A/N: Yes, here it it FINALLY... I will be honest... I know this isn't the best... please refrain from reminding me of it... I really apreciate the kind way you guys say some of these arent your favorite but for the sake of my sanity and my willingness to continue if you don't like this one just don't review it...

Also in regards to WHY this took so long... I have been going through a LOT of issues with typing stuff up right now... I have had no desire to TYPE... I finally forced myself and refused to check my email and stuff until this was finished so I did this for yoooou guys!

AND ALSO, if you notice me not updating like I did before... take it as a sort of hiatus. I write when I have the urge and if I am not in the mood to type as Dimitri... I wont... I would rather have you wait for a QUALITY fan fic than have to pump out crap like this one is because I have been getting so many emails about updating...

Sorry for the bitching... I've had a LONG day at work.

You will lose what you value most, so treasure it while you can.

I stood on the runway with Rose, thinking about the psychic's words, trying to understand them better. Though as hard as I tried, I could not think of what she meant. I had never been a materialistic person, to have something that I treasured.

"Are you still thinking about what Rhonda said?" Rose's voice broke through my thoughts. "That woman's a total scam."

"Why do you say that?" I asked looking down at her, ignoring the wind that pounded us from every direction. She looked up at me, eyes burning with irritation. I wondered again what was eating at her. She couldn't have been this upset about the fortune, or lack there of. I had been told that she had had a private meeting with the queen and was curious if that might be the reason she was on edge.

"Because she didn't tell us anything! You should have heard my fortune. It was, like, one sentence stating the obvious. Lissa had a better fortune," she admitted, "bit it wasn't really anything that profound. Rhonda said she'd be a great leader. I mean, seriously, how hard is that to figure out?"

I smiled despite myself. "Would you be a believer is she'd given you a more interesting reading?"

She shrugged and sniffed against the cold a little. "Maybe if it was good." I laughed and shook my head. She was so stubborn, sometimes. "But you're taking it seriously. Why? You really believe in that kind of stuff?"

"It's not so much that I believe… or that I don't believe." I tugged my cap down over my ears more, to try to fight of the crisp wind. "I just respect people like her. They have access to knowledge other people don't." As I said the words I thought more about her words and how they didn't seem to apply to me or any situation I was in. I couldn't think of any one thing that I valued most, and I did a mental inventory of everything I owned.

"She's not a spirit user, though, so I'm not really sure where she's getting this knowledge. I still think she's a con artist."

"She's a vrajitoare, actually."

"A…" she looked at me, like I was from another planet. "A what? Is that Russian?"

"Romanian. It means… well, there's no real translation. 'Witch' is close, but that's not right. Their idea of a witch isn't the same as an American's." Rose looked at the ground and shook her head. I could tell this wasn't the type of conversation she had ever imagined having with me.

I didn't blame her. In our line of work, rationalism was a must. But when someone had seen what I had of life and lived as I had as a child, then the paranormal wasn't so strange.

"My grandmother was like Rhonda," I said. "That is, she practiced the same kind of arts. Personality-wise, they're vary different." I spoke the last word with a bit of nostalgia. Thinking of my home and my family always seemed to capture me. I was always taken back to that place in time when everything was worry-free and comfortable.

"Your grandmother was a… v-whatever?"

"It's called something else in Russian, but yes, same meaning. She used to read cards and give advice too. It was how she made her living."

I could tell that Rose was choosing her words carefully; that funny little calculating look consumed her features. Finally she said, "was she right? In her predictions?"

"Sometimes," I said, nodding. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"You've got this look on your face that says you think I'm delusional, but you're too nice to say anything." I looked pointedly down at her. After all she could read her best friend's mind. Who was she to judge the unknown?

"Delusional's kind of harsh. I'm just surprised, that's all I never expected you to buy into this stuff."

"Well," I said with a shrug. "I grew up with it, so it doesn't seem that strange to me. And like I said, I'm not sure I buy into it 100 percent." After all Rhonda had been pretty off the mark about her prediction.

Ivashkov came to stand with the crowd and began complaining loudly about wanting to board. I was settling into my rather frequent thoughts of disdain toward the stuck up royal, when Rose's voice broke through my thoughts yet again.

"I never thought of you as having a grandmother, either," she said looking up at me with mild amusement. "I mean, obviously, you'd have to. But still… it's just weird to think about growing up with one." I could tell she was referring to her own family matters as she spoke. "Was it weird having a witch grandma? Scary? Was she always, like, threatening to cast spells if you were bad?"

"Most of the time she just threatened to send me to my room."

"That doesn't sound so scary to me."

"That's because you haven't met her."

Rose looked at me for a second. "Is she still alive?"

Her surprise amused me. I nodded. "Yeah. It'll take more than old age to kill her off. She's tough. She was actually a guardian for a while."

"Really?" She suddenly seemed enthralled by the conversation, like she was being introduced to a whole new world, and in a way, she was. Rose had been brought up in the Academy, where the only thing she was taught was that our kind fought, protected, and died for their Moroi. This whole introduction to a world where dhampirs acted the same as regular humans seemed to be astounding to her. "So she gave it up to become a- uh, to stay with her kids?"

I ignored the blood whore reference. "She has very strong ideas about family- ideas that probably sound kind of sexist to you. She believes that all dhampirs should train and put in time as guardians, but that the women should eventually return home to raise their children together."

Rose glared at me. "But not the men?"

"No," I said trying to hide the mocking tone in my voice. "She thinks men still need to stay out there and kill Strigoi."

"Wow," Rose said getting lost in thought. I thought about my life and my duty as well. I wouldn't have ever admitted this to Rose or anyone else, but sometimes I thought about how much simpler the dhampir life could be if we could procreate without the help or Moroi. Guardians could all put in their time, then when they were ready, they could settle down and have a family. I wouldn't have minded a family of my own, with a wife who understood truly how it was to be us. It was a thought and feeling that I kept locked away, but standing here with Rose discussing all this I couldn't help but think about it. Especially how it could be if she were who I came home to.

"You were the one who had to go. The women in your family kicked you out."

It took me half a second to get my train of thought back on track. "Hardly," I said with a laugh. "My mother would take me back in a second if I wanted to come home." I smiled as I thought of home again. Of the warmth that engulfed that place. I would have been lying if I had said I didn't miss it. I did.

Suddenly Ivashkov was cheering about boarding the plane and my professionalism slammed back into place.

I had been sitting in silence with Alberta the whole way back, thinking about the conversation with Rose. I had glanced back at her briefly during the flight and noticed she looked pale and in pain, like her headache had returned.

As the plane veered a bit, Alberta swore under her breath and caught the attention of the nearest flight attendant. "What's wrong?" she asked the obviously flustered woman.

"An ice storm just blew through the area," she said with an exasperated shrug. "We can't land at St. Vladimir's because the runway isn't accessible with the ice and the winds. We need fuel, however, so we're going to land at Martinville Regional. It's a small airport a few hours away by car, but they weren't as affected as much. Our plan is to land there, refuel, and then fly into the Academy once they've cleared the runway. It's less than an hour by air."

She hurried off to take her seat as we began out descent off course to the other airport. As I turned my attention to the window, which I was seated next to, I wondered more about the ice and the cold. It only seemed to make me feel a bit more homesick.

As soon as we touched the ground I heard a painful gasp from behind me. I knew who it was before my head whipped around. It was Rose, and something was wrong.

There was a look of pure terror and agony etched into her features and her hand were grasping the arm rests of her seat. I felt myself tensing up, still looking at her and I tried to free myself from the horrid little restraint. She was looking around at the empty air surrounding her as if something horrible was coming toward her. Suddenly she started screaming and at the terrorized shriek I broke the seatbelt apart and jumped up.

I was ready to fight, to kill, but there was no one to fight or to kill. Everyone was surrounding her, looking down at her with fearful and concerned expressions plastered to their faces. We all wanted to help her but there was nothing we could do. For the first time in my life, I was terrified. I was losing her to an invisible evil.

As I struggled to get back to where she was, Rose was struggling out of her seat. Suddenly she was standing up and swinging at the air around her. Suddenly the circle of people around her was a lot tighter, since no one wanted to get closer at the risk of being hit by one of Rose's wild fists.

"Make them go away!" Her screams were desperate and pathetic. "Make them go away!"

"What do we do?" Lissa asked Christian, concern dripping from each word.

"Get out of my way!" I didn't recognize the animalistic growl in my voice as I barked the words at them. Everyone automatically obeyed by stepping aside and I reached Rose just as she collapsed. I caught her in my arms and sat down with her saying her name desperately.

Suddenly the words from earlier slammed back into my memory.

You will lose what you value most, so treasure it while you can. It wasn't a possession that I owned. It was Rose.

Rose was what I valued most in my simple life. And I was going to lose her.