Author's note: So my friend Dejah suggested the events that will soon play out in this story. I don't know how long it will be, but I hop you enjoy it. And if you like this and haven't yet, go check out my other Sydrian works in this same universe. Please let me know what you think.

The title comes from the Paramore song Proof. It's a great song and you should go check it out.

Happy reading!

The Only Proof

A Sydrian Fanfiction

By Danielle Cheri

Chapter One

"Don't do anything stupid, Joshua." I said softly to my son. "Listen to Eddie and Jill. Be careful in your training."

"I'm going to get hurt, Mom. It's pretty much a given." He said matter-of-factly.

"Just be careful, baby. Don't get hurt too badly." I pulled his head to my shoulder. "I love you."

"I'll be fine. I know what I'm doing." He held me tighter anyway. He whispered, "I really will miss you, Mom."

I kissed his cheek and stepped back, wiping the tears from my face. "We'll see you at Christmas. Answer my calls."

"Yes, ma'am." He kissed my cheek and hugged me once more.

Adrian stepped forward and framed our son's face with his hands. They were almost the same height now. Josh stood just a couple inches shorter. He'd catch up quickly.

Adrian spoke so softly, I could barely hear, but I caught, "You remember what I said about girls."

"I will, Dad." Josh assured his father.

Adrian hugged him tight. He stepped back.

Marti threw her arms around Josh's waist. "I'll miss you."

He lifted her up and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't mess up my room, kid. And listen to Mom and Dad. They know what they're doing." He hugged her and then put her down. He looked at each of us one more time. "I guess you need to get going."

Adrian nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder. "See you at Christmas."

He nodded. I could see his eyes glistened. He turned back and hurried into the apartment building before his tears could fall.

Adrian squeezed my hand and bent to gather our bags.

"I'm ready when you are." Eddie said from a few feet away.

"We're ready." I said, taking Adrian's free hand. Marti slipped her hand into my other one. She hadn't done that in a long time. I squeezed it. "Let's go."

Marti stuck to my side through the airport. Part of me worried she would follow her brother in a few years. She was only nine, but already she was better than Josh in a lot of the training aspects.

Adrian and I had signed them both up for basic martial arts training when they were small. When we saw them, Eddie usually drilled them to see where they stood. He never pushed for either of them to take the final training to become Guardians like him, as we asked. But Josh had always idolized Eddie, Dimitri, and Rose. He even insisted on dressing up as Eddie one Halloween. I wished he hadn't, but Adrian reminded me that we'd agreed to always give them a choice. And this was his. I had to accept it.

Adrian kissed my cheek before he took the seat behind us on the plane. We could have very easily gotten access to Lissa's private jet, but we refused. There was no point in it, we decided. After we took off, Marti curled into the seat against me and fell asleep. I rested my head on top of hers and dozed for a while myself.

Marti went straight to Josh's room as soon as we got home.

I started to follow, but Adrian caught my hand. "Give her some time."

I turned. "I miss him so much."

He pulled me into his arms. "I do too."

I sniffed and pressed my face into his shoulder. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

He rubbed my back. "I know he will be. At least until he graduates. And he may not even be assigned outside Court."

I looked up. "He wants to see action, Adrian. He is determined that what happened to Ivanna and Nikolai won't happen to anyone else."

"Eddie and Rose are the best. You know that as well as I do." He cupped my cheeks. "He's smart and he's talented and he's strong. He'll be okay. And so will we." He kissed me softly. "Go ahead and get to bed. I'll see to Marti."

"Are you going to stay up and paint?"

"Not tonight." He smiled uncertainly. "I need you, Sydney. Because as much as I'm saying all these things, as much as I want to believe them, I'm having trouble with it."

I gently scratched his back. "Try not to be too long, then." I gave him a smirk. "Meet me in the bathtub."

"I like the sound of that." He kissed me again and then walked up the stairs.

I made sure everything was locked up. I poured food into the cat's bowl. Yeats had followed us inside and sat patiently beside it until I finished giving him his food. I was surprised he was still around. He could be a grumpy old man on the worst days, but he was still a loyal companion.

I stepped into the master bathroom to see Adrian already filling the bathtub. "Marti was asleep on Josh's bed. I decided to leave her."

I nodded. "What are we going to do if she decides to go too?"

"We'll figure it out." He lifted my shirt over my head and dropped a kiss to my shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me.

I slipped my hands up his back, feeling the hard planes and the muscles as they moved under his skin. He moved his hands all over me. I was amazed sometimes what his touch still did to me. I didn't think I'd still be so attracted to him, so turned on by a touch, after so long together. But I was.

I stepped away and finished undressing. I slid into the tub and dunked my head under the water. I came back up as my husband stepped into the water. He leaned over me and kissed me. I switched places with him, straddling him as we continued to kiss and caress.

I rested my head against his. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He wrapped his hands around my waist. "Are you up for it tonight?" he asked softly.

I nodded and kissed him. I raised myself up slightly and helped guide him in. We moved slowly together. We didn't always, especially after the kids got older and tended to try to get into our room whenever they felt like it. Even with the locks. We mostly went quickly, finished quickly, so we weren't interrupted.

I lifted my mouth from his and looked down into his eyes.

"You're still so amazing, baby." He murmured.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He sighed. He slid his hand up my stomach and cupped my breast. He leaned forward and ran his tongue over my nipple.

I groaned and then let out a little gasp when he clamped his mouth over it and started sucking. Just a few seconds of that with him moving in and out of me nearly drove me insane. I sighed, "Adrian?"

"Hm?" He didn't remove his mouth so the hum when through me.

"I'm so close."

After another moment he stopped the treatment of my breast. He trailed his tongue up my chest and brought his lips back to mine. He bucked harder beneath me. The water in the tub started sloshing all over the floor.

"You're making a mess." I panted.

He managed a chuckle. "I'll clean it up."

I couldn't say anything else. I was at the brink. I let out a soft whine as my body started to shake. Adrian kissed me through it and I could feel him as he met his climax in the last moments of mine.

And then we were still. The water still moved a little around us. I kissed him and rested my head on his shoulder. I closed my eyes and listened to his breathing as it grew steadier. I felt his heart slow to a normal rate.

"Time for bed, I think." He said softly, stroking my back.

"You have to mop up the water."

He let out a snort of laughter. "Okay. But you go to bed. You haven't been sleeping well. You need your rest. You go back to work tomorrow."

I sighed, reluctant to leave the warmth of the water and the security of being wrapped up with him in that moment. I kissed his neck, then his jaw, and finally his lips. I slowly pushed myself off of him and out of the water. He watched me hungrily as I dried off and then wrapped the towel around me.

"I'll be right in." He pulled himself out of the tub when I finally made my way toward our bedroom.

Something was nagging at the back of my mind as I lay in bed and started to drift off to sleep, but I couldn't quite pinpoint it. It seemed like there was something I had forgotten.

Adrian kissed the back of my neck and wrapped his arms tightly around me. Whatever I had forgotten didn't seem like such an important thing right then. I'd figure it out in the morning.