What a Difference a Year Makes (Revised)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Keeping the secret of our home was surprisingly quite easy, owing to the fact that Dimitri and I are usually up before anyone else for training; evenings were a little more complicated but not much. After all I am the master of stealth and know my way around this campus like the back of my hand. Our relationship also remained under wraps. I think it was because we were with each other on a permanent basis, so it was easier to hide the attraction and keep our hands to ourselves until we were alone.

We had been married a month now and I still wasn't getting bored of hearing Dimitri call me his wife. It was nice that we had Eddie, Mason, Alberta and Emil to share our secret with; it made it easier to live normally. Dimitri's family were a big help too. We Skyped them at least once a week and my Russian language skill was coming along nicely. Since I asked Baba to teach me my vows in Russian I had wanted to learn more, so Dimitri, loving to teach me new things, set about expanding my vocabulary and Russian conversational skills.

He also took it upon himself to teach me how to cook. The man has infinite patience that is all I can say, but a month on I have a few dishes under my belt and regularly experiment on Eddie and Mason when Dimitri is on duty because when he is off duty he likes to cook for us, and I love seeing the joy on his face as he bustles around the kitchen.

Tonight was one of the nights where Dimitri had a late shift. He wouldn't get off work until 5pm and tomorrow is the weekend so we agreed to forgo our usual morning training session so he could get some sleep. Eddie and Mason were coming over to work on some homework that Stan had set us in Bodyguard and Protection Theory. His idea of homework made you want to stick pencils in your eyes but I now had access to Dimitri's old work books from St Basil's and they came in very handy indeed.

I was just putting the finishing touches on the pasta that I was making when there came a knock at the door. Opening it up, I found Alberta with a little worried expression on her face. I instantly tensed up. "Is Dimitri alright?" as I stood back to let her in.

"Yes, he's fine. He is patrolling the perimeter near the lake. I just wanted to inform you that I've heard some rumours that concern you" she said shaking her head. "They are not even close to the truth but it could become a problem indirectly."

"What do you mean?" I asked in a hurry.

"Some of the male moroi have noticed that you, Eddie and Mason disappear sometimes. That isn't unusual in itself because you are always together being friends but they were talking about tailing you all and that would lead them here" she said darkly.

"Eddie and Mason are due to come over in the next 10 minutes or so. I should text them to let them know to be extra careful" I said, pulling out my phone and doing just that.

Alberta took a seat and waited for the boys to arrive, which they did 20 minutes later. "Jesse tried to follow us but we pegged him right from the start. Ralph picked up our trail around the other side but we ducked inside the admin building to shake him. They are persistent I'll give them that" chuckled Eddie as he dumped his book bag in the lounge area.

"Well you are all going to have to keep an eye open because if you lead them back here, then the cats out of the bag" Alberta postulated.

"They are going to have to get up earlier to get the drop on the ABC gang" chuckled Mason.

"ABC gang?" questioned Alberta.

"Yeah, Ashford, Belikov and Castile" he said and we all burst out laughing.

"That never occurred to me. I'm so glad you got married Rose, the ACH gang doesn't have the same ring to it" said Eddie between paroxysms of mirth.

"Neither does the HAC, CHA, or CAH gang" said Mason gasping for breath.

"You have spent a lot of time on working out a name haven't you?" I said through my own tears of laughter.

"Of course I have. Nothing fit until now" he said trying to calm down. "Anyway I'm sure together we can cope with Jesse and Ralph" said Mason.

"Jesse and Ralph are morons but unfortunately they are dangerous royal morons that could really cause some problems if they wanted to and usually they want to just because I turned them down" I grumbled. "I should really let Dimitri know about this little wrinkle too" firing off another message to him. "Do you want to stay for dinner Alberta? I've made plenty." I asked her as I started dishing out the pasta for me and the boys.

"Thanks that would be great. I've been hearing from Dimitri that you are becoming more domesticated. Who would have thought it, Rose Hathaway, sorry Belikov, being a domestic goddess" she laughed and Eddie and Mason joined her in her mirth.

"Oi watch it, I could have poisoned this food" I said but bursting into fits of giggles myself.

We spend a nice half hour eating and talking together before Alberta had to leave to get back to work, leaving Eddie, Mason and I to Stan's homework. "I'm sure that man just does this to be sadistic" moaned Mason as we were trying to figure out what exactly we were supposed to be looking at in one of Stan's handout sheets but an hour later we were satisfied that we had done enough to stave off Stan's ire for another day.

We sat watching TV and talking for a while as the sun started to rise over the trees meaning it was time for the boys to get back to their dorms as it was more difficult to hide this location during daylight hours especially now we knew we would have spies on us.

I sat back down with a sigh after saying goodnight to the guys and was thinking about going to bed when my phone rang.

"Kiz"

"Baba, how are you?"

"I'm fine Kiz. I'm in Missoula and was wondering if you could use a visit from your old man over the weekend."

"That sounds great Baba. You are welcome anytime, you know that. It will be good at the minute though. I've just found out that some of the male moroi are trying to make trouble by tailing Eddie, Mason and myself. It's not unusual for us to be seen together but they are trying to make out that it is more than it is. If they follow us successfully then Dimitri and I will be found out" I said worriedly.

"Ah Kiz, I will come and see you tomorrow and see what ideas we can come up with to stop these pests in their tracks."

"Thanks Baba, see you tomorrow." No sooner had I hung up on Abe, the laptop sprung to life, alerting me to an incoming Skype call. I connected and there was Yeva sitting in the middle of the screen. "Yeva" I said in shock "Is everything alright?"

"Roza, I should be asking you that question" she said and a dread settled on me, wondering what she had seen.

"We are fine Babushka, apart from finding out that we are being tailed by some moronic moroi to try and get dirt on us" I replied.

"I've seen some trouble, Roza. I don't know how bad that trouble is, but it is coming and soon. You and Dimka must stick together. I have sent you both something that you will need, I hope it arrives quickly." With that final statement, she hung up, leaving me perplexed and slightly nervous.