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Chapter Four

Sydney responded in the most mature and intelligent way possible. "Go away!" she hissed.

Adrian laughed out loud and continued rapping his knuckles against the door. "Oh, Sage…I think we both know I can keep this up for a long time. All night if necessary," he replied.

"How did you even get inside?" Sydney asked him.

"You neighbors are easily charmed," Adrian replied.

Oh, god. He had used compulsion. Afraid the noise would attract attention, or worse wake up Hadley, Sydney relented and opened the door a crack. "Okay, you can stop now," she said to him.

All of Adrian's previous bravado seemed to disappear as their gazes met. "It really is you…" he said softly.

There was a look of awe on his face. It was making Sydney feel things she didn't want to feel. "Yeah, it's me. And now that we've established that, you can go now," she replied. She paused for a second before speaking again. "Wait, how did you know where to find me?"

Adrian held up Sydney's purse. "You should really be more careful with your belongings, Sage. Did years out in the free world turn you into an irresponsible hoodlum?" he asked with a smirk.

Sydney's arm reached out, her hand trying to snatch the leather bag from his grip.

"Ah, ah…not so fast," he said, holding the object closer to his side. "Let me in and you can have your purse back."

"No, we are not playing this game," Sydney said, trying again to retrieve her bag. Dealing with him was like dealing with Hadley.

"Then I guess we've reached an impasse," Adrian mused.

She rubbed her hand over her face before relenting and opening the door just wide enough that Adrian could slither in. Once he was fully inside the apartment he handed her purse back to her and looked around.

"How very…you," Adrian said, eyeing the beige walls and off white couch with matching throw pillows.

"Thank you for the critique. And thank you for returning my purse. Now please leave and forget you ever saw me," Sydney replied.

His gaze finally found its way back to her. "I see you made it to Mexico," Adrian commented, nodding at her cheek.

Her hand came up and lightly traced the fading tattoo on her face. "I told you that was my plan," she replied.

Adrian shook his head. "Yeah, you did," he confirmed. "And you were never one to back out on a plan," he said. "But answer me this…what kind of underground ex-Alchemist dealings involve you working as an art buyer?"

"That's my business," Sydney said. She set her bag on the couch and wrapped her arms around herself.

Adrian chuckled softly. "Oh, Sage…you owe me explanations beyond belief on a number of topics," he replied. "But I'll settle for this one at the moment."

Eager to get him out of the apartment she replied, "Things didn't go as planned. I had to adjust and adapt," she clarified.

"Marcus and his merry men weren't all they promised, huh?" Adrian commented.

"We no longer share a working relationship. I'm just a plain old human now," Sydney replied.

"Sydney Steele," he murmured. "Just a plain old human."

"Exactly," she said, hoping the conversation would just end here.

"Sage, I think we both know there's absolutely nothing plain about you," Adrian replied.

"I don't really have anything else to say to you," Sydney said, holding her arms around herself tighter, trying to keep herself together.

"Maybe not," Adrian said. "But we do have some unfinished business…" he trailed off.

Sydney's eyes grew slightly. "No," she said firmly. "That night was just…that night."

Adrian laughed. "Oh, now see…I wasn't the one to bring up THAT night. It was you," he said. "I was referring to our mutual dealings with Mr. Casey. I know you hate to let anyone with authority over you down."

"I've loosened up over time," Sydney lied. She had eased up on a lot of her hangs ups, but screwing up at her job was not one of them.

"You never could lie to me," Adrian said. "How about Thursday night we try this meeting again, same restaurant," he said.

As much as she wanted to say no he was right, she needed to make this deal for Mr. Casey. And meeting on neutral ground seemed safe enough. "Fine," she said in a very businesslike manner. "Six o'clock," she added, wanting to assert some of her own authority onto the situation.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, smirking once again. "Looking forward to it." He nodded his head and exited the apartment.

The door wasn't even fully closed as Sydney pushed on the lock. She leaned against the frame and closed he eyes. Though the conversation had been civil her heart was practically beating out of her chest.

"Mommy!" Hadley called from her bedroom.

Sydney took a deep breath. Focus, focus… "Coming!" she replied and stepped away from the door and down the hall.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning passed much too quickly for Sydney's taste. Before she knew it she found herself back where she had been on Monday afternoon. Kenzie agreed to watch Hadley for the evening at Sydney's place. Obviously her friend had no idea who she was meeting; she just thought Sydney's lunch meeting had been rescheduled, but that didn't stop Sydney from feeling like Kenzie was on to her.

"Ms. Steele," Adrian greeted her as she walked into the restaurant. He was dressed in a suit and tie. His dark hair messy, as usual, and the ever present devil may care smile on his lips. "You always did look lovely in red."

Sydney couldn't help it when her cheeks turned the same color as her blouse. "Thank you," she said, hoping the dark overhead lighting would hide her flush.

"This way, please," Perky blonde said as she showed them to her table. The smile on her face indicted she was excited they were back and hopeful for the drama that might unfold.

Adrian pulled Sydney's chair out for her as she eased her jacket off her shoulders. She carefully set her purse in her lap this time. Adrian settled across from her.

"I was thinking we could put our personal relationship on hold for tonight," Adrian said to her.

"We don't have a personal relationship," she commented.

Adrian gave her an exaggerated wink. "Right, exactly, Ms. Steele," he replied.

The waiter came by and recited the drink and dinner specials for the evening. Adrian ordered a glass of wine while Sydney opted for water.

"Some things never change," Sydney said after the waiter had left. She opened up her menu.

"I beg your pardon, but I don't believe we know each other well enough for you to make that kind of comment," Adrian said, eyeing his own menu.

Sydney couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "Yes, of course," she said.

"I hope you eat more than grass and oats these days," Adrian said. "Though by the looks of you I see you've developed into a healthy woman quite nicely."

"I beg your pardon, but I don't believe we know each other well enough for you to make that kind of comment," she said, mimicking his previous statement.

After they placed their orders, something with lots of carbs for Sydney just to prove something to Adrian, he slid his portfolio over to her. "As you can see my work is all here, catalogued by medium," he explained.

"How very professional," Sydney replied. She opened up the thick black book.

"Jill helped me," Adrian admitted.

The mention of the young Moroi princess piqued Sydney's interest more than it should have. She had been very close to Jill and leaving her was almost as hard as leaving Adrian. She nodded her head. "I see," she said as she turned the pages. "How is Jill?" she asked politely.

"She's in college now," Adrian replied. "She'sstudying design. Both the artistic and business aspects of it."

Sydney smiled. Jill had always been a natural with fashion. It only made sense. "Good for her," she said, careful not to be too overly interested in what he was saying. "And Eddie?" she couldn't help but ask. So much for being distant.

"He's been off probation for a few years now and is her full time guardian," Adrian told her. He took a sip of his wine. "They're a couple."

"They finally went for it," Sydney said. "I bet he just loves his college studies." Eddie had been quite vocal about how much he wasn't looking forward to going back to school during their Palm Springs mission.

"He loves Jill so he makes it work," Adrian said, his tone a little more clipped than it had been.

"Why don't you tell me about your work," Sydney suggested. This trip down memory lane wasn't a good idea for either one of them.

Adrian relaxed a little bit. "As you can see I'm simply a natural talent," he said, turning back on the usual charm.

"You stopped taking classes?" she asked, looking away from the portfolio and up at him.

"Just a break," Adrian replied. "I'm signed up for the spring semester."

"Still in California?" she asked.

He shook his head. "We're all back near court now," he explained to her. He took another sip from his glass.

"So the law was changed," Sydney reasoned. "If you're all back there and Jill is in college…" She was trying to piece this all together. She still had enough contacts in that world that she could have found out these answers over the years, she had just chosen not to.

"That battle is still being fought," Adrian said to her, setting his glass back down on the table. "You would have been in Palm Springs for another year or so after you left."

"I don't understand then," Sydney admitted to him.

"Lissa had a baby," Adrian said to her.

Sydney nearly spit out the sip of water she had just taken. "Lissa's a mother?" she yelped.

Adrian started to lean over and pat her on the back, but then thought better of it. "Jeehz, Sage…I didn't say she became a circus clown," he replied. "She and Christian got married and she has a daughter. Now there are three Dragomirs."

"I just…I didn't know…" Sydney stammered.

"Well, no one's life stopped because you weren't there," Adrian said as their food arrived.

Sydney swallowed, knowing she didn't really have a leg to stand on here. "Mr. Casey gave me a list of pieces he liked when he was at your show," she said. "I can tag them in the book and then we can discuss price."

"I have a better idea," Adrian said in between bites of his steak.

"What's that?" Sydney asked, not feeling hungry at all.

"I'm only in town until tomorrow night. Perhaps you could accompany me back to court and see these pieces for yourself. Then we can discuss the matter further," Adrian proposed.

"You're joking, right?" Sydney said to him.

"Strictly professional, of course," Adrian added. "Come on, Sage? What do you say?"

It scared her how tempting that offer sounded. "I have responsibilities here I can't just shrug off," she said.

"I'm sure your neighbor can water your plants," Adrian said to her with a chuckle.

"Can I let you know tomorrow?" she finally said.

It wasn't a no so Adrian was sufficed. "Sure," he agreed. "Now let me tell you about my foray into sculpture…"