InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Incorrect!"

It was cool by San Francisco standards this time of year, but nothing close to the low temps Rose was used to after essentially growing up in Montana. Even at The Court, December was usually a lot colder. Dimitri had somehow managed to get her to start running again, too, regardless of the fact that she wasn’t really his student anymore. She’d finished high school last week and now it was time to decide what the hell to do with herself now. Keep working at the gym? Look into college? Right now, she was planning to just enjoy the holidays and all the extra food those brought.

She had to admit that running along the beach in the early morning light was a good way to clear her head. It had felt clearer, anyway, somehow, since that mysterious ring had showed up on her night stand. Weird.

Rose felt Lissa’s presence before she turned her head to see that she’d appeared next to her. She slipped her steps, stopping quickly to start for a moment. “Liss?” The question was rhetorical, because she knew it was her. She could feel the bond returning full strength rather than the watered down version of it she’d been feeling for months now.

---

Lissa wasn’t sure how she had ended up on a beach facing her best friend but she couldn’t help but smile. She’d missed her terribly and she reached out and took Rose’s hand. “Yes, it’s me. God, I have missed you. How did you end up in San Francisco?” It was the last place she would have expected Rose to be but then again, she also had no idea how she herself had ended up in San Francisco.

---

“It’s a long story,” Rose answered as she pulled Lissa toward her and wrapped her arms around the taller young woman in a fierce hug. She didn’t know how long it had been for Lissa, but for Rose it had been months since she’d seen her, since she’d been home, since the day by the wards when she’d said goodbye, ready to head off on her mission to free Dimitri from that unholy state he was in. Had been in before she’d come here. Time travel was so confusing. Lissa had been so angry and hurt in that moment and it was a conversation that had haunted Rose these last months. Now here she was, as if nothing had happened.

“Are you really here?” she couldn’t help asking. This wasn’t really like the way Rose had arrived. No one from the military was here to greet Lissa and she’d just appeared out of nowhere, not like the portal that Rose had fallen out of at all.

---

“I think so,” Lissa replied, puzzled by all this. “I was getting ready for bed, I was thinking about you which was nothing unusual, I think about you all the time. The next thing I know, I’m here. You were in Siberia, I was so worried about you but I couldn’t reach you.” Their goodbye had been hard and it had broken Lissa’s heart but she’d had time to think, she understood why Rose had done what she’d done but she didn’t think she’d ever get to tell her.

“I’m so sorry, Rose,” she said, tears in her eyes. “The things I said…I understand now. I know why you did it. I wouldn’t have had the courage to do it, but you were always braver than me. No matter how much I love Christian, I don’t know if I could be that brave. Did you find Dimitri?”

---

Rose frowned at that. “I wasn’t- I was just about to leave, but I hadn’t yet.”

She fell silent, then, letting Lissa talk. She still wasn;t sure if she was really here or if she was imagining all of this, especially when it was exactly what she needed to hear. She shook her head. “Not yet. Not at home, anyway, but he’s here in San Francisco. It was before-” She hesitated. The words were still hard to say. “Before he became Strigoi, for him. I’m not sure what’s going to happen at home, but I think being here is like a second chance, in a way.”

Rose hugged her friend and bondmate again. “I’ve really missed you, Liss,” she murmured before pulling back a little. Reaching forward, she brushed the tears from Lissa’s beautiful face.

“And I’m sorry, too. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Dimitri and me sooner. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about all the things I was feeling. I wasn’t fair to either of us.”

---

“It’s okay,” Lissa said. “And I miss you too. I’m not sure what brought me here but I’m glad it did. I’m glad Dimitri is here too. Maybe you’re right, this is a second chance for you both. Have you told him about becoming Strigoi?” It would be a hard conversation to have but she knew Rose would do it if she had to.

---

Rose laughed a little, nodding. “I tried to attack him when I saw him,” she admitted, shaking her head. “It took me a moment to realize he was still Dimitri.” It was sort of funny now that they were past that. She was glad she hadn’t managed to actually hurt him that day.

---

Lissa laughed. She wasn’t the least bit surprised that Rose had done that but she couldn’t blame her since the last thing she knew of him, he was not the Dimitri they all knew. “Well I assume he forgave you for that. I think he’d forgive you for pretty much anything.” She’d been angry when she’d found out about Rose’s feelings for Dimitri, mostly because her best friend hadn’t told her, but looking back, she should have seen it. “I should have paid attention, I should have seen it but I was too wrapped up in myself. Hiding your feelings……that must have been hell.”

---

Rose shrugged. “It was what we had to do. We couldn’t be together. He was my teacher. I was underage and on top of that, we’re both meant to be guarding you one day. I didn’t think there was much point in talking about it.” None of that mattered here in San Francisco, in a world where they hadn’t seen or heard of a single strigoi and where no one was counting on them for protection. Still, she felt the need to add, “It wasn’t your job to notice what we both worked hard to keep hidden. I should have told you. I shouldn’t have just waited for you to figure it out.” Rose hadn’t even figured out until recently how much she’d started to resent Lissa for being a part of the reason she and Dimitri couldn’t be together and for being able to have her relationship freely and out in the open. She knew that was on her, because she’d let it all build to that point.

“I won’t do it again, Liss,” she promised. “From now on, I’ll always be completely honest with you, no matter what.”

---

Lissa nodded. “I know. I wish I could stay longer,” she said. “But I can’t. I won’t say goodbye because I’ll see you again someday.” She reached out for a final hug and she was gone.