A/N - Hey All! This is a challenge to myself to post all of my saved Sydrian oneshots and drabbles before The Fiery Heart comes out. Hope you enjoy! 19 DAYS

Of Rose and Codes

"I'm kind of nervous…" Sydney admitted, looking down and fiddling with Adrian's hands. They were spending what was for once, a lazy afternoon together. A plethora of guardians were coming in tomorrow, as Queen Vasilisa was coming to Palm Springs, ostensibly for a vacation, but really to visit Jill for her birthday. Normally this would have had Sydney running up the walls with alchemist duties but Eddie had a handle on preparing for the guardians while Zoe had insisted she do this mission by herself - something about proving herself as an alchemist. This was fine with Sydney though, as much as her sister's over-obsession with alchemist culture worried her, she always loved having extra Adrian time. What she wasn't loving however, was what they had just been discussing, which actually was, well, Rose.

Adrian sat up from his bed where he had been resting and playing with her hair, so that they were now facing each other sitting cross-legged on the bed. "Nervous of? Seeing Rose?" His face was scrunched in confusion and he looked so adorable that Sydney didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Forget it." She mumbled.

"No, no. I don't understand. Did something happen between you two?"

"Sort of." Sydney said weakly.

"Well, what was it?" He started out seriously but the thought of his ex-girlfriend always made him at least a little bit snarky. He snorted "Did you break her favourite comb or something? Tell her you thought Dimitri was ugly?"

Sydney couldn't help the smile that cracked out across her face before she returned to her forlorn state. "Nothing like that. It's just that Rose is my friend." She looked down as she trailed off, hoping Adrian would catch on. He didn't.

"How is that a problem?" He reached out and tilted her face up from under her chin so that she was looking at him. "You're not making much sense here Sage."

Sydney groaned, exasperated. "Just forget about it."

"No. Something is obviously bothering you. And you've piqued my interest - you can't not tell me now." He smiled in a way that Sydney interpreted as a diabolical ploy to get her to talk. He was just so damn cute.

Sydney took a deep breath to once again deny anything was bothering her, but looking at his face she found she was incapable of lying to him. The words tumbled out of her. "Rose is my friend and I'm dating her ex-boyfriend!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up to her face, fully aware of how silly she must sound. Adrian withdrew his hands from her face and sat back.

After a moment, Sydney peeked up at Adrian, hoping she wasn't dredging up painful memories. She was surprised to find that he was shaking. "Adrian, are you-?" shocked and terrified that she had upset him, Sydney's hands fluttered about uselessly until Adrian caught them.

A snort. And then full out laughter. "I'm sorry," Adrian coughed out "I'm trying not to laugh."

Sydney swatted at him. "Adrian! I was being serious!"

"That's why it's funny!" It took a few moments before Adrian sobered up while Sydney glared at him. Composed, he said "Why Sage, would you possibly worry about that?"

She shrugged defensively. "It's like an unwritten girl code, you just don't date your friends' exes."

"I don't think Rose cares that much for unwritten codes." Adrian said dryly.

Sydney sighed. "I've just never really been in this situation before. I never really had many girlfriends, or friends really…" She mumbled, trailing off.

Adrian visibly softened. "Sydney" he murmured, taking her hand again "Rose really likes you, she'd still be your friend even if you did steal her hairbrush or insult Dimitri – and I think she would care more about that then whoever I'm dating."

"She does cares about you –" Sydney tried to protest but Adrian held up a hand.

"It's in the past Sydney. Besides, it's not like she's even going to know we're together."

Sydney sighed and climbed onto Adrian's lap, he put his arms around her. "I know," she said into his chest "but I'll feel guilty."

He leaned away from her, serious now and looked her in the eye. "Sydney you have absolutely no reason to feel morally inferior to Rose Hathaway. This is the woman who I selflessly gave money to so she could rescue her ex boyfriend and then cheated on me with said ex boyfriend. And you know what Sydney?" She was watching him intently. "I forgave her." He said it simply, and Sydney let go of a breath and a worry she hadn't known she'd been holding. "And if I could forgive her for that, she could sure as hell forgive you for this."

Sydney snuggled up to his chest. "Rose and Dimitri were made for each other though."

Adrian shrugged. "Then we'll just have to show her that we were made for each other too." He said it so simply, like it was a given fact, but it filled Sydney up with warmth as she realized it was true. She reached up and gave him a soft, sweet kiss on the lips before snuggling back into his shirt.

"But we're not going to tell her."

Adrian laughed and Sydney could feel it rumble through her."No, best not." He kissed the top of her head.

"I kind of love you Adrian Ivashkov."

"I kind of love you too Sydney Sage."

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