Damn! A week late. Finally the last chapter! It is not as awesome as I wanted it to be because...I READ HALF OF BLOODLINES ALREADY. And it is sooo cute! Anyway, hope you like this chapter as much as I am enjoying Bloodlines. After reading half, I think I have decided to write finish off that Sydney/Adrian story. So cute. Tell me if you agree.

Enjoy!

I don't own VA. . .

Epilogue: Ending of Sorts

Sydney – A Day Away From A/R Wedding

"We did a pretty good job," Christian said, wrapping an arm around me as we looked around, inside our new home. As he casually threw a piece of gum into his mouth, he dropped the wrapper on the carpet.

"Christian, please pick that up. Don't be so lazy. You have not done anything today."

"You are my wife; you are supposed to do that for me."

"You are my husband. A husband should aid his wife in all things she needs to be aided in. I need you to help me pick up this house. It's a mess!"

"Sydney," Christian said, glancing around the house. "You are a clean freak. The house is more than impeccable."

I put a hand on my hip, still not sure about the cleanness of the house. "I don't know. I think it needs more done. But what else? I cleaned counters, washed dishes, vacuumed every room in the house, swept and mopped the floors, bathrooms are sparkling—"

"See? More than enough cleaning."

I rolled my eyes at Christian. "You are only saying that because you don't want me to force you to use that broom again. Not only woman have to deal with all the= cleaning of the house. It would be more than helpful if you helped out once in a while. Sometimes, I don't feel as if I do enough for you."

Christian released his breath, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked at me while I pondered what else to "make shine". So far, everything seemed...clean. Christian sighed and started walking towards me. In a few heartbeats more, I was wrapped up into him, my back facing his chest. He kissed the back of my neck.

"Sydney, I still think you do more than enough for this house. You do more than enough for me. . .and our daughter."

I still shocked me that Christian could see Lily as his when she clearly wasn't.

It made me love him more. . .

After, Christian struggled for his breath on top of me. He leaned down and kissed my lips. The next second, he was grinning cheekily. "Well, Sydney, there you go."

"What?" I asked confused, still somewhat breathless, tracing his jawline with my fingertips.

"Didn't you want something more to clean?" He grinned again. "Now you can clean the couch."

I giggled. "You are so immature."

"Can't really blame me, Syd." Christian shrugged, blue eyes shining with humor. "You wanted something else to clean, I gave it to you." His eyes shined again, lust now. "I know it took you a few minutes to pretty-up our bed. . .what do you say we give you another thing to make pretty? I am sure the blankets and sheets won't mind being tossed around for a while. . ."

I kissed him, my body telling him I was eager to toss up some blankets for a while. However, we were expecting company in less than an hour. As Christian's lips danced around the skin of my neck, my mouth opened. First nothing came out, nothing but soft moans. I regained my brain back and came up with something coherent to say to him.

"I would love to. . .do you for a while, but we are expecting company, remember? Adrian and Rose?"

Christian groaned onto my skin. "Sydney, serious? How many times have Adrian and Rose made us wait as they finished their. . .playing when we visited?"

"That is different. Sex is expected from Adrian and Rose since they are so sex-starved. Now I get why Abe says 'we can never get them off each other'. Kind of gross, though."

Before Christian could drag me away, the subtle (sarcasm) knock caused Christian and me to separate, both frantically searching for clothing. Had it been Adrian and Rose in this situation, they would have not stopped what they had been doing just to answer the door; they would finish and then answer the door.

But Christian and I were just. . .us.

With red cheeks, fully clothed but not so neatly, Christian and I faked smiles as we opened the door.

Anyone but him.

"Abe. . ."

"Sydney, my darling. Christian." Abe stayed in the doorway, refusing to be invited in when I offered. He pointed down at the little girl clinging to his hand. "I brought you a little something that stumbled onto my porch today."

"Mom!"

"Lily!"

Abe gave us both looks. "I would say I'd take Lily for a few more hours, but I think you both are done with each other."

I blushed as bright as a cherry. "Abe, if you have no other purpose here, I think its best you go join you future son-in-law's party." I pushed Christian towards the doorway. "You should leave as well. Adrian needs the advice of married men before he marries tomorrow."

Abe smiled. "Oh don't you worry about that. I have made sure Adrian will stay very-well advised for as long as he is with my daughter."

Internally, I shivered at Abe's cold words.

Abe gave me a knowing smile before he turned away, going to the waiting car.

Christian leaned down and kissed Lily on the cheek. "Hey, sweetie."

"Hi, Daddy."

Cute.

"I am going to go visit Uncle Adrian, take care of your mommy, yeah?"

"Yes."

"Can I have a kiss?"

Lily leaned over and kissed Christian's cheek.

"Can I have a hug?"

Lily squealed as Christian squished her into his arms.

Chuckling, Christian freed a hand so he could wrap an arm tightly around me. He kissed my cheek.

"My two favorite girls, I love you."

To that, I only smiled.

Christian should have known by know that his feelings were reciprocated.

He handed Lily to me, kissed my cheek again and started behind Abe.

About halfway to Abe's waiting car, he turned around, ran back to Lily and me, kissed her cheeks. And kissed my lips with a lingering kiss.

He ran back to Abe's car, yelling, "I love you, girls!"

Tasha

I could not believe such Queen would come out and come live in this hideout with us two wanted rebels living in the middle of a half burnt forest inside a convenient cave that left many things to be desired. With ragged nails usually kept so clean, mussed and knot-filled hair typically combed smooth and straight, clothes tattered and ripped, barely hanging by anything, normally dressed in perfection, she now chewed on a piece of bread, frantically. After she was done with her bread, she moved on to the bowl of herb stew.

Dimitri and I watched her. Lissa.

"Why are you here?" Dimitri asked, rudely. Had it been a few years back, he would have addressed her with those formal titles a guardian should use when talking to a royal.

Lissa dropped her makeshift bowl, contents spilling all over the cave's floor. "They betrayed me. Rose, Sydney, and. . .Christian." She pulled her knees to herself, rocking herself, staring down at the floor. "I don't know what I did to make them hurt me. I was nothing but kind to them, to Christian, to Sydney. She betrayed me," Lissa sobbed.

Dimitri put his hand on Lissa's shoulder. Scared, she looked up at him, clearing her knotted hair out of her face. "You betrayed yourself. If you hadn't been such a bitch, you would still be back there, but unfortunately you were and now you are damned here."

"Help me. Tell me something I should do." Lissa shuddered as she scanned the cave. Not much to look at, girl, right? Trying living in this for a while now, darling.

I stood up, standing right beside Dimitri. We had been reviewing our plans for today when Lissa casually walked up to us, saying some people in the near town had pointed her out to us. That time when Nathan and Anathema had killed each other, we fled to a town. Dimitri and I stirred up some trouble in that town, so we fled to the next only to stir up more trouble. And on it went until we had found this cave, trying to find an way of escape of this horrible life.

There was only one escape, and it had barely crossed our minds on this fateful day.

Death.

We had been so blind before, but now we were not going to take any chances and give ourselves up to death's hands.

But Lissa here halted our plans.

"Dimitri," I purred. "She can't be in on our plans."

"No, she can't." Dimitri looked Lissa in the eye. "Lissa, you have ten seconds to run, run as far as you can and away from here."

"Why?" Lissa asked, shaking. "I like it here. I think I will adjust."

"And I think you should run now. . ." I warned.

"Run!" Dimitri yelled, using that frightening tone that scared the good dreams away from children.

She ran.

"You are quite sexy when you are mad."

"So says you," Dimitri said, going back to his makeshift stool and taking a seat. He glanced up at me. "About your plans: you can go ahead and kill yourself. I can go back to Russia and nobody will recognize me. I am sorry, but I can't take you back with me."

I only gifted him with silence.

For now, I would allow him to have the last laugh.

But I always had the last laugh.

When it was time to sleep, I laid down on the cave floor, using the oversized parka to shield myself from the sudden cold. After tonight, though, I would not feel cold, not feel hunger, not feel...nothing. After tonight, I was going to be free. And so was Dimitri. No way in hell would I let him leave me here, alone.

"Lay with me, Dimitri."

"Never."

I smiled. "Can I get you anything, my love?"

"Hot water for this cold, maybe?"

Gladly, I set the handmade coffee pot on the burning fire. In a few minutes, the water was boiling, steaming and bubbling. I glanced slowly over my shoulder, just a peak to see if Dimitri was looking or not. From the pocket of the oversized parka, I pulled out a small bottle. Only a few drops would do it, but I decided to pour the whole bottle inside.

Dimitri would never know what killed him.

Arsenic was colorless, tasteless, odorless, and could blend easily with the water.

With another smile, I handed Dimitri the water.

"Drink, my love."

He took a good drink, more than half.

So little to wait.

I finished off his remains of the water.

Not long after this.

I laid down on the same spot, under the same parka and on top of the cardboard.

"Lay with me now? Or is your answer still never?"

"Never."

The effects started to attack now.

Dimitri writhed, cried in agony for a few minutes before finally he quieted, eyes opened and unstaring and glassy. Beautiful. A beautiful scene in front of me. I stood up, dragging him next to me, and laid right beside him, holding a hand of his in mine and stroking his hair with my other hand.

"See, never say never. You said that you would never lay down with me and look at you now. You're laying down with me." I scooted closer to him wrapping his limp hand around me. "Now we'll lie together. Forever."

I closed my eyes, waiting for my death to come.

Adrian

"Are you nervous?"

I nodded my head at Christian as I waited at the head of the aisle, waiting for my late bride.

"Why is she so late?"

"Brides are late on their weddings. It is rare the one that is on time. But tell me this, why are you nervous? I cannot see why you are nervous of marrying the love of your life."

I cleared my throat. "I am not nervous of marrying Rose, the love of my life. I am nervous about having Abe as my family. He has not come up to me today to remind me of what will happen if I did something wrong to his daughter."

"Ah, don't forget me just yet; I am right here."

Abe materialized from out of nowhere.

Shit. I had thought I had escaped his 'creativity' today.

Before he could on a threat talk, Abe slammed his hand on my shoulder. He took a deep breath before speaking. "Adrian, surprisingly, I cannot think of anything to say right now." I was breathing my sigh of relief when he said, "But wait when I hand you over my daughter. I will think of something by that time."

As soon as Abe walked away, I turned to Christian. "That is what I am nervous about."

Christian graced me with a face of sympathy. "At least your father-in-law speaks to you, mine won't even glance my way. Jared Sage does not believe his daughter should be with me."

"That is tragic."

Christian shrugged. "Nothing else to do about it."

A hand touching my shoulder again made me jump. Instead, I saw kind brown eyes that a few years ago would have been scary to look into.

"Rose is finally ready. I came to see if you are," Janine said kindly. She was still badass guardian, but motherly woman was combined with the hard attitude.

I grinned. "Obviously I am. I have been waiting to marry her for a while now."

Janine smiled. "Count to a hundred. . .she'll be out by then." Janine patted my shoulder and went to go sit down with the guests, first row.

One Two Three Four Five. . .

. . .Ninety-five Ninety-six Ninety-seven Ninety-eight Ninety-nine

Before I could reach that last number, after Rose's two bridesmaids and maid of honor had taken their spot, Rose was walking down the aisle, already midway to me. She was giving smiles to our guests, but somehow her eyes found mine and they stayed there. She was only smiling at me now. And damn, she looked gorgeous in a wedding dress that was fitted around her chest and then turned into a ball gown as it went down. She wore her hair an elegant bun, with a simple veil cascading behind her.

I spilled out a small laugh when Rose started tugging at her father, trying to make Abe go faster, but Abe gave me one of this smiles and slowed down even more. After more than enough seconds wasted waiting, Abe put his daughter's hand in mine and shockingly did not tell me a thing, did not say a word about how to treat his daughter.

My eyes must have spoken how gorgeous Rose looked because she smiled.

As the minutes passed, Rose's smile grew and so did mine. Within thirty minutes, we were married. At the foot of the altar, our friends and family congratulated us, wishing us the best for the years to come. Rose and I had not wanted a big party. So, we danced a romantic song. . .and we took off to New York for a wild honeymoon.

When we returned, we settled in a small house outside the royal court, but still inside the wards of the court. Rose and I settled right into the married life, Sydney and Christian visiting every day, as well as Oksana and Mark, Rose's parents, my Mother and her husband. After a good six months, Sydney and Christian were expecting again. Abe had done some digging around and he had found out that Eddie had died of some disease a Strigoi had passed down to him, or something like that. His death was not really sure. But Sydney had said we needed to move on from of it, so we did. Rose had said she did not want a new baby right now, Aleene should be our priority right now, but she had been under baby fever lust and. . .well, Rose and I were having another baby.

We eagerly awaited for the birth of our new baby. A month before we found out, Christian and Sydney found out they were having a boy. And Rose and I—we were expecting another flower. More months passed, and Rose and I had our small, new bundle of joy, the beautiful addition to our family.

But that was years ago.

Now, Rose and I found ourselves in a hospital again.

Nothing bad.

We just had welcomed a new baby to our family, the third child. A boy. On Jill's wedding day.

The sound of a cry brought me back from my memory trip.

"Is he hungry again?" I shook my head. "Why did he have to inherit his mother's. . .hunger?"

Rose threw me a dark look, but it quickly changed when she looked down at our son bundled up in her hands. "Just pray he doesn't inherit your laziness. Now that would be horrible."

"My son is going to be just like me."

"Oh dear God, I hope not." Rose sighed. "I think Aleene and Ariel are not going to like this at all. They said they wanted a sister, not a brother."

"If they learned how to love each other, then they can love their brother." I leaned over and kissed Rose's lips before looking down at our son. "Rose, I think I should be able to hold him now. You have been hogging him up all afternoon. And evening."

With a pain in her heart, Rose handed me our son.

Before I had time to be all fatherly with him, Abe and Janine burst through the door, my parents right behind them.

"Where is our grandchild?"

My son, Damien Abe Ivashkov, was taken away from my hands before I could enjoy holding him.

But all was well.

There would be more time for that later.

Rose

I felt older than I was, which was kind of. . .old.

"Can't believe I just had that monster. Eight months is not a long time...and not a good time for him to be walking."

"Our little monsters have to grow up sometime. Can't believe I am aging."

"Pretty soon you will need a cane to get around. . ."

I laughed at the image in my head.

"Those are not nice things to say to your husband."

"Look at them," I sighed. "So grown. That kid is walking already. It feels like I had him yesterday. It feels like yesterday I was chasing around him as he crawled. Damn, time passes too quick."

"Our two girls are beautiful," Adrian commented, pressing his lips under my earlobe, a promise for later tonight when the girls and boy were tucked in bed, fast asleep. "And so is our boy."

I chuckled. "Yes."

"When are we going to try for another?" His hands began to slide up my summer dress, getting very close to my inner thighs.

I stopped his hands. "You're crazy."

"You make me crazy, Rose."

"Glad I have such an effect on you."

"Oh, Rose, my dear. Let's not go there. You have several kind of effects on me. Some I can't explain. Some I rather not show you until later on tonight when the kids are asleep."

"You better not fall asleep on me. Again." I let out a huge laugh, remembering three nights ago when I was so ready to be intimate and he fell asleep in the process.

"I was tired."

"Well, you better make up for it tonight."

"You know I will, Rose, you know I will," he practically purred.

I turned around a little and kissed him.

"Rose. . .I can't believe you're the woman that balances me, the woman I fell in love with."

"And you know I still can't believe I became involved with—Sydney's words, not mine—'a creature of the night.'"

"Babe, we're both creatures of the night."

"No," I contradicted, turning around fully and meeting his beautiful green eyes. "You're the man—not creature—I fell in love with."

Done. Finally. My Adrian/Rose story phase is done and over with!

Moving on!

Sydney and Adrian phase coming!

Expect a story of them soon!

Review if you agree;)

PS: CONGRATS to Richelle Mead. She had her baby boy yesterday!