Adrians POV

I smiled when I felt her tense a little in my arms and smiled even more, when I felt her relax in it only moments later.

I inhaled her beautiful scent and rested my head against her neck.

"Now sleep" I said.

And to my utterly surprise, she dozed off only seconds later. For a person, that was so determined to stay awake only seconds ago, she really quickly fell asleep.

I cherished this moment. There was still a part in me, that was more than afraid, that it wouldn´t last.

That she would push me away, after I would revealed the truth to her.

I didn´t want to think about that. Not in this wonderful peaceful moment I was sharing with her.

I closed my eyes and tried to relax.

I was nearly asleep, when I heard her mutter something. I wasn´t sure if she really did say it, but I thought that I heard my name in the middle of all the other random babble.

I smiled and kissed her once again on her neck.

Sydneys POV

I opened my eyes and instantly felt his arm around me. Warm, strong, secure.

I didn´t dare to move, afraid I would wake him and therefor end this moment. I glanced at the alarm clock next to the bed and gasped.

1 pm? I didn´t know when I ´d ever slept till after noon. Slowly I tried to turn around to face him.

He didn´t wake and I took a few moment to take him in. His arm was still on my waist, his hair looked messy but still perfect like always. His features were relaxed and a small smile was on his face.

I looked at him in awe and finally gave in to the need to brush through his thick, chestnut hair.

Adrians POV

Before I was even awake completely, I felt her hand in my hair.

I suppressed a smile but didn´t succeed.

"Are you awake?" I heard her whisper.

My eyes were still closed as her hand left my hair.

"Am I?" I asked with a mischievous smile.

"How long have you been awake?" she asked and I opened my eyes to see a hint of blush on her face.

She looked adorable.

"Now I´m curious, what did I miss here?" I asked teasing her.

"It´s after noon, you know" she than said, clearly to distract me.

I let her get away with it "Is it?" I asked still smiling.

"I never sleep that long" she went on.

"Sage, you were awake in the middle of the night" I said.

She nodded "I know, I normally don´t do that either" she said.

I loved the way she looked when she just woke up, I haven´t been able to see her like this on many occasions. She looked beautiful.

Thinking about that, a twitch of guilt hit me. Yes, I had seen her like this before, I had kissed her before and we had been doing other stuff before.

If I didn´t want to loose the chance to have this all back, with or without her memories, I had to confess.

I´d postponed this for much to long now. Her face grew serious all of the sudden and I realized, that I must have been frowning.

"What is it?" she asked carefully.

I slowly got up and she did, too, until we sat on my bed face to face.

I took a deep breath. It was now or never. And as much as I wanted to go with never, I knew I had to choose now.

For a second I played with the thought of checking my phone for any news from Jackie but decided, that it didn´t matter at this moment.

Sydney still looked at me, her body tensed.

"Sydney, I have to tell you something" I began and her expression grew even more worried.

She didn´t say anything and I searched for the right words to begin.

Sydneys POV

I watched him gazing out the window behind me. He seemed to search for words and that made me even more nervous.

What was this all about. I´d never seen him that serious before. Well, to be honest, I kind of didn´t know him. What could he possibly tell me?

"Adrian?" I asked after a while. He really did start to scare me.

He looked at me and took my hands his eyes looked different. There seemed to be pain in it. But why?

"I´m going to tell you something now, that could change everything" he began.

"Ok" I said carefully.

"You asked me before, if I do believe in vampires" he said and I nodded.

"I said I do" he paused. Where was he going with this?

"There is a reason for that. It´s the same reason you have this safe feeling in your dreams" He said.

I frowned.

"I don´t understand" I said.

"I know. But you will... well... at least I hope you will" he said.

"I´m going to ask you something now and I really need you to think about it and answer honestly, ok?" he asked and I once again nodded.

His fingers entwined with mine and he went on.

"Do you... trust me?"

I looked into his eyes. Those beautiful emerald green familiar eyes and it only took me a brief second to answer his question. I didn´t even have to think about it. I did trust him. Even though I didn´t know him, I did.

"Yes" I said.

He gave me a relieved smile and took another deep breath.

"Ok, here it comes" he said.

"Sydney, Starbucks wasn´t the first time we saw each other" he began.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"Before you came to New York, you were assigned to Palm Spings. We met there and we fell in love" he said.

I narrowed my eyes.

"What are you talking about? I was living with my mother before I came here. I´ve never been to Palm Springs" I said. Was this some kind of joke? If so, I wasn´t laughing.

Adrians POV

It was frustrating.

"Remember `Pies and Stuff´ ?" I asked and she seemed to be even more confused.

"We´ve been there together. You and me. This place really exists in Palm Springs. We used to go there... together" I went on.

She took her hands away and I let her.

"It was a dream Adrian" she said and I shook my head.

"Ask me anything about that place and I promise you I will know the answer" I said.

She thought about it and began to bite her lip.

"Are you telling me, that somehow I forgot about all of that?" she asked in disbelief.

"You didn´t forget" I began but she interrupted me.

"So you´re telling me I know you... oh no, you are telling me we´d been in love and I just don´t remember that?" She scooted away from me and I nearly followed her but decided to give her the space she needed.

"It´s complicated, I will get to that part. But yes. I love you. And you love... loved me. You told me that I don´t seem to be that strange to you. That is why Sydney. I am no stranger to you. You know me. You know me better than anybody else".

I watched her carefully. Her expression changed from disbelief to anger to confusion in seconds.

"What´s the color of the carpet" she than asked.

I looked at her in confusion.

"What carpet?" I asked.

Sydneys POV

"The carpet in `Pies and Stuff´. You know, next to the huge Buddha" I said.

I didn´t remember any of those thing being there, but he didn´t know that. Or did he?

He gave me a smile "There is no Buddha nor is there a carpet anywhere Sage" he said.

My eyes grew bigger. Why did he know that. After all it was my dream.

"Ok... what about the menu?" I asked.

"What about it?" he asked.

"What does it look like?" I asked.

"It´s pastel. Blue with yellow and some pink twirls" he said without thinking about it.

I gasped. "How do you know that?" I asked.

"I told you. We´ve been there. I am telling the truth" he said.

I leaned against the wall looking down on my hands.

It all didn´t add up.

So he was telling me, that we know each other? No he told me that he loves me? And that we had been together in Palm Springs?

Why on earth didn´t I remember any of it? He must be lying. His correct answer to the color theme on the menu must have been a lucky guess. My head was spinning. I didn´t know what to say. I felt angry. Angry because everything he´d just told me made absolute no sense. Why was he doing that?

I got up.

"Where are you going?" Adrian asked getting up as well.

"I´m going home" I snapped at him.

He was next to me in no time about to take my hand but than just stood in front of me.

Adrians POV

"Don´t go. Please stay" I plead.

"Why? You want to tell me more stuff about my "life"? She asked putting air quotes around the word life.

"I had enough, thank you" she said in a bitter tone.

I reached for her hand and to my surprise she let me take it.

"Please let me explain" I said in a soft voice. There was so much more to explain.

"Why?" she asked avoiding my gaze.

Because I love you

"Because you deserve the truth" I said.

She snorted and looked at me.

"The truth?" she asked with arched eyebrows.

"Yes, the truth" I said.

She closed her eyes and than looked out the window. After a few moments she turned back to me.

"I am going outside now. I´m getting coffee and I will be drinking it. Alone. I will be thinking about all the things you just told me. Your "truth". I know where I can find you" she said.

I released her hand and she looked down.

"Okay" I said "Please come back" I went on.

She took a deep breath "I need coffee" she said and without looking up, she walked to the door.

I followed her with my eyes. I needed her to come back.

"Good bye Adrian" she said looking at me once again.

"Good bye Sydney" I said and than she was gone.