on one side of the table and picking up her cutlery. "Looks good."

They ate in silence, Dimitri eventually breaking the peace to discuss the details for an upcoming trip to Court. One of the few benefits of doing the night shift at Lehigh was not having to re-acclimate every time they visited the Moroi world. Not that it would be an issue much longer. With only a few months left before Lissa, Christian, Eddie, and Meredith graduated, soon they'd be returning to Court permanently.

"Do you ever wish you'd got the day shift so you could have got a degree?" Rose asked Dimitri curiously. Lissa was studying politics with a minor in diplomacy - which would have bored the hell out of Rose - but Christian's business major and minor in psychology sounded pretty interesting. Eddie certainly seemed to be getting into it.

Dimitri shrugged. "It was safer for the Princess this way."

"You're right," Rose replied, standing up now her plate was empty. "They come first." She walked to the dishwasher putting her plate in it. "Thanks for lunch."

As Dimitri climbed the stairs to start the second half of their shift, Rose's words plagued him. Would he have liked the chance to earn a degree? He'd certainly had the marks to qualify for University, had he been Moroi. Maybe it was Rose who wanted more? A naturally social person, being stuck for twelve hours night after night guarding in silence wasn't much of a life for her. As the most senior guardian and team leader, he stuck by his decision that the timetabling had been the right thing to do. He just felt bad that his choice cost Rose the opportunity to enjoy even a small part of a normal college experience.

He was still thinking about Rose five hours later when he came downstairs, not that that was unusual. Much of Dimitri's time was spent thinking about Rose. The others were waking, and she was setting the table for their breakfast.

"I nuked the leftover spaghetti bolognese for us," she said to Dimitri. Her skills not extending into the kitchen, every second day Dimitri would cook several meals for them, Rose reheating the leftovers when her shifts had her downstairs for lunch or dinner.

"All ok?" Eddie asked, rubbing his eyes and sitting at the table.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Rose replied. "Dimitri?"

"All normal," he replied, sitting in front of his dinner, smiling when he noticed Rose had already put grated parmesan and chili flakes on his meal. Just the way he liked it. "Busy day ahead?"

"Very," Meredith announced. "Classes from 8:00 am and then study groups. We'll be in eyesight of one another in the library and home before sundown."

"Call if you're concerned or need an escort," Dimitri said; the same thing he said almost every day.

Lissa and Christian arrived downstairs, the later preparing bacon and egg muffins. Four for Eddie, two for Meredith and one for him and Lissa to share. The banter flowed around the table, although Dimitri noticed Rose contributed little other than the odd chuckle. Breakfast over, Rose tidied the kitchen while the others went upstairs to prepare for the day and Dimitri stepped outside to do a final check of the garden and the wards. He was back inside when Meredith and Eddie declared themselves 'on guard' at 7:00 am.

"Rose? Are you planning to work out?" Dimitri asked. Even though they were officially off duty, and it was daylight, one of them would stay with their charges until they left the house.

"Not today," she replied.

"Ok. I'll go for ninety minutes," he replied, always willing to delay his own workout to give Rose time if she needed it.

"What are you doing here?" Rose gasped, stepping into her room at close to 9:00 am to find Dimitri sitting on her bed waiting. She'd watched some TV, then gone to the supermarket to pick up a couple of things, and was now preparing to go to bed. Their eyes met, and Rose could see Dimitri debating what to say next.

"Do you really think I didn't want you?" Dimitri whispered, quiet despite the fact they had the house to themselves.

"It was a long time ago," Rose said dismissively, not refuting that he had been the man she'd talked about earlier. It was impossible to deny. Lust charm or not, the night Victor had abducted Lissa, Rose had been prepared to give herself to Dimitri absolutely.

"Coming up on five years," Dimitri agreed, looking at where his hands were clasped in his lap. He whispered his next words so softly Rose could hardly hear them. "I wanted you so badly that night, Roza. I wanted you then, and I still want you now."