Author's note: This is the series of one shots I promised after One Step Farther. The overall title comes from the Paramore song Be Alone and the title of this particular chapter is a play on the song from the musical Damn Yankees called Whatever Lola Wants. Please feel free to let me know what you think.

Happy reading!

Never Get Too Lonely

A Sydrian One Shot Series

By Danielle Cheri

Whatever Rory Wants

"So how long will you be there?" Sydney asked as Adrian finished gathering his painting supplies.

He looked at her suspiciously. "Until about six. Why?"

"Well, I'm going to get Rory and then we're going to go have some girl time. I want to be home in time to make you guys supper."

"Well, the session is until six. This family is driving me nuts with all the details, so I don't want to spend more time than necessary there." He leaned in and kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you.

"Have fun with Rory."

She grinned. "I will."

She watched as he drove away and then she got her purse and keys and headed out herself. The drive to Court was a peaceful one. It was only an hour in the worst traffic, so getting Lorelei back and forth for her visits wasn't too time-consuming. Sydney was lucky to have found a company in need of her architectural abilities so soon after college and so close. She was an intern with a chance at a full-position at the end, which was close. She suspected Abe Mazur had something to do with it, but she never questioned it.

Dimitri leaned into her car at the gate and smiled. "Coming to kidnap my daughter?" He teased.

She chuckled. "Just for the weekend. How are things?"

He shrugged. "Same as always. You?"

"About to get a lot better for many reasons. One of them being spending the weekend with Lorelei."

He nodded. "She says you are shopping today."

"Yeah, I promised her a day of being spoiled by me."

"She's spoiled enough by all of us." He commented as he stepped back and nodded to the guardian at the controls. "I'll let them know you are on your way."

When she knocked on the door, she heard Rose call, "Rory, someone's here for you."

"I know. I heard Papochka." Came the exasperated cry from her 5-year-old stepdaughter.

The door swung open and Lorelei's vivid green eyes, just like her father's, looked up at her. "Hi, Sydney!" She exclaimed, throwing herself at the woman's midsection.

"Hey, Rory." She hefted her up. "I've missed you."

"I missed you too. Are we still shopping?"

"Yes. Both for you and for Daddy. We're going to surprise him."

"I like surprises. Why are we surprising him?"

"Because today is the day I'm going to ask him to marry me. And I want your help getting the dinner put together. We're making some of his favorite things."

The little girl smiled. "Will you have a big wedding? Mommy and Papochaka said they weren't going to."

Sydney laughed. "It depends on what your daddy wants. He'll probably want a big wedding." She kissed the girl's cheek. "Go get your things, baby."

As soon as she was out of Sydney's arms, she ran to her room.

Rose shook her head. "I hope she doesn't annoy you too much with the wedding questions this weekend. It's become her favorite subject ever since Eddie and Jill's wedding last month."

She laughed, "I'm sure it will be fine. Adrian will push to start right away, I think. And I want to. No point in waiting too long."

Rose shrugged. "You've waited this long."

Sydney nodded. "But I made a lot of excuses up to this point."

"Well, you had good reasons." She smiled. "So I woke her up when Dimitri left at about noon. Maybe she'll sleep well for you tonight."

"You know you don't have to do that. We could shift our schedules for a few days."

"I know, but it was kind of selfish. I wanted to spend some time with her, just us."

"Understandable."

Lorelei reappeared with her small suitcase in one hand and the trunk of a stuffed elephant in the other. "Ready!" She announced.

"Come and give me a hug." Rose demanded, her arms held out in front of her.

The little girl ran to her mother. "Ya tebya lyublyu, Mommy."

"Ya tebya lyublyu, dushen'ka." She gave her a loud kiss on the cheek. "Be good."

"I'll try."

She put her down. "Don't forget to say goodbye to Papochka at the gate."

"I won't." She looked up at Sydney. "Can we go now?"

Her stepmother smiled. "Sure thing."

As they slowly headed out of Court, Lorelei asked, "Sydney, can I call you Mommy?"

Sydney nearly plowed into a dhampir on the sidewalk. He glared at her as he quickly walked away. Sydney regained her composure and control of her car before she asked, "Do you want to?"

"Well, I have Daddy and Paochka and Mommy, but you're just Sydney."

"True."

"And Mommy said I could call you Mommy, too, if I wanted. She said if it was okay with you."

"Well, baby, I think that will be fine. But you know you don't have to."

"I know. I won't do it all the time because we're not used to it yet. But I'll start."

Sydney smiled at her in the rear-view mirror. "I like the sound of that, Rory."

"Papochka!" She exclaimed as they stopped at the gate.

Sydney rolled down the window. "Phase one complete."

Dimitri chuckled. "Good. Now Rose and I will have some peace. Too bad it is only a temporary kidnapping."

"Yeah, too bad." Sydney unlocked the back door and he opened it.

He kneeled beside Lorelei and spoke softly to her in English mixed with a little Russian. Sydney didn't catch all of the conversation, but she heard them exchange "I love you" like she and her mother had.

"Farewell, dushen'ka." He said at last. He closed the door. "I need to look in the trunk before I can let you pass. Standard procedure, you know."

"No problem." She said as she pushed the button.

A couple minutes later, they were on their way. Lorelei chattered almost the whole way, talking about her friends and school. She dozed off for a few minutes just before they arrived at the store. She was still bleary-eyed when Sydney sat her in the seat at the front of the cart.

"Mama Sydney?"

She smiled. "Yes?"

"What are we going to get?"

"Well, after we shop here and get some things for you, we'll go grocery shopping. We're going to make a special dinner. One of Daddy's favorite things to eat is that baked potato soup I make. So we'll make that. And when we were younger, there was this pie shop we visited in California called Pies and Stuff and it was very special to Daddy and me. So I want to bake a pie. We have to decide what kind of pie."

"Cherry! I love cherries and Daddy likes them too." Lorelei said happily.

"Then we'll make a cherry pie. And there's a store we need to go to after that that sells gelato. That's another thing that's been important to us."

"Why?"

"It's a long story, baby. I'll tell you one day when you're older." She kissed her forehead.

They passed an aisle with colorful sweets. Lorelei's eyes lit up. "Sydney, can I have some candy?"

"I think that can be arranged." They walked to the girls' clothing section. "How about a new dress?"

Her eyes lit up. "Yes, please."

Lorelei picked about twenty dresses to try on. She liked all of them, but Sydney told her she had to pick just her two favorites. This resulted in her trying about half of them on again. She finally settled on her two favorites and they were put in the cart. She then picked out a book that had a really pretty yellow cover. She didn't care what it was about; she liked the cover and thought she needed it. Sydney couldn't deny her a book, so she bought it.

After picking out a sucker, and promising to finish it all and not make a sticky mess, they checked out.

"I want to wear one of my dresses when you ask Daddy to marry you." Lorelei said as Sydney worked to open her sucker.

"I think Daddy will love it. Which one?"

"The yellow one!" She exclaimed.

Her stepmother smirked. "You really love yellow these days, don't you?"

"Sydney, it's the bestest color ever." She said solemnly.

Sydney chuckled and handed over the candy. "It's a pretty great color. Like the sun." She got back in the driver's seat.

"Daddy can't go in the sun." She announced as they pulled into the road.

"Well, he can, but not for very long. It makes him sick." She explained.

"It makes Aunt Jill sick too. And Aunt Lissa and Uncle Christian."

"That's right. Because they are Moroi."

"Yes. And Mommy and Papockha and me is dhampirs. And Uncle Eddie."

"And what am I?"

"A human!" She yelled. "All my friends think it's weird that I have a human stepmommy."

Sydney smiled. "Well, it is. A little. Most Moroi don't associate with humans unless it's entirely necessary."

"Why?" She asked innocently.

"Because, baby girl, most of them think they are better than us."

"Like Grandpa Nathan?"

"Exactly." She hesitated, but asked, "Do you ever see Grandpa Nathan?"

She took a while to answer. When she finally did, her voice was forlorn. "I see him around sometimes. I don't ever talk to him. He won't even wave at me. He usually frowns and looks mean when he notices me."

"Well, you don't need to worry about your Grandpa Nathan. You have Grandpa Abe to make up for him."

Lorelei brightened. "He's coming to see us next week. Mommy said I can stay with him if he wants me to."

"Well, I'm glad. He's a great man." She added to herself, "Even if he's a little slimy."

After buying everything they needed for the meal that night, and picking up some more sweets for Lorelei, they headed home. Rory fell asleep again. She stumbled into the house while Sydney unloaded the groceries.

She woke up when Sydney started cooking. She helped. Mostly by staying out of the way, but she got to pour some of the ingredients in. She greatly enjoyed helping with the pie, especially the part where she got flour everywhere. Sydney looked up at the clock when they put the pie in and told her to go change into her new dress if she wanted. She ran out of the kitchen and returned just as her father pulled into the driveway.

Adrian stepped into the door and called, "Hey, who took over my house with all these yummy smells?"

"Daddy!" Lorelei ran to him. "Me and Mommy made dinner!"

"Mommy?" He looked around.

"She means me." Sydney said, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him softly.

"Mommy and Sydney said I could her that." The little girl explained.

Adrian kissed his girlfriend. "Well, isn't that nice? Hey, I like your dress."

"Sydney let me buy. I got a red one with pink hearts on it, too. And a book with a yellow cover."

"Did you tell Sydney thank you?"

She nodded.

"Good." He kissed both of them and then peered into the kitchen. "So what's the occasion?"

Sydney shared a conspiratorial smile with the little girl. "No reason. Just because."

Lorelei giggled.

"Sh. You'll give it away." Sydney whispered.

"Give what away?" Adrian asked. "What's going on, you two?"

Sydney sighed, "I guess the cat's out of the bag." She grinned. "We made your favorites."

Adrian gave her an odd look. "Okay..."

"Sydney wants to ask you a question." Lorelei said.

Sydney tapped the girl's nose. "Why don't you two take a seat?" She pulled her boyfriend to the table and pushed them gently into a chair. She sat beside them and took Adrian's hand. "Adrian, when we started dating, I knew that you would change everything in my life. And you have. You," she grinned and smoothed a hand over their daughter's hair, "and Rory are the greatest things that have ever happened to me. And it would be fantastic if we made this more official." She wiped at a stray tear. "What I'm trying to get at is—"

Lorelei interrupted, "She wants to marry you, Daddy. Please say yes. And please say you'll have a big wedding."

The adults laughed. Adrian kissed his daughters head. He looked at Sydney with tears shimmering in his own eyes. "There's nothing I've wanted more in all these years with you, Sydney. Yeah, I'll marry you."

She leaned forward and kissed him hard. "You can give me that engagement ring now." She said with a sly smile.

He laughed. "Who blabbed?"

Sydney smirked. "Jill. Right after you bought it three years ago."

He averted his eyes. "You would have said no."

She put her finger under his chin and turned his face back to her. "Maybe. Maybe not. But we're engaged now. So I'll wear it with great pride. And I won't make you wait very long for the wedding. Maybe this time next year?"

He looked at the girl on his lap and back to the woman he loved. "I think that would be perfect. A big wedding, but not too big. Only about a hundred guests."

"I think I can agree to that." She stroked his cheek with her thumb.

"Can I be in it?" Lorelei asked.

"Oh, I think we can arrange something special for you." Sydney pulled her across the space to her lap. "Because you are a very special little girl, Lorelei. And we want everyone to know just how special you are."

Translations:

Ya tebya lyublyu = I love you

dushen'ka = my little soul (according to a Russian-speaker on a forum for terms of endearment)

If any of my Russian is ever wrong, please correct me. I will be using it quite a bit and get the translations online as I am not a native speaker.