A/N: Yes, Adrienne is back! I'm writing her and Ian into NT2: Book of Secrets!
Buzzzz!!!! Adrienne Garnet pulled her hated glasses off her face and looked up at the door of her apartment. The white and purple walls stared back, uncaring that the door was buzzing.
"That can't be Marion. She's only been gone 10 minutes." She said to the air, dropping the stack of photographs from the Templer Treasure back on the table. Buzzzzz!!! The doorbell buzzed again. Adrienne rubbed her eyes. No good. Her vision was still blurry from her pupils being dilated an hour ago.
"Hi." She greeted, pulling open the door for whoever it was.
"Hello Adrienne. Glad to see you look better than last time I saw you." Adrienne paused for a moment. It sounded like Ian, and was the same height, but she couldn't make out the facial features.
"I'm sorry. I just got back from the eye doctor and he dilated my pupils to check for tears in the eye retina. My vision is slightly blurry. You are Ian Howe, right?"
"Yes…"he replied, sounding to Adrienne, slightly confused.
"Ian! You're back! Do come in. I just had to check to make sure, because with my luck, if I just assumed, you would probally turn out to be someone else." Adrienne said excitedly, pulling him in.
"I really did not want to leave, with you in the hospital…" Ian began, shifting the packet of papers he was holding from hand to hand.
"Hey, it was your sister and nephew. I would have probally done the same thing. How are they, anyway?" Adrienne slipped her glasses unnoticeably into her pocket, wishing her vision would clear up. Ian ran a hand through his hair, sighing.
"Madison was so wrapped up in her screenwriting, that she never got any of my calls or e-mails. She's fine, horrified to learn what happened, but untouched. Zack was delighted to see me and clueless to what he had unknowingly caused."
"How old is he?" Adrienne interrupted, perching on the edge of the table.
"Almost 5." Ian paused, looking at Adrienne. "How are you? Last I knew, you had a concussion and a gunshot wound, which required surgery."
"I'm good. They let me out of the hospital early, and I'm perfectly healed. Apparently my luck changed and it wasn't a serious wound, after having surgery. No major bones or muscles were injured."
"I could have prevented that! If you weren't there, Viktor could have never used you as a bargaining chip! I shouldn't have put you in that position!" Ian said angrily, turning away slightly. And if he hadn't kidnapped me, I would have never met him. Adrienne thought, thinking frantically of something to say, without bringing up the past too much more.
"Ian…No one really knew Viktor would lose it when no treasure was found."
"I knew you could be used as a hostage. I knew and didn't do anything. I dragged you along through the entire hunt!"
"Aside from running into brick walls-." Adrienne began.
"See? I could have prevented that too!" He sighed, looking defeated. "Can you forgive me, not just for kidnapping you, but for all the pain I've brought on your life?"
"First off, the brick wall incident was cause by me not paying attention to where I was running. Yes, of course I can forgive you! Almost all of the whole mess was not your fault. If I remember correctly, Ben Gates started it, and some other people decided they wanted the treasure, and were willing to use you to get it." Adrienne exclaimed, standing and moving to face Ian again.
"Adrienne, I come from a criminal background. I know how they work. I should have been able to stop it at the start." Ian said, running a hand through his hair again.
"At the cost of your nephew's life? Stop beating yourself up over it. No major harm came from it, and Ben and Abigail would have never become a couple." Adrienne pointed out, then corrected herself. "Were a couple."
"What?" Ian asked, interested. "I know I was gone for two months, but they broke up?" Adrienne shrugged. "Ben's living with his father now, and Abigail's dating another guy. I thought they were going to get married, they were perfect for each other."
"I know, both so 'passionate' about history." Ian agreed, then glanced down at the papers in his hand.
"Shippen sent these. It's copies of all the pictures he took over the treasure hunt. Some are…rather random…but he insisted that everyone involved get some, for documentation purposes." Adrienne took it eagerly and poured out a stack of photographs out of the envelope.
"Wait…I can't see these." She said, looking back up. Ian took them, flipping one over.
"The date, the people in the picture and a comment. If only he was this detailed about other things…OK, this is you, in the rain, yelling at me. This is Shaw laughing. This is the elderly couple from the hotel-."
"Slow down, slow down. Read the comments too." Adrienne put in; blinking at the blurry pictures as Ian flipped through them.
"You won't like them. He was rather sarcastic and honest about a lot of things…"
"Such as everyone's true feelings?" Adrienne said, then clapped a hand over her mouth. Ian looked at her intently. "Yes. Very much so." He said softly.
"And Abby and Ben and Riley are going to get these…" Adrienne said nervously, breaking his gaze and glancing at the floor. How do I explain that my feelings have changed and I'm not as scared as before? Well, I am, but isn't a relationship with Ian worth it?
"I don't think he commented on their pictures." Ian continued, turning back to the pictures. "Shaw took this picture of the floor and someone's shoe-…"
Oh. He's going to be the gentleman and act like his whole declaration of love never happened. I guess after I made it very clear that I didn't want to have any type of relationship, under the Trinity graveyard, he really believed me. Or he gave up. Just my luck, when I admit to myself I love him, he doesn't anymore!
She turned back to the pictures, not really hearing Ian. I've got to tell him. How hard can it be? Just three little words.
"Um…Ian." Adrienne began, then stopped.
"Yes? Did I miss a picture?" Say it! Say it! Her brain screamed.
"Ian, I…" Silence. "I need you to help me find my glasses. It might help me see better."