Author's note: I decided that I want to move this along a little more and have skipped ahead a bit. I have more of Adrian's POV here. I decided to do that partly because Richelle Mead revealed recently that The Fiery Heart will contain it and I wanted to try it out myself. Also, one POV in first person is so limiting. And I've never done first person until I tackled Bloodlines, so I hope it's convincing.

Thank you for the reviews. And happy reading!

Chapter Six

"We've been at this for hours, Adrian." Lissa complained, standing and stretching. "Do you think we can end it for today?" She rubbed her stomach absently.

"I guess." I said around a yawn.

There was a knock at the door. "Yes?" She called.

Rose stepped through the door. "I have a message for you Adrian. There's a woman at the front gate asking for you." By the smile on her face, I could tell she was trying to be mysterious. "Arrived by taxi."

I felt a smile spread across my face. "Call them and tell them I'm on my way." I bid a quick farewell to my friend and leaned over the crib in the corner, smiling at her daughter. "See you later, Andrea. You take care of your mother."

She gurgled up at me.

"She looks so much like Christian today." I commented as I straightened. "And now I go to see my lady."

"Is she going to stay here?" Lissa called after me as I reached for the door.

"I highly doubt it." I walked quickly out of the building. It was a long walk to the front gate, but an even longer walk to my car. I took out my cell about halfway there. "What's cookin', good lookin'?"

She laughed. "Just making eyes at the very handsome Dhampir guarding the gate."

"Not on my watch." I teased. "No one is as handsome as me."

"You're right, some are more."

"Not if he's a Dhampir." I could now see her standing just outside the gate with the phone pressed to her ear.

"This one may rival you to some girls' standards. But not mine." She spotted me and waved. "Surprise."

I hung up the phone and walked up to the gate as it opened. "Thank you, Dimitri. I didn't realize you had guard duty."

"We rotate. Are you in or out?" he reached for the button to close the gate.

"Out. For now. Thank you." As he closed the gate, I pulled Sydney into my arms and kissed her hard. "God, I missed you." I sighed, resting my head against hers.

"I missed you, too."

"Do you have a hotel or…?"

"I do. How could you ever guess?"

"Well, there's no way you're going to want to spend any more time than necessary surrounded by all of us."

"That's true." She yawned. "And I'm a little tired."

"Well, let me pay the cabby and I'll drive you to your hotel. Or you can drive."

She perked up. "I'd like that."

I took my wallet out of my pocket and passed over enough for a generous tip and sent him on his way. "So you flew and you didn't bother renting a car?"

"Why would I when my fantastic fiancé has a really fantastic Mustang that he lets me drive all the time?"

The gate opened and we made our way slowly through the gated complex. "You've never been here for casual reasons, have you?"

"No, actually." She slipped her hand into mine. "And I still feel a little apprehensive."

"I know, honey." I draped my arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. "We'll just get my car and go. I'm guessing that since you don't have your bags that you already stopped in at your hotel."

"Yes. I got here this afternoon and took a nap."

I led her into the garage where I parked my car and came up short. Jill leaned against my Mustang. She ran up to Sydney as soon as she saw her.

"I'm so happy to see you, Sydney. You have no idea." She exclaimed.

"Hey, there. How are you holding up?" My fiancée asked her softly, pulling her away a few feet.

She sighed. "He hasn't talked to me in weeks unless it was necessary. And Angeline has started to ignore me too. I just know he told her. But at least they aren't around each other as much. And my friend Becky said she heard they were seen fighting a few weeks ago. Right after I told him."

"Maybe that's a good thing."

"I don't want to be his rebound."

"You don't have to be. Just be available to be his friend like you already are. And if things get better between them, let him know that you support him. And if they break up, just give him space."

"And then what?"

"Hope like hell he's smart enough to know a good thing when he sees it." I commented. "Why haven't you told me any of this?"

"Because you've made it very clear that this all makes you uncomfortable. Not to mention that I asked you not to say anything to Eddie and I know you did anyway." She turned back to Sydney. "How long are you staying? Can we do a girls' night?"

"I'm here for the weekend, but I don't think Adrian will mind letting me have some time with you. We'll go to dinner and just hang out. What do you say?"

"It sounds great. Maybe I can find a way to shake the guardians."

"It won't be so bad if you have a guardian."

"I have Eddie. There's no way I can talk about him when he's right there."

"You're bonded to Adrian. Surely he has some pull with the queen and can find a way to get someone else assigned to you."

"Adrian?" She asked me.

"I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, don't you have homework or something?"

"Okay, I'll leave you two alone." She hugged Sydney once more and then scurried off.

I handed my keys over and got into the passenger side. "Let's get going. I'm feeling lucky."

"The only way you're getting lucky is to cuddle with me for a few hours before I kick you out."

"Fine, have it your way."

"I will." She turned the key and let out a long sigh as the engine came to life. "I love your car."

"Nice to see where I stand."

She laughed and followed my directions out of the complex.

"So Mom walked in a couple days ago and handed me her credit card and said 'Just go already.' And so here I am."

"That's great. I really like your mom."

"She liked you too."

"Have you eaten anything lately?" He asked as I motioned him into my hotel room.

"No, but I'm not too hungry right now. Have you?"

"Not for a few hours. I've been working with Lissa for a while. Stretching our Spirit abilities."

"Want me to order in?" I picked up a directory beside the phone.

"No, what I want," He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me onto the bed with him, "is to hold you and kiss you for a while."

I smiled and kissed him, reclining on the bed and pulling him down with me.
He ran his hand slowly over my side to rest on my hip and then he slid his hand up my shirt and rested on my stomach. "God bless your mother." He sighed between kisses.

"I don't want to think about my mother when I'm kissing you." I tangled my fingers in his hair and held his face next to mine, taking control of the kiss, slipping my tongue into his mouth and savored the way he tasted. I had missed it.

His hand slid higher and I slapped it away.

"We're not doing that tonight."

"Okay." He pressed his mouth to mine once more and wrapped his arm around my back, cradling me to him as he took over the kiss once more.

My hand slid down around his shoulders and broke the kiss. "Can you stay here?"

"I can do whatever you want, honey."

"Good." I kissed him again and then rested my head against his.

"We should talk about wedding stuff. You know as more than just 'it's happening in a year or so.' Let's talk about dates and locations and figure it all out from there."

"Do you want a Court wedding?" I asked, combing my fingers through his hair.

"You said you didn't want anything big."

"We could do something small here. Maybe in a local church since my family shouldn't be subjected to the oddities of Court. But you have more people that would show up, so it can be here."

"We could do it somewhere half-way."

I shook my head. "It would be easier for Lissa to make it. And Jill. I want her to be in my bridal party. Unless you want to do one of those things where you have a best maid like so many people are doing these days. She's your best friend."

"She is. We can talk to her. I definitely want her to be part of it."

I nodded and brushed my lips across his. "I want a fall wedding."

"Fall sounds good. Middle of October? Late afternoon so it's not too late for your family and friends?"

"Evening so it's not too early for your family and friends. Maybe eight?"

"Okay. I agree to your terms. That was pretty easy."

I smiled and kissed him again.

"We can look over locations. I don't want to just agree to here right now." He sat up. "Did you bring your computer?"

"Yeah. Why?" I walked over to my bags in the corner.

"I want you to look at some houses with me."

"Houses? To buy?"

"Not yet. I'm renting first, remember? I want your opinion." He booted up the machine and moved against the headboard.

I sat beside him and rested my head on his shoulder as he connected to the internet and started typing in the address bar.

"I've been in contact with the landlords of a few of these already. Some of them need a little work and I don't know how much I want to do in just a year of renting a place."

"This is kind of my first choice."

"I like that one." I said as he opened up a link to look into a small three bedroom house.

"Me too. It has the least work and I can make one of the bedrooms into a studio. See here," he pulled up a picture of one of the rooms, "I love the possibility of light here. It's all windows."

"And how close is it to my place?"

"Just a few miles." He turned his head and kissed my forehead. "What do you think?"

"It's cute. Show me your other choices, though. I want to make a more informed decision other than proximity to me."

"Let's order a pizza first." He took his phone out of his pocket and punched in a number. He ordered a vegetable pizza with very little sauce and cheese on thin crust.

I smiled at him. He knew it was my favorite.

He showed me a few more houses that he'd been looking at until the pizza came. He handed me a slice and then took his own. "So what are your thoughts?"

"I like the first one the most, I think."

He smiled. "Me too. I'll call in the morning and start the work on renting it. I may need your help there to get a few things settled. Do you mind?"

"No, I don't mind at all. Anything to get you there sooner."

"Yeah."

We ate in silence, Adrian consuming most of the pizza while I nibbled my first slice.

"You're leaving the crust? That's the best part." He picked up the discarded crust and ate it. "I think Jill will want to be a bride's maid more than the best maid or whatever she'd be called."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I am. And I think she would like to help with the wedding plans. It will help with all this Eddie business. I'll talk to her mom and see if she wouldn't mind Jill coming to stay with me over the summer."

"Does she trust you enough for that?"

"I think so. And she'll have guardians."

"Like Eddie, who she is pretty sure hates her now."

"He doesn't hate her. I haven't told her, but he said that he doesn't know how to feel about her. He's with Angeline and he really likes her. Jill is more like a sister to him. He'll guard her with his last breath. He doesn't want to do anything to damage that professional relationship."

I sighed and leaned against him. "Do you think he's just scared?"

"Maybe. Caring about someone is scary."

"Terrifying." I agreed. I yawned. "I know it's still early for you, but would you mind if I went to sleep?"

"I'm pretty tired myself." He kissed me softly and then rolled out of the bed and started undressing.

"Make yourself comfortable." I teased as I moved toward the small bathroom.

When I stepped out, I saw the appreciation on his face at seeing me dressed in a shirt that he had left at my house. "Part of me is thinking this was left behind on purpose." I said as I turned out the light and got into bed with him.

"You think so?"

"Maybe just subconsciously, but you did it deliberately so that you'd have a reason to come back or to see your hot fiancée wearing it to bed like she is right now." I moved close to him, wrapping an arm around him and pressing my cold feet between his ankles.

He shivered. "I hate when you do that."

"You hate that they're cold." I said, pressing a kiss to his lips.

"True." He rested his forehead against mine. "I really like falling asleep with you."

"Me too." I brushed my lips over his. "Are you going to slip out and go back to Court in a couple hours?"

"No. I'll stay with you. I'll probably only nap right now and then use your bed for more sleep during the day. But I don't want to leave you when I don't have to."

"I like the sound of that."

"And when I move to Utah, I'll switch up my sleep pattern so my days match yours a little more."

"Sounds good." I said around a yawn. "Goodnight."

"'Night." He kissed the tip of my nose and combed his fingers through my hair until I fell asleep.