I had been in Santa Barbara for a month when I got a task that required me to swing by Palm Springs over the day. I didn't know what to feel. I was going back to the place that had been the root to my unhappiness, but also my joy. I had told Jill that I was coming and promised that I would make time for a coffee or something with the gang while I was there. She was excited to see me and she said that she had missed me. We made plans and I went on with my task in Palm Springs. I needed to pick up some things to my superior in Santa Barbara and make some interrogations with some people on a location suspected of co-operation with strigoi. When I finally was done handling my mission I made my way to Amberwood where I was supposed to pick up Jill, Eddie and Angeline. I parked in front of the school and saw Jill practically bounce when she made her way to me. When she was close enough she threw herself around my neck and hugged me. The other two joined her and turned Jill's hug into a group hug. It was really warming. From what I had heard, they hadn't been assigned with a new alchemist since they couldn't find anyone that fit the profile of a high school student and who also was a good enough alchemist to be trusted with the Dragomir princess. They had decided to not make Zoe an alchemist, at least not for the time being, since she still was very sloppy and wasn't mentally ready for this dangerous mission. It relieved me. I didn't have to worry about her, at least not now. After a while, we broke the hug and got in Latte and I drove us to a coffee shop. We bought our beverages and sat down in a booth in a far end corner. Me and Angeline sat with our backs to the entrance with Eddie and Jill across from us. I felt happy, even though I also felt that one piece was missing. A very important person was missing. He wasn't here. I both felt relieved but also a bit disappointed. I knew that it would hurt seeing him, but not seeing him hurt as bad.

"So, how's Santa Barbara?", Eddie asked, seemingly curious. I shrugged.

"It's okay. Not much happening, but it's nice. I get to relax some.", I smiled.

"Wait a second, did I hear that right? Sage? Relaxing? As if.", I heard a very familiar voice behind me and froze. Was he really here? I turned my head and saw him stand there. Those green eyes filled with pain and sorrow and his hands in his pockets. My eyes went wide with surprise and I could hear Jill giggle.

"What are you doing here?", I asked, shocked.

"Well, I heard from a certain little moroi that my favorite alchemist would be in town, I wouldn't want to miss a chance of meeting her, right?", He raised an eyebrow and pulled a chair over to the booth. He put the chair backwards at the end of the table and sat down with his arms resting in front of him on the back of the chair.

"So now I'm your favorite? Didn't seem like it the last time you saw me.", I challenged. Better to hurt him now than later.

"You will always be my favorite, after all, you were the first alchemist to trust me on a super dangerous mission.", He winked. That time I sent him in to the tattoo shop. It seemed like ages ago. He had been so trusting.

"Ah yes, the dangerous mission of distracting a tattooist.", I replied and sipped on my coffee.

"It was dangerous. Without my stellar charisma, you could have been caught.", He teased. I rolled my eyes and was just going to answer him when I looked around and saw everyone else's faces. They were watching me and Adrian with amusement, and it hit me that for a couple of minutes there, we were like before. Me and Adrian was actually teasing each other without one, or both of us, looking hurt or longing, we had actually gotten along like normal people. It had felt good. I suddenly choked and looked down at my coffee. I couldn't do this. Behaving normally around him fueled the feelings I'd hidden for so long and made them come to life once again. Adrian seemed to sense that I resorted to my reserved self and he sighed.

"So.. How are you? Liking your new mission?", Adrian asked while looking at the table.

"I'm fine. The mission is okay I guess. Not much happening out of the ordinary, just standard alchemist work.", I looked down at my coffee. This had turned awkward and uncomfortable. My Adrian, who I had been missing for so long, was sitting so close to me. The Adrian I had been missing even when he was near. He hadn't been my Adrian for so long. He had only been the angry, hurt Adrian who made my heart break. But now he was sitting here. My Adrian. The somewhat happy guy who liked to banter with me and who was funny and witty and perfect. He made me happy. I came back to reality and saw that Jill was studying my face. She squinted her eyes and stared me down until I had to turn away my head because it felt uncomfortable. I looked over at Adrian and saw that he seemed to be lost in thought. I smiled to myself. My Adrian was back. When I looked back at Jill she was smiling.

"What?", I said, with a smile on my face too.

"Oh nothing.", She looked at me and then at Adrian who now was curious. "Nothing at all.", She leaned back against the back of the booth and looked pleased. I wondered why. What had she figured out just by looking at me? I was clueless.

"Oh yeah Sage, can I get a ride home? Taking the bus here was painful enough.", Adrian said, looking hopeful.

"Why didn't you take the mustang?", I asked. Was it something wrong with it?

"It has been making these strange noises, I was going to take it to a mechanic first thing tomorrow."

"I could take a quick look.", I offered nonchalantly "If you don't mind?"

Adrian smiled and said; "You're more than welcome to do that."

"Then we better get going, I need to hit the road soon.", I said while I started collecting my things. We all walked out to Latte and climbed in. Adrian immediately sat beside me, in the passenger seat, and I started feeling a bit uncomfortable. What was I doing? I thought I had decided to stay away from Adrian. But then again, I couldn't ignore a car in trouble. I drove to Amberwood and said goodbye to my friends. Jill looked on the verge of tears again but she blinked them away. When me and Adrian drove away, I waved to the three standing on the sidewalk. I missed them already.

When we finally was at Adrian's we quickly got out of Latte and I went straight to the beautiful yellow mustang, that was shimmering in the sunlight. Adrian opened the hood and started explaining and mimicking the sound it did when he drove and I started examining the motor. I worked in silence for a few minutes before Adrian decided to strike a conversation.

"Do you miss Palm Springs?", He said it casually but his eyes seemed to be filled with something deeper. I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Yeah, of course I do. I miss you guys. You're my friends.", I said while still examining one part of the motor after another.

"You should never have left. It isn't the same without you.", He said. When I looked at him he seemed lost in thought.

"I needed to leave. You know why.", I was determined to not let him bring me down.

"I know, I know. It's just.., sad, without you here. There's no one here who can put me on track when I screw up anymore and that scares me.", He said, almost in a whisper.

"You'll be fine. I have confidence that you're done with making the wrong decisions.", I said, still staring at the motor. He was pushing us towards the topics that always ended in someone getting hurt. I hated him for always doing that to me.

"I sure hope so. Everything's gone darker since you left. You are my sun. I've told you that before.", He sounded hopeful. Suddenly, I got angry. I slammed the hood shut. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Adrian, can you please stop! You always makes us fight or make one of us sad. You always push us into topics that will do no good and who always leaves me with the feeling of being a bad human being!", I was at the edge. Every emotion I hadn't known how to handle exploded in that minute. All the longing, hope, anger, sadness and disappointment. Everything mixed together in a huge explosion of emotion that I didn't know how to direct except through having a meltdown. Adrian's eyes were wide in surprise and his mouth were a little open.

"I'm sick of you always making me feel like the bad guy! I'm sick of your constant pushing to get what you want! I'm sick of everything!", I stormed of to my car before he had a chance to stop me. Sitting in the driver's seat, I couldn't bring myself to put the keys in the ignition. I didn't mean the things I'd said. I should apologize. I had blamed all my problems on him. All I wanted was to be with him and to find myself. Every fiber of my body ached with the desire of just being near him and feel loved. He made me feel things I never thought I would feel in my life. I was torn. Tears started falling for the first time since I leaved Palm Springs. This time I wasn't crying about Adrian or my constant hurting of both his and my feelings. I cried because of the injustice that our lives were filled with. I cried because no matter how hard we tried, we would never have it easy together. If we were to become a couple, the alchemists would hunt us down. They would send me to re-education and brainwash me. And if the alchemist didn't come after us, they would probably make Zoe an alchemist. I couldn't live with that. No matter what I did, the outcome would be bad. No matter what I did, I wouldn't have a fairytale ending. Something would always go wrong. I must have been sitting there for several minutes when I heard a knock on my window. Adrian stood there, face full of regret. I opened the door and got out, slammed the door shut and stood with my back to it.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be pushy.", He said, voice full of regret and sadness.

"It's okay. I blamed you for all the wrong things. It's not you I'm mad at, not really.", I almost whispered back. We stood so close and I regretted everything I had ever done wrong to him. I regretted breaking his heart that first time in his apartment. I regretted every time I'd hurt him. But one thing I didn't regret was falling for him.

"No, you have all the rights in the world to be mad at me. I'm spoiled and a brat and childish and everything that I shouldn't be. It's just.., you took my heart with you to Santa Barbara. I don't want to let you go again.", Tears glistened in his eyes and he crossed his arms against his chest. "I can't. I won't. You have to stay this time."

"I can't just stay. I have work to do. I wish I could, I really do, but I don't know how.", The tears kept running down my cheeks. I couldn't stop them.

"But you would if you could?", He asked hopefully, wiping away some of his tears. He looked so vulnerable, so sweet. I got flashbacks of our kiss and everything sweet he had ever done to me. In that moment I made a decision. I kissed him. He was startled at first but after just a second he kissed me back. Everything that mattered was us. I was filled with happiness and everything seemed right in the world for once. It was perfect. We stood there, kissing, hugging and crying, until I remembered where I was. And where Adrian was. We broke apart and I looked him in the eyes and took his hands.

"I never want to leave you", I said, drowning in his emerald eyes.

"Then don't.", He said, squeezing my hand. Suddenly I was reminded of the sun that probably was roasting Adrian alive at the moment.

"Let's get you inside before you pass out.", I said and led him to towards his apartment. This relationship wasn't going to be easy, we would have to stand up for ourselves and fight a lot of battles to be accepted. People would doubt us, tell us we couldn't be with each other and threaten our happiness but we wouldn't back down. They could bring their worst, we would never leave each others side. I could feel that this would last long. We were soul mates and no matter what, we would stay together. People would try to bring us down and sometimes they would most likely make us want to give up. We were up for a long road of crying, anger, doubt and fear, But it would be worth it. We would be together.


A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been reading, reviewing and liked this fic! This is the first story I've ever written and it means a lot that you guys liked it! This was the last chapter of Sunflowers but I'll be back with more. I'm currently in the early stages of writing a fic from Adrian's POV and I also have a very short epilogue to this story that I might publish if you want me to (I'll have to warn you though, it's really short) I just want to hug each and every one of you!