The sun shone through the shaded windows, seeping between the curtains, temporarily blinding the brunette menace. Squinting his deep emerald eyes, he looked down at his clock. The bright blue light blinked back at him. Nine twenty-seven? Shit! He scrambled up, legs tangling in the half discarded sheets, as he came face to face with a petite dark golden blonde cutie. The flash from her camera lit up the room and caused everything in his line of sight to turn bright white before settling into a hazy purple. Scrubbing away the bruising color from his eyes with the back of his hand, Adrian tumbled out of bed and hobbled towards the bathroom.

In the bathroom, Adrian runs his fingers through his disheveled hair. Opposite him was his doppelganger. It had Adrian's green eyes and messy brown hair. It held all of the same qualities that Adrian possessed; however, his doppelganger looked relieved. He looked as relieved as Adrian had felt. Both Adrians grinned widely and shook their heads as they both reached for the toothbrush.

Padding out into the hallway, towards the kitchen, Adrian yawned lazily and picked at the collar of his white tee. The sun seemed to be streaming through every window that morning, brightening the house up instantly.

In the kitchen, Adrian caught his family. Rose and Oksana, with their hair tied up, giggled over pans of pancakes and eggs. The smiles adorning their faces were very real and not forced, not like they once were. At the table sat Sonya and Mark. Both of them chattered happily, talking about when they knew Dimitri was the one for her. Dimitri was the one for her, and he had almost chased him out of her life for good. Dimitri, the target of their conversation, sat by his lonesome on the couch. He smiled over his phone, and every once in a while replying back in a foreign language; Russian?

"Hey grumpy gills! Park it next to the oldies would ya?" He glanced up to see Rose placing plates onto the table in front of Sonya. Sonya picked up an egg and flung it at Rose who caught it in her mouth. "Sit! Breakfast is ready to be munched upon!"

They all sat around the table and dug into the pancakes. In the midst of their eating, Sonya and Adrian got into an argument over the sex of the newest addition to the family.

"Obviously that Mazur blood in Rose is going to work towards a boy. We need some cuties in here that aren't flakes; Adrian."

"Nope; I still stand by my earlier call. Rose's kid is going to be an adorable baby girl."

-o.o-

Images flittered past Adrian's shut eyelids. Abe and Janine, Daniella and Nathan. The night Janine had first gotten sick was the last time Adrian had seen her awake. Within months Janine would be confined in a hospital room where Rose would now refuse to leave. Adrian could remember every gory detail of his childhood.

"Adrian! Dammit! Why don't you ever listen? You know I'm too busy to be dealing with your bullshit right now." 10-year-old Adrian swung down the branch and landed lightly on his feet. He stared back up his favorite tree, the one that overlooked a serene lake, and followed his mother back to Hathaway Ranch.

Next to his father was a beautiful woman with copper curls and brown eyes. Once those eyes landed on Adrian, she crouched down and smiled.

"Well hello there Adrian. Why don't you come inside and get a cookie? I just baked them." Her eyes were so much more loving than his green eyed mother.

"Adrian, you can trust Janine. She's going to be your friend too." Beside him, Daniella grew visibly angrier. As Adrian stepped towards Janine, his mother snatched his wrist and pulled him back.

"How dare you! Ibrahim, you swore to me-"

"I swore nothing. Your mother can attest to that. You bought me for your own purposes, and I refuse to live that way. I'm staying here." Screams of laughter erupted from inside the house as a young girl, much younger than Adrian, burst through the door and fled out before the fussing parents.

"Mama! Auntie Sonya and Uncle Mikhail said they were gonna come here today! When will they get here?" Adrian was jealous. Not only did this little girl get love and affection from their father, but also from another family? The only love Adrian saw from Daniella was when she could be bothered to take Adrian home.

Looking up at the pristine sky above him, Adrian felt at peace. He was jealous of the little girl, but as the years passed, he fell in love with her smile and her eyes. She was so different from him in every way. "Adrian? What are you doing up there?" Adrian looked below him to see the little girl all grown up. Rose Hathaway had grown into such a strong and smart young woman, he couldn't help but feel his like he had missed out on such important years when they were younger.

"Nothing, you big dork." He swung down and landed on his feet like so many times before. "What did you want?" His smile took up his face as he watched Rose grin back at him.

"I came to get everybody. Dimitri has good news to tell everyone." Adrian nodded and followed her back to the house. Inside, everyone sat on the couch, eager to hear the news. Dimitri was standing in front of the television, waiting for Rose to join him at the front. His eyes swept over Adrian's as he hooked an arm around Rose's waist and gave a short nod.

The 'Russian Warlord' started off by saying the head of the company had fired Tasha and that his best friend had taken charge of their sector. Christian Ozera, as Dimitri referenced him, was also offering Dimitri back his job, on the condition he work from home and came down if the situation should ever arise. Rose was extremely thrilled to hear that bit of information, mostly because she had already convinced Dimitri to bring her along on those trips. But his good news wasn't entirely over. Apparently, Vasilisa Dragomir was interested in starting a site in Montana, somewhat close to Golden Valley. And because of this, Vasilisa had asked Dimitri to host a photographer to locate where the best destination was.

"So, I'd like you to meet Sydney sage, the new photo journalist. She just transferred from-"

Adrian cut out there because you see, Sydney Sage… she looked pretty damn familiar. Like a certain drunk night in Vegas familiar. Or a I just woke up to you snapping a picture of me sleeping familiar. "You have got to be joking…"

Author's Note:

You've already read the first chapter if you read the last chapter of Flying Home. Thought I'd still put it up though. Thanks for everything guys! You all seemed very eager about this new sequel which is awesome! Thankfully, I'll be putting up both chapter 1 (this one) and chapter 2 so you have something new to read.

Just a head's up, it's going to be difficult updating regularly, not that I was much good at it to begin with, but I really am going to make a conscience effort to not abandon everything for months on end. For some reason when I don't know how to continue a story, I let it collect dust until I decide how I want it to go. It's because of this that I don't update on a schedule…

Anyways, no more listening to me blah away. Thank you to Jamie, Lesya17, SarahBelikova99, Kayla Belikova-Everlark-Odair, Roza-Dimka-Reader, and XxkatylouXx for your reviews!