Incomplete (A VA Fanfic One-Shots & Shorts Collection)

The Affair

DPOV
Rose Hathaway... she was far too beautiful for her own good. And the girl knew it. Girl? I beg to differ. She was a young woman, a talented young guardian woman. Only... according to the Law she is a child. At seventeen she had a body and a brain every woman desires to have, the body every man dreams to one day touch and hold, kiss and caress. And I was no different.

Except this exceptional young woman was my student. We had so much in common; we believed in the same guardian ideals, and we both understood the severity of our jobs- the way life and death and good and evil interplayed. What was the hardest part about her and I was that she just got me. She knew me in ways no one else did- not even my wife- and in ways I didn't know myself. It was scary- she was. She scared me because she left me open and vulnerable.

I'd been mentoring her for four months now, and I had to be more careful than ever when around Tasha. Because all I wanted to do was share Rose's triumphs and progress with her, how Rose had uncovered another secret about me. I also wanted to tell her how I'd- stupidly enough in a lapse of judgement- invited her over for Christmas lunch in three days time. But I figured since Rose was Lissa's best friend, and Lissa was my nephew in law's girlfriend, Christian or Lissa would tell Tasha that Lissa was bringing Rose as a 'plus one'. This whole situation was screwed up. Stuff that! I was screwed up.

"What the hell, Dimka!" exclaimed Tasha after dinner, having just got off the phone to Christian. Eavesdropping had let me know I'd been relieved of 'Rose invitation notification' delivery duty.
"Yes Tasha?" I asked with a raised brow, not lifting my attention from the Western novel I was reading. The one- like all others now- that reminded me of Rose's teasing about them and my attempts at keeping her in line.
"When were you going to tell me you were going to bring your little girlfriend to Christmas lunch?"

I put my mask in place to hide just how much I wished Rose was my girlfriend. God, I wished I wasn't stuck in this marriage. Before I met Rose I thought what I felt for Tasha was love. And it was, but it wasn't the all-consuming love I felt for Rose, it wasn't the type of love that made me feel complete, and raw, the type that had me terrified of seeing a single scratch on her... not to mention terrified and jealous at the sight of another male's hand on her.

"What makes you think I invited her?"
Tasha glared accusingly. "Everything with you now is about Her! About Rose!"
I took a steadying breath and straightened up, calming my racing heart and mind, relaxing my tense muscles and nerves. Well, attempting to. No one and I mean No One speaks about Rose that way! At least not around me. "You don't have to like her, Natasha, but I expect you to respect her. She is your nephew's girlfriend's guardian, and I expect you to be hospitable and respectful. She's going to be a permanent fixture in your life, just like Lissa."
"She's a reckless, irresponsible novice, Dimitri. A novice, not a Guardian. You can dream all you want, but she's still a novice. Who may not graduate if she keeps up her ways."
"I don't have to deal with this jealous bullshit, Tasha! I don't have the energy for the shit everyone talks about her. No one seems to ever see her potential. No one wants to begin to think to try to believe in her. And I now get why." I slammed the book down, grabbed my duster and headed toward the door. I called back over my shoulder after opening the door, "No one understands life and death like she does, like I do." I pulled the door shut. It made a satisfactory bam as I walked away from the guest housing door.

I don't know where I intended to go. But I ended up in the gym, just walking around it like a fool as the most bitter-sweet memories washed over me. Ghosts of my happiest, most precious moments were visible in every corner of the room, every surface. The teasing while stretching together. The smiles as Rose, my Roza, increased her strength and rebuilt her muscle. Opening up to her about my father while salvaging her precious hands. Telling her not to cut her perfect hair that was attractive in its own right. Teaching her how to stake with the dummies after the fateful, tragic trip to the Badica's and Art Schoenberg for her qualifier. Pinning her to the floor yet again after she'd tried to surprise attack me... and oh god how I'd wanted to kiss her in that moment. And even more so after the first time she'd pinned me last week. I hardly knew Rose Hathaway, yet I still knew more about her than I did my own wife. I knew the feel of her hair and the shape of her curves better than I knew Tasha's... I knew her better than I knew me. And it was a terrifying thought.

"Did you fight with Tasha again, Dimitri?" called Rose's concerned voice. It in itself was a balm to my worries, the sound of safety.
I looked into her warm brown eyes and got lost in them. Again. "Would you believe me if I said no?"
She laughed indulgently and I could swear it was like angels singing. "No, I wouldn't believe you for a millisecond." She smiled gently as she unintentionally strutted sexily over to me from the gym's main door. "You know I wouldn't believe you for a millisecond, Comrade." Her voice was so gentle and tender.
I gulped at the sound of the nickname that made my heart race, especially in that tone of voice. "Oh Rose," I sighed and resisted the urge to pull her to my chest, to cling to her for dear life and sanity.
"What was it about this time?" She fixed me with a dangerous look that told me to confide in her or else I would later regret it.

But how could I tell her? How could I tell her Tasha suspected something was going on between her and I? How could I tell her she was going to spell the end of my loveless marriage? I knew she'd only feel guilty, then end up alone on Christmas Day. And I couldn't bear the thought of her going through that. So how could I tell her? But apparently I didn't need to say anything for her to understand. She always understood, whether I wanted her to or not.

"Oh Dimitri," she sighed sadly and collapsed against the gym's side wall. "If it's going to cause that much trouble I'll spend Christmas with Mason and Eddie..."
I rested my back on the wall next to her and took her hand in mine, immediately feeling warm all over. She was worth it, I knew she was. "No, Rose. Come, please. I know Lissa will want you there. I want you there, Roza. I'll handle Tasha, just please, come." I bore my eyes into hers meaningfully.
"I don't want to be a home-wrecker, Dimitri. Or 'the other woman'." Her brown eyes glistened with unshed tears.
"Oh Roza," I murmured and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You aren't, believe me, you aren't."
"Then what am I, Dimitri? To you? To her?"
I cupped her face tenderly and looked into her eyes lovingly. "My better half," I said seriously. "You own my heart, Rose." And I'd marry you in a heartbeat if I could. "Roza, I need you to understand that me filing for divorce is my choice and you aren't a home-wrecker because of it. Okay?" I explained desperately as I ran one hand through her hair. "I can't live without you, Roza. I don't want to. I hate seeing you hurting. I just have to protect you, I know it's wrong, but it's ingrained in my being. I have to protect you. I want to protect you."
She nodded shyly. "Understood. And it's so damn wrong to want to put me first."
"But so right," I contradicted quietly.

Rose blushed. She pulled me into a hug. I kissed her. Really kissed her. I was drowning when I wasn't kissing her. I couldn't find my thoughts let alone my control when I kissed her. It was nothing like kissing Tasha. With Rose, I couldn't get enough. With Rose, sparks flew and it felt right, just like simply being around her. Oh god, I'd never thought I'd be the type of man to have an affair. Let alone with my minor student. But here I was, completely, utterly and hopelessly in love with a young woman who was not my wife. And I didn't know how long I could hold out before taking her to bed.

Not much longer at all as it turned out. We tumbled our way through the gym, ripping clothes off between kisses, and made it into the store room. We landed on a crash mat and I hitched her leg up and over my waist. There was now only two thin pieces of fabric separating us. And by god, I could tell how much she wanted me. I could tell from her eyes alone how much she loved me. From those gorgeous eyes I could also tell how nervous she was about this. It was her first time, I realised. I now wanted more than ever for her to feel as loved and special as she was.

RPOV
I had never imagined my first time would be in the gym, on one of the crash mats, with my mentor... my married mentor. My older married mentor. But that didn't seem to matter in that moment. Where didn't matter, the who did. Dimitri was my everything. And married or not, I could see in his eyes and feel in his kisses that I was his world, I was his salvation. He loved me with all he had in him. I wasn't some fling.

"Are you sure, Roza?" he asked in his lust and love-thickened accent. His eyes reassuring and loving. Our earlier animalistic urgency had simmered down, but not near enough to kill this moment, rather the opposite, it was prolonging it. In that suspended moment of time there was two things I was immovably and unwaveringly certain of; I loved him as much as he loved me (with everything in us), and that he was the only one I ever wanted to be with. He noticed my decision just before I nodded.

When I woke in the gym the following morning I didn't know how I was going to face Tasha, Christian, or Lissa. But I didn't regret it. And from Dimitri's loving gaze and tender touches (and his broad smile) I knew he didn't either.
"You don't regret it?" I asked sleepily.
If possible, his smile grew. "Not one little bit."
"Good. Neither do I."