Chapter 15: A Courting We Will Go...

Burn it to the Ground – Nickelback

Turning in my seat, I looked over at where Carla was sitting next to Chris, they were talking about who they were going to see and what they wanted to do while we were there. It made me smile that she kept calling him dad and he answered every question she asked him, telling her truthfully 'I don't know' if he didn't know something.

"He's a great father, Rose. I'm glad you and Carla have him."

Looking over at Sonja, I smiled, "I'm glad we have him too. He's always been this nice to Carla even when he didn't know she was his." I sighed and glanced back at them for a second before looking back at Sonja. "How are you feeling about today?"

"Honestly, I'm that scared that I almost puked when Christian told us we were going, then again when we were about to board the plane. I can't wait to see Mikhail, but then I'm scared about seeing him at the same time if you know what I mean." this time she sighed, "I want everything to be perfect but I'm scared that he's found someone else and has moved on. I don't want to mess up his life, but I want to be with him and I know that he'll be confused as to who he'll want to be with if I just turn up on his doorstep and I know that he'd choose me because he wouldn't want to hurt me, and I -"

"Sonja, he hasn't found someone else. He's been looking for you since all this started and when I found a way to turn strigoi back he said that he hoped we could do the same for you." I patted her arm, "He'll be waiting for you until the day he dies. I can promise you that. True love never dies, never fades and never goes away. Trust me."

"Are you talking about Dimitri or Christian? 'Cause I seem to remember that you and Dimitri broke up." Vika interjected, "So how does that work if you're asking her to trust you?"

"I was talking about Christian obviously, and besides with the way Mikhail was acting last time I saw him and the way he talked whenever we spoke; I can honestly say that he's still head over heals in love with you." I poked my tongue out at Vika and she huffed and went to sit next to Niko, who was having trouble relaxing. I then grinned at Sonja, "He'll be so shocked to see you that he will stand there with his mouth hanging open until you say something. And then he hold you so tight it will hurt, but you wont care because you'll have your Mike back."

She smiled and nodded, "I think that I will be holding him just as tight as he holds me and just be grateful that he's back in my arms and I'm not trying to kill him."

"You wouldn't have tried to kill him, you would've wanted him to turn to be with you, even if you didn't really feel love then. You would've been possessive to the extreme with him." I gave her a small smile, "But he would've found a way to save you, like I did for Dimitri. Even though we didn't end up together. But last time, are you sure you're ready for this? We can go back if you want to."

"I'm sure I want this, I'm more than ready. I want to get my life back on track and have Mike with me the whole way. Even if he wants to stay at court, I'm more than happy to if it means I can stay with him. I mean, I-I'm grateful for everything you've done Rose, but I -"

"It's alright I understand, if he wants you to stay; you will because you love him, I wont hold it against you." I smiled at her as she smiled at me. "But what if he wants to live were you live? What will you do then?"

"Well um, you said that I could stay with you until I got my own place, right? Would that still be ok?" she mumbled, "I mean if it's not okay if Mike stays, I can look for a place for us over the net from court. It shouldn't be too hard after all, right?"

"You wont need to," Christian said as he walked over, leaving a now sleeping Carla curled up on his seat. "There's that place next door to our house, Rose. Not too far away and that way they can have their own space to have a family too."

"You're right, Chris. Why didn't I think of that? Oh, right I did." I said, pulling him down into the seat next to mine and snuggling into his chest as he wrapped his arms around me. "It wasn't the right place for us, but maybe you guys will love it."

Chris nodded, "It's got two floors, upstairs there's four bedrooms, a study and a bathroom, down stairs is everything else. But that's not the best thing about it. The best thing is the -"

"Hey, I wanted to tell her!" I said nudging him in the ribs so he grinned down at me and waved his hand as if to say carry on then. "The best thing is the gardens. The yard is massive and has raised gardens the entire way around the fence line, and out the front is more gardens. When we saw it we thought that it would be great for you when you were ready but not so much for us." I gave her a cheeky grin, "But then. We already bought it for when you wanted to move out so you'd have somewhere to go that wasn't too far."

She looked shocked, "You did that for me?" she asked and at our nods she started to tear up, "Thank you so much! I knew you were really kind when you wanted to be Rose, but even I didn't expect this! I'm honoured, really. I just, thank you."

"It's okay." Christian said, "We've both become attached to you and we didn't want you to have to frantically search for a place only to have to move far away and not be able to see us as much as we all would like."

"He's right, Sonja. You're like family to us and Carla too, she'd miss you heaps." she smiled at us through the tears on her face, "When they told us about that place we weren't as in to it as they had hoped but when I saw the yard, I was sold. I told Chris we had to buy it and he agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly at first but after I told him about what I had planned he was all for it."

"Next we went and saw the place next door too and thought it was perfect for us, so we bought that one two. The sales lady was shocked that we'd bought two houses until we said one was for a very close friend of ours." Chris grabbed her hand and squeezed it, "We didn't want to say good bye to you, even after things got better."

She squeezed his hand back and smiled at me. "I don't know what to say but thank you and now I really hope that Mike wants to come home with us."

Smiling back at her, I said, "I know he will, don't worry so much."

Vika called over, "Tell us about some of the trouble you and Chris got into!"

"Come sit over here and I will, I'm not yelling while Carla's asleep." I said back. "I think you should come sit over here Niko."

He reluctantly undid his seatbelt that he had had on the whole trip so far and quickly strode over to our seats and buckled himself in again. Vika shook her head and came and sat with us too, her hand resting gently on Niko's arm. I nudged Christian and made him aware of their proximity, and felt him chuckle under me.

"So what do you want to hear about?" Chris asked Vika.

"What about the first few days after you first left court?" she said. "Okay, um. Well, we went to Spain and saw my uncle. He wasn't impressed with Rose at all. So she told him exactly where to shove his 'pretentious' attitude. Then my cousin's asked me to go to a club with them, so Rose came with and when we got there we found it was this awesome dance club and we got a little drunk and had a great time until we got back home and my uncle had a go at Rose since she was the only damphir that went." Chris said. "I distinctly remember telling him that I wasn't the guardian for his spoilt-arse brats and if my charge, Christian, said I could have a drink then that was fine with me and I would." I laughed, "He got so angry that his face went purple and I swear he was about to have a heart attack. But he was fine. Suffice to say, he didn't let his kids go out with us again after that."

"What about after that?" Niko asked.

"Oh, I remember we went to Ibiza to go to a club there called Space. It was hell fun and Chris got so wasted I had to carry him home." I laughed again, then I suddenly stopped, "The next night we went back and we both had a few, but not that many and when we were walking home, we got jumped by some strigoi."

Chris squeezed me and chuckled, "You beat them up really well from someone who had had seven rocket fuels. And when it came down to it you still won."

"Yeah, but one got away." I sighed, "But yeah, it was still a great night and getting my marks when I was drunk was a lot of fun. It didn't hurt as much."

We all laughed and Chris said "So there was that, the next day we looked up some famous club names and went to a few before I got a call of my friend Mark to come spend some time with him."

"Ha! I remember that. Remember that time at the club in England? I can't remember the name of it, but hell that was an awesome night. I had no idea you could drink so much and not die from it! And I only had two drinks while you managed to drink four bottles on your own within the first 2 hours." I laughed and touched Christian's arm, "What the hell was the name of that place anyway? We were there from Friday night until Monday morning, I have no idea what time it was we actually left though!"

"Oh, you mean when we went to Fabric, in London?" he laughed too, "Best night of my life! Wait I meant, nights and it was Monday arvo that we left 'cause we went and had dinner before heading back to the hotel and that night your dad called you and your yelling woke me up. But I didn't mind."

"Neither did I after I hung up and we got drunk together, instead of you getting wasted and me having like seven all weekend, I mean in that 72 hour time period." I gave him a small smile, "Was a great way to finish the weekend off. If you catch my drift!"

Christian's eyes locked on mine and he whispered in my ear, "Yeah. It was a great way to finish the weekend."

"Eeww, guys!" Vika said, "I'm so sure we didn't need to know you did that!"

Sonja laughed, "It's sweet. I'm glad you were able escape all the stress, even if it was just for a few hours." she smiled at Vika, "And besides, how would they have Carla now if they didn't?"

Laughing, I wiggled around in Christian's arms. "So Niko. How are you?" I asked the silent boy who was clutching the arms of his chair very tightly. "What have you been up to for the last few years?"

"Oh, I'm f-fine. Not much really. Just waiting t-to be assigned a-a charge and then I was going to be following th-them around most of the t-time." he said, "Since I don't r-really have much else to. I-I've been helping D-Denis and the g-gang track down strigoi nests."

"Is something wrong, Niko? You look a bit pale and you're stuttering." I asked, trying not laugh at the poor boy. "Are you afraid of flying?"

"Um, yes. See I-I don't really l-like heights and um, I-I'm not afraid. I just d-don't like being in a-a metal contraption th-that could fail a-at any given time." he replied looking down at his lap, his hazel eyes darting from one side to the other.

"Don't worry about it so much. You'll be fine." I said patting his shoulder, "So you wanna be my guardian?"

"What?" he asked. "What did you say?"

"I asked you if you wanted to be my guardian. Really Niko, you need to pay more attention to the conversation going on around you." I mock scolded him, "Now, do you want the job or not? Seeing as Vika is Carla's guardian and Christian only got me because the queen wanted me out of the way. Technically neither Christian nor I have a guardian now, but because I'm moroi again I think the queen will say I need my own guardian and I think you would be a great addition to the team."

"I would be honoured to be your guardian if it can be cleared, but with your skills and what have you, wouldn't the queen deem that you are unable to have your own guardian? Or would I be mistaken in thinking that?" Niko asked, "I mean no disrespect to you or your mentor, but are you still able to fight like you did when you were a damphir?"

"Eh, no offence taken. Yeah I can fight as well as I could, however, it's not just about me, I want you there to help Vika guard Carla and Christian as well, Christian wont get another guardian as the only reason he got one in the first place was because the queen wanted me away from Lissa and Adrian. What she doesn't know is that I am Lady Bardica and that I am coming to talk to her about a few things." I laughed, "I gotta remember to keep a low profile for the few days before I see her so she doesn't know I'm back yet. I just wanna see the look on her face when she sees that one of her best trained guardians is actually a moroi. I wonder how she's going to react."

"Are you sure?" he asked and I could see that he had gotten past his fear enough that he could talk to me. "I mean you don't even know how well I can fight or anything."

"Vika's already vouched for you so you don't need to worry about that too much, I mean sure I will give you one test but it'll be easy if your skill level is as high as Vika told me it was." I smiled at the nervous look he shot Vika, "But don't worry about it, you'll have plenty of warning to get ready."

We went on to talk about other things, planning our entire trip down to the last hour before we were due to leave. But still leaving a 12 hour gap were we don't do anything so when the queen called me in we could reorganise what ever we were going to do on that day to an other day so Sonja could go with me and Christian was going to stay with Carla and go over the paperwork to have Vika and Niko as the family's guardians.

"We should so get Mia, Eddie and the others to go out to a club with us the night after we get there! And I mean a human club, not one at court." I squealed, "And we can all have a good night. While Vika and Niko watch Carla for us. I mean if they don't mind?"

Vika snorted, "Fine with me, I'll be glad of the excuse to stay home and not have to go anywhere." Niko nodded along with her words and said yeah.

"Cool as. Chris, you are going to have to get them all there so everyone can see me at the same time so I don't have to worry about someone saying that they weren't told I was alive at the same time as someone else." I grabbed his arm and bounced in my seat, "Actually I know just how to get everyone there without them knowing that we're going to be there and then we can both show up and watch their mouths fall open and laugh at them!"

"Well, do go on Rose." Christian said, "I'm waiting with baited breath for your brilliant idea so we can comment on it."

"Nah, I'm not telling." I said and grinned and the look on his face, "I want it to be a surprise for you! I mean I know how much you've missed your best friend and all..."

He raised and eyebrow at me when I trailed off. "So you're planning on asking Eddie to organise everything? How would that work out?"

"Oh, no. Your other best friend." I said with a cheeky smile.

"What other best friend?" he said and the confusion was written all over his face, "I really want to know Rose, what other best friend?"

I mimed zipping my lips and grinned at him, "Not telling." I said and he crossed his arms. "So Sonja, how would you go about teaching a spirit user about their magic?" I changed the subject and turned to talk to Ms. Karp. "How would you explain the way the magic feels and how your body reacts to it, both before and after usage? How would you explain about the darkness and what it's side effects are? How the magic and the darkness are different for each person?"

"Actually Rose, I wouldn't have a clue. Um, I would start by making sure they actually are spirit users and then move on to theory about the first recorded spirit users and how their power manifested. The feeling of the magic and how if used too much can lead to in stability and insanity. Then move on to the different known types of spirit magic, and how they effect the body. Um, signs of the darkness and how to see them in other people. Dealing with the darkness. Then when you think they are ready tell them about the shadow-kissed and how they came about, but I wouldn't advise letting them in on the whole process until you know for sure they wouldn't just do it for selfish reasons. And then tell them about how a spirit bond works and seeing as you know how that works from the shadow-kissed end I think you will be a great teacher on that subject." She frowned, "But besides that I have no idea."

My eyes were hanging out of my head. "You just practically outlined a whole class for spirit users and then say you have no idea. I can see you being a great teacher for spirit magic."

"Um, thanks. I guess." she said, a soft blush forming on her cheeks, "But I don't think the Queen will let me take up teaching again though."

"Eh, doesn't matter what she says, if it comes down to it, I will start my own school and have you teach there with me." Christian said, "That way we both get to teach what we want, you can teach spirit magic and I can teach offensive fire magic. Oh and my beautiful Rosie can teach the novices how to be kick arse, with Vika and Niko's help and Carla, Zoya and Aleski can be our first students."

Laughing, I turned slightly. "You really think I have the patients to teach? You have got to be kidding me!"

We all laughed as he squeezed my hips, "I know you'll be a great teacher because if you weren't Carla wouldn't be the fighter that she is today. Between you, me and Sonja we would train the best warriors and healers in the world and people would be in awe of our school and parents would be trying to bribe us to let their kids in." he chuckled, "The life of infamous teachers."

We all laughed at his absurd thoughts but I hugged him anyway. I glanced back over at where Carla had fallen asleep and wished she would stay little, just so I could enjoy the little things that came with it, but I knew she was going to grow up one day and the thought made tears form in my eyes.

"What's wrong Rose?" Christian whispered in my ear.

"Our little girls growing up." I whispered back. "She's not going to be this big all her life. She's going to get bigger and then she'll be a teen and screaming that she hates us."

Christian smiled at me, "She will, but not for years yet. Let her grow up at her pace, don't push her too hard and she'll get there in her own time." He turned slightly as his smile faded, "I'm more worried about when she starts dating. You're going to be just as bad as me when it comes to what boys she can and can't date, but your idea of the right boy will be different from mine."

"What does that mean?" I asked moving so I could see him properly. "That my idea would be different to yours?"

"Well, you picked me and I'm a really bad influence on everyone I come into contact with." he grinned at me, "I mean after you came back to school you had to follow me to save Lissa from Victor, then you asked for my help to break out of the ski lodge and when the fight at the school happened, then you ran away again to save Dimitri from himself, which was what I was going to do if something like that happened to someone I cared about and then you and Lissa bailed with Eddie to Vegas! Which is so something I would have loved to do! So I am a really bad influence on you."

Laughing, I patted his arm, "Honey even if you hadn't been there, I still would have done what I did. Including breaking out of the ski lodge by bashing in the back of that guardians head by myself, and besides, I'm absolutely 100% sure I told you to go back but you didn't listen to me, so it was your own damn fault you were there."

We both laughed at the memory of Christian's shitty compulsion attempt. "Yeah, I so totally sucked at that, good thing I've been practising then, hey."

"Yeah, okay. But see I'm a spirit user, so yours will never be as good as mine." he frowned, "So you really didn't need to practice it."

Christian opened his mouth to reply when the pilot spoke over the intercom, "We are landing shortly and have just been informed that Princess Voda is unable to collect you so Lord Ivashkov will be receiving you from the terminal. That is all, Lady Bardica, we hope you and your companions had a wonderful flight."

Slightly dumbstruck I turned to Sonja, "Did we just get brushed off by the princess?"

"She might have had something really important come up that she couldn't put off, like say a family emergency?" she shrugged, "Ah well, as long as it's not Nathan picking us up, we'll be fine."

We all buckled our seatbelts and waited as we descended into the court before I spoke again, "I just hope it's not some pretentious cock head that has been told I was available, because I'll be telling him straight up that I got me a good man and I'm not letting him get away."

Christian chuckled and squeezed my hand, "I love you too, Rosie. And I wont let some 'pretentious cock head' take you away from me, so no dramas here."

After hitting the ground, Vika and Niko left the plane first making sure everything was safe for us. Climbing out of my seat, I picked up a very tired Carla, who snuggled into my arms and let out a soft snore that sounded just like her father, I tried to suppress a giggle and failed.

Walking down the steps was a different matter with Carla in my arms, slipping twice and having to be caught by Vika at the bottom was slightly shocking. I grinned at her and thanked her in Russian, not wanting to let the emissary know that I needed help of any kind.

Turning to the young man I recognised who it was immediately, though he didn't know it was me. "Adrian, so great to see you!" I said as I handed Carla to Vika, she was really heavy. "It's been ages darling." I sent Christian a wink as I hugged Adrian and felt how tense he was.

"Lady Bardica, it is great to see you arrive in one piece, I hope your flight wasn't too boring?" He said with an unusual grace that I hadn't seen in him before, "You must forgive Princess Voda for not coming, her daughter went into labour just 30 minutes before you were due to arrive."

Releasing his arms I stepped back, hoping he would see me for who I really was. "We thought it would be something like that. Didn't we, Chris, Sonja?" I pointed out their locations and they both affirmed that we had thought it would have been a family emergency.

"Christian? What are you doing here?" Adrian asked puzzled and turned back to me, he looked closer and I knew the exact moment when he realised who I was, "Rose?"

"Who else would I be?" I chuckled and he hugged me this time, "I thought you had given up on the partying, but here I am and you're either drunk or delusional. Tell me, how is everyone?" I grinned as I pulled back from the hug.

"I thought I was delusional when you came down and you didn't look the same so I thought that you couldn't be you but then, you're with Christian so it stands to reason that wherever you go he goes too." he chuckled, "Everyone is good, as far as I can tell, I haven't seen everyone yet, but I can find out for you. Sydney said that she couldn't wait to see who was new. She's really fucked with Aunty Tatiana's head."

Laughing, I took a hold of Christian's hand when he stepped over to us. "I'll bet, how's the general population dealing with your relationship with her?"

"Actually, not at all like I expected. They seem to think that we got together to produce more damphirs. Which isn't true at all, but they don't need to know that. I think we should talk more in the car to your apartment. We don't want little Carla to get sick."

Christian and I nodded and we walked over to the waiting car, Vika walking in front with Carla in her arms still. Adrian grinned at me as he glanced at mine and Christian's entwined fingers, I couldn't help the flush that came over my face as I grinned back.

After climbing in, Adrian asked the most shocking question, "So when are you getting married? I mean, I know its expected that me and Syd get married first since I asked her before you guys got together properly. So when?"

Christian's face was bright red and I had a feeling mine was too, "We haven't talked about that kind of stuff, we have a few things we need to talk about then we might possibly contemplate thinking about taking our relationship to that level but for now, I think we both are happy with the way things are right now." I glanced at Christian who was nodding his head rapidly. "And besides, who says we're ever going to get married? We might decide not to just to piss people off, you know how we are Adrian, we change our minds too much and we're both afraid of commitment."

"True, so not any time soon then?" he chuckled at his own joke. "Just kidding, don't worry too much about it. So how's Russia?"

"Russia is great, we bought a house there and are planning to live there full time so I can stay away from court and by extension of that out of your Aunt's reach. We're going to start a school for gifted damphirs and moroi." I grinned at Christian and let him take over talking about the school, I glanced over the back seat to see Carla was still asleep on Vika's lap and Niko was holding her unoccupied hand. Seeing them like that made me wish that there was a way for damphirs to have children together and then, maybe, just maybe, there would be hope for the guardians, hope for things to change when they realise that don't need us, hope for them to get better rights and not have their very existence dictated by someone who doesn't understand their point of view. Hope that one day, they will look ahead and see that the future doesn't have to be that grim.

Christian's voice brought me back to here and now, and the conversation, "... and Rose will take the one's with the highest score out on a hunt, to teach them real world skills, so that way when they see a strigoi for the first time, they have back up if they freeze so they don't die, but then this is all dependent on the Queen rescinding the age degree."

"I understand that, the death toll from that stupid thing has hit over a thousand, and that's just the damphirs, not the people they were protecting." Adrian's eyes shone with anger, "She wont listen to anyone about it, she thinks that it's the best idea out of three that she had handed to her and she wont admit that she was wrong, that it's wrong to send children to their deaths to protect old bastards that should know how to protect themselves by now!"

"Adrian, let go of the darkness. Holding onto it will only hurt you in the end." I glanced at Christian and he nodded, "Trust me please. We'll talk to people around court while we're here and get their opinions on what's going on and see if there is anyone who can talk her down."

He looked out the window for a moment, taking deep breaths. "I do trust you Rose, but I don't trust people to be very open with you. They like Tatiana, they just don't like the way she does things." he turned back to us, "I can see you getting help off a few people, like Tasha and the commoners. The guardians will be with you, no worries on that front, they just wont speak out for fear that they wont get some of their basic rights. Like holidays or visits to their family, some of the men have kids that their mothers are caring for, they wont give up the time they have with them, not if they don't know with absolute surety that the degree will be removed. You name the excuse, Rose, I've heard it. But I don't blame them."

"No one blames them, they should blame me. I was the one who said those things in front of the counsel, I should've said the truth from the start, that I wasn't a damphir, but then I didn't know that I wasn't at the time." I sighed and looked out the front windshield, "My dad doesn't know how much damage he's caused by not telling me what I needed to know, but I'm going to fix this. When is the next open counsel meeting?"

"Not for a few days." he grabbed my hand that Christian wasn't holding, "This isn't your fault, you did what you could. Now all we can do is damage control and pray that the casualty lists don't get too long on either side."

Christian squeezed my hand, "He's right, we can blame everyone we want until the undead come home, but at the end of the day, Tatiana is the one who wont let us vote to see if we want to get rid of it. We need to make a plan on how to get all the people on our side of this."

"You're right, both of you." I sighed, "I will make this better before we go back to Russia." I looked at Christian, "Even if it means we have to stay longer. I want to help them Chris, I feel like this is my fault even if you both think it's not."

"I understand, Roe. We'll stay until we can't do any more. Then we'll go home and keep working on it." Christian pulled me into his arms, "We will help the damphirs get their rights back and then we'll work on helping them in other ways, okay?"

"Okay." I said softly.

"Rose, honey. Relax, you will find away to help them. I mean you found a way to get Lissa out of the Academy when you were only 15. so I think that though this is a bigger undertaking you will still get the desired result that you want." Sonja chimed in. "You'll work something out that will make everyone happy and you'll be glad that you could help them."

"You think so?" I asked and at her nod, I made up my mind that I would help them or be damned trying. "Once we get settled in I'll start making a plan, would you care to join our exploits, Adrian? And could you organise something for me for tomorrow?"

"Sure Rose. I hate this uncertainty that has been caused by the age decree." He gave me a said smile, "What would you like me to organise for you?"

"I want all of our friends, including Mikhail, to meet at a human club, outside of court tomorrow around 10.30 so that way I can catch up with everyone at the same time, and make a big entrance too." I grinned, "Don't tell them why though, I want them to be surprised to see us." I giggled and Christian chuckled.

Adrian grinned, "No worries. I'll organise it and tell them that it is to celebrate mine and Sydney's engagement and that they should expect the unexpected!"

Chris and I nodded as we all laughed and the car came to a stop. Climbing out I looked up to see an older style, 2-story house with a big wrap-around porch. Blinking back tears about what had happened the last time I was here, I helped Vika out and took Carla from her as Niko steadied her on her wobbly legs from sitting still for so long with a child on her lap. She grinned at him, not seeing how I was feeling.

Christian walked up to the door with Adrian and Sonja, and I quickly joined them, knocking briskly on the hard wood door before either of them could say anything, Adrian knew who lived here, but Christian didn't so he was unsure of what to do. We waited for a moment until the sound of a lock turning interrupted Christian about to ask something. I put on my best smile and watched as she opened the door, Carla's weight almost forgotten in my arms as I waited for her shock, or yelling.

"Hello?" She asked, her confusion giving way to shock as she regarded my face.

"Hi, mum." I said.