Disclaimer: I do not own Richelle Mead's world or characters.

Chapter Six

Sydney

The sink sounded way too loud in the tile room. The sound reverberated off of seemingly everything. Every sound echoed.

I cupped my hands under the freezing cold stream, and let the water pour over them until they were numb, then I leaned in and splashed it against my face. Droplets landed in my hair. Some strands were wet enough to stick to my neck and chin. A few managed to cling to my chest. I needed to get my hair cut.

But there were bigger things to tend to.

Someone knocked. Before I could call anything out, the door opened with a breeze of warm air. Without thinking, I whipped around to face the person, whoever they would be.

It was Rose. She looked relieved. "Oh, good. You're in here. I told him you were in here."

"What?"

"Can you turn that off? We have to pay for that." She came over and spun the faucet's handle. The water stopped and so did the noise. I thought I didn't like the noise, but the silence was almost worse. Although it did help me think.

"Wait, why did you just open the door?" I turned back to the sink where a small towel hung from a ring on the wall to dry my hands.

"No one answered."

"You didn't give me much time to."

She shrugged. "Sorry."

It didn't bother me now as much as it would have if she had barged in at the wrong moment before I went through re-education. I mean, of course I loved privacy more than ever now, but I lost all sense of needing to hide at this point. For all I knew, they could be spreading recordings of me everywhere this moment, and the thought barely even bothered me anymore. Three months gives a person a lot of time to come to terms with a situation.

"Who's looking for me?" I asked, turning back. "Adrian?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." I wiped a few stray water droplets from my chin and pulled the door back open. Rose clicked the lights off at my back and rushed to catch up and walk beside me.

"Did you find anything out?"

I had. "Not really."

She half smiled, a try at sympathy. "Yeah. I figured."

"I really thought there would be something."

"We've got the best people we could get to find her. It won't be long. We're doing everything we can."

"I know, but what clues are there to follow?"

"Just as many as there was for you, I'd bet. And we found you."

After four months. Jill didn't have that long. There was only one way to help her now.

The hallway widened on the turn. We were almost to the main area. I assumed that was where Adrian would be waiting.

When we got back to the big lobby, no one was there, not even Dimitri. I looked into another open doorway, but I couldn't see anyone down there either. "Where is he?"

"Looking in the main area. He'll be back in a second. He doesn't have his phone on him he said." He must have left it in the bag. I supposed I could wait a few minutes, but we suddenly seemed so pressed for time.

Rose went to the desk and sat in the chair Dimitri had sat in before. "So how did you go from a full on scared-of-sleeping-on-the-same-train-as-a-dhampir alchemist to the first human to openly marry a moroi outside of the Keepers in, like, forever?"

Well, that was direct, but that was also Rose. It made sense. "I traveled with you and Dimitri for a while. I was kind of used to you guys, so I decided I could handle rooming with Jill, and she always seemed really nice. Sometimes, maybe this is why, she kind of reminded me of Zoe. They're the same age."

Rose threw her head over the back of the chair and her feet onto the high desk at the same time so that her hair dangled behind her and her body was almost in a V shape. "Zoe's the other one who was there, right?"

"Yeah."

"She's the one that ratted on you and Adrian?"

"Did Adrian tell you all this?"

"Adrian didn't even tell us you guys were together. I kind of get why. It still seems really weird to me, and I don't get it, but I'm not one to argue. And anyway, like I said at Sonya's wedding, you guys look cute together. You didn't answer the question."

"Yeah. She called my dad." As much as I wanted to defend her, it was true.

She shook her head, her face still up towards the ceiling. "That's messed up. What kind of person could do that to their sister?"

"It's not really her fault."

"Oh yeah? Explain."

"Well, Dad's really persuasive. She's young. And hey, you saw me in the beginning. I would have told Dad if Carly was off with some guy Dad didn't approve of."

"Still though."

Dimitri came in. His hair had come out from it's ponytail. He saw me and the rigidness in his form seemed to drop all at once like jerking a bucket of water upside down; all the water dropped at once, leaving just a light, hollow piece of plastic in your hands. When he saw Rose, he went from limp relaxation to amusement. "That's my chair."

"Actually, It's Nina's. You have no jurisdiction. "

"You need to stop quizzing Lissa before you become a lawyer."

I didn't care about their banter right then, so I went to the glass double doors and watched the trees move while I waited. There was a light wind, just enough to make the smaller branches in the trees move and the leaves ripple like the tiny waves on barely disturbed water.

"Oh, thank god."

I turned just in time for Adrian to practically slam into me and wrap his arms around me. I laughed. "Did you think I'd died or something? You were gone an hour."

"And fifteen minutes. And hour and fifteen minutes. I forgot the red sauce. No I didn't think you were dead, I thought you were attacked or something. I Was just about to get on Dimitri for not stopping all the intruders."

"All?"

"Well, if they knew you well enough to find you, they'd know you're impossible to capture with just one person."

I smiled into his shoulder. "Well, I'm fine. I'm okay."

He kept one arm around me when he pulled away. "Did you find anything?"

"No," I lied. "Ms. Terwilliger didn't find any magic residue, so we'll just have to wait for the fingerprint analysis."

It was almost as if he believed me, but his eyes narrowed, just a bit. "Oh. I guess we will." He turned from me suddenly and started toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Lissa asked. I hadn't known she was in the room.

"I'm going for a walk. I need some air. Oh, didn't you want to tell Rose something?"

The door closed behind him. I glanced back at the three by the desk. Rose was giving Lissa a stern look, Lissa looked mortified and angry. Dimitri was looking between them, confused and concerned.

"I'm going with him," I said, not wanting to get involved and knowing he wanted to confront me.

Outside, he stood just out of sight of the door with his arms crossed. He wasn't looking at me, his face was upturned slightly, at the sky. I glanced up, but with all the lights nearby, I could only see two stars.

"Please tell me you aren't that stupid," he said.

I looked to him. "What?"

"You are so lucky Lissa wasn't looking at your aura, or you'd have two spirit users on your back right now. Lucky for you, you've only got one. What did you find out."

"Nothing," I lied, because maybe he could find out I was lying, but he couldn't find out what the truth was just from that.

"I know you found something. What did you find?"

"Nothing," I insisted.

He came over to me and took my hands, holding them tightly like I was going to evaporate if he didn't hold on tight enough. "You can tell me." He'd lowered his voice to a whisper. I couldn't look up into his eyes, so I watched my fingers turn white under his grip.

"No, I can't."

"You don't trust me?"

"That's not it!" I did look up this time, and the sadness in the bright green of his eyes was frighteningly disarming. "I trust you more than anyone else in the world, and that's exactly why."

"I don't get it. How can that be a problem?"

"Because you can't know. If you know, we'll never get Jill back in time." He'd stop me, and I couldn't let that happen.

Apprehension crossed his face, and it was his turn to watch our hands. "Are you saying that because I really would endanger her? Because I wouldn't."

"You would. Not to hurt her, but you would. I'm sorry."

"At least that's not a lie."

I stretched my neck to reach his cheek and kissed him. Stubble poked at the thin skin of my lips, and I moved my face down into his chest. "I don't want to lie. I don't want to keep anything from you."

"Then don't."

"But I have to. I told you why."

He nodded into my hair. It still felt strange to be this close to him out in the open. Anyone could walk by and see us, and it no longer mattered, but we'd been hiding for so long.

"Sydney, promise me you aren't going to leave." His voice jumped from the insecure version it had slipped into, back to strong and sure.

I didn't want to lie, and I knew he'd be looking for it, but I said, "I promise."

"You're lying."

I had no answer to that.

Adrian clearly lied about knowing how to make spaghetti. He spent the whole time reading the directions and barely saving the pasta from being burnt, dropped, or something else to that effect.

I sat at the table, peeling vertical stripes into the skin of a cucumber. "Do you want some help?"

"I've got it," he answered again as he attempted to pour the noodles into the strainer. A cloud of steam rose and he backed up with surprise, almost dropping the heated pot onto his foot. It only slipped out of one hand though, and swung against the side of the counter with a hollow, metal, ringing sound.

"Are you sure?" I knew I shouldn't be laughing at him, but I couldn't help it. He looked ridiculous when he was so angry, especially with the unmatched mittens on. He'd even managed to find an apron, and it only added to my amusement.

"Stop laughing," he demanded and put the pot back on the counter.

"I can't help it. I've never seen you so angry and confused."

"Or in an apron. I know."

"Why are you wearing that anyway?" I placed the cucumber onto the cutting board and slid the large knife through it. The verb 'chop' fit the sound perfectly, only it was dragged out just a bit at the beginning, as the sharp ending only fit a millisecond of what was really happening.

"I'm not going to stain this shirt. It's expensive."

"Everything around here is expensive. That apron probably cost more than the shirt."

"Yes, but it's supposed to get dirty. That's it's job."

I just continued chopping.

"What, you don't buy that?"

"I do."

"Do you?"

"Are you going to take that spaghetti out of the strainer or are we going to eat out of the sink?"

I heard him turn back to the sink and lift the strainer from the stainless steel. Water poured out from the sound of it, and wafts of steam reached out and trickled into my line of sight. Adrian swore.

"What happened?" I asked, without looking up.

"The water's hot!"

"Well, yeah. Did it splash you or something?"

He didn't answer, clearly reasoning that I was going to tease him if he answered truthfully. Which was true. I would have.

The door opened and Daniella Ivashkov came sweeping into the suite with a paper bag in one hand and a purse too small to hold anything worth carrying on her elbow.

"Hello," she said and put the bag down in between my bowl of lettuce and my unchopped tomatoes. "Ooh, why is there so much smoke?"

"Steam," I corrected. "Adrian's cooking."

She went to where he was trying to stir the sauce and looked in. "Is there supposed to be this much steam?"

Adrian glanced over at me, and I smiled at him. He was on his own here.

"I don't know," he finally answered.

Daniella tried to take the spoon from him and pulled away with a high, "Oh! It's hot."

"It's metal," I said. "Metal conducts heat."

"Yes, of course." She grabbed a green, plastic ladle from a hanging rack over the stove and pointed it at Adrian. "Why am I the one doing this?"

"I was fine with the spoon."

"Your hand is pink. Did you burn yourself?"

"Not with the spoon."

I kept my head down. Neither of them would be happy to see me laughing at them.

"Did you run it under water? Isn't that what your supposed to do?"

"Yeah, Sydney said to. Then I found these gloves." he pointed to where he'd put them on the counter.

"You should be wearing them to touch that spoon." she lifted one with two fingers. "Who thought of these."

I shook my head and stood up. "How about I finish the spaghetti and you guys can make the salad." Watching Adrian struggle was funny. Watching Adrian and his Mom struggle was just kind of sad. Anyway, I needed this to be done soon. There wasn't much time.

I feel like this chapter is puny compared to the last chapter... but in total honesty, the last chapter is the longest chapter I've written on anything... including my original novels. Which says one of two things: 1. I need to work on extending my scenes with details and descriptions or 2. I should just put more stuff into each chapter. Opinions?

Review corner:

Sagelover: Sorry she wasn't somewhere more interesting... She will be. Does that make up for it?

DG and Reed: It's okay! Don't freak out (yet)! "Was she taken by Nina?" I wonder if she's capable of that... Not saying that specifically will happen, but you really shouldn't give me ideas... *evil grin*
I'm kind of following the TRC plot, but I'm not sure if I know how to work that part in. If I can find a way I will. I certainly have spirit theories...

Airandfire: I feel like I've reached a new level! I'm on the list :) Were your suspicions right? And "Yowza?" Do you just like the word or do I smell a whovian...? Either way, it's an awesome word!