Would You Rather
Sequel to: Have You Ever. This is pretty AU, but I promise that there will be spy elements.
Rating: Mature
Disclaimer: Thoughts and story-lines are mine, as well as any and all characters you don't recognize from the TV show.
…
Chapter 1: My First Family Vacation
"Ooh, Daddy, what's that?" Danny asked with his face smashed against the window of the rental van.
Michael laughed, looking back and seeing his son straining against the seat belt to get a better look out to the powdered white city of Paris. "That's the Eiffel Tower."
"What's it do?"
"Umm, it's just really cool to look at. It's the symbol of France." Vaughn smiled, reaching over and setting his hand down Sydney's arm as she slept against the armrest. Taking care of the twins on the way over didn't afford her any time to sleep on the plane, so she'd begun to make up for it during the drive from the airport to his family's ranch house in Normandy.
"Why?"
"Because it's so big and it's been around so long that people just think of France when they hear about it," he explained, settling in for a long car ride. His son was really into the long 'why' conversations; about anything and everything, his question to obtain more knowledge would always be, "Why?"
"What's Eiffel mean, Daddy?"
"It really doesn't mean anything; it was named after the guy who built it," Vaughn answered.
"Why?" Danny persisted.
"Because he built it."
"Why come did he build it?"
Michael sighed with a smile, looking in the mirror to see his two sleeping babies and a very attentive Danny in the back seat. "Well, this guy named Eiffel won a game when the king of France said he wanted something cool to look at. So they built this Tower."
"Daddy?"
"Yeah, pal?"
"Why do dogs have wet noses?" he asked innocently, Vaughn laughing at the sudden change of subject.
"Ummm…I don't know, Dans," Vaughn answered honestly.
"Why not?"
After thinking a brief moment, "Because I'm not a dog."
Danny accepted the answer, turning to look back out the window as more scenery flew by, and the cities and buildings got farther and farther away. The wide open farmland of France was revealing itself, and butterflies flew in Michael's stomach.
It wasn't as if he was nervous of introducing his family to…well, his family - it was the knowledge that Sydney was so uptight about everything. His father's family would be there too, since it was a wedding after all, and Sydney wasn't entirely confident that she'd put her mother's past into her past.
She'd nearly panicked when he's told her about his cousin's wedding and everyone that would be there as he read the invitation aloud.
"Why don't you go, and I'll stay here with the kids?" she'd offered, Michael dropping his hands to the desk, the invitation still clutched in his fingers, giving her a wry look before picking it back up and continuing to read.
"Sofia Lydia Vaughn and Jeremy Thomas Townsend request your presence at their ceremony on January 14th, 2006."
"Michael, seriously. You should go. Besides, I don't think Izzy should get on a plane with the problems she's been having," she tried once more, slightly annoyed that her husband was more than content to ignore her and continue reading.
"Sofia Lydia Vaughn, daughter to Tom and Cathleen Vaughn, also invite you and yours to the Reception to celebrate her engagement to Jeremy Thomas Townsend on January 10th, 2006, at the Ranch House; 4:00 PM – dinner will be served."
She sighed, adjusting her bra back into place as the satisfied little girl gurgled with a smile. She couldn't help but lean over after pulling her shirt back down, rubbing the tiny little nose with her own as Izzy's smile turned into an open-mouthed, toothless beam. Wisps of curls lay in disarray atop her head, the hair coming in thick and full destined to look like her mother's.
"You're not listening…" she grumbled, switching Isabelle from her chest to her shoulder, patting her back lightly as she let out a fairly large burp for one so tiny. Thankfully it was minus any liquid.
"We're all going. My whole family's gonna be there, and I want to introduce everyone. You, Danny, the twins; everyone. We're going." Michael stated, grabbing a pen and beginning to fill out the R.S.V.P.
"Michael,"
"Yes sweetie?" he asked, looking up and finally giving her his full attention.
"I don't want to be known as the daughter of the woman who killed Bill Vaughn." She mumbled, looking away from his sympathetic eyes, standing, and walking silently up the stairs to the twin's room.
He sighed, setting down the pen and leaning back in his chair, hands crossed over his chest. His eyes automatically followed the movement from the backyard where Eric and Danny were in the middle of a snowball fight, the fence between the houses serving as the border between the sides of good and evil – at least…that was how Danny had explained it.
A small smile curved his lips as he watched his son jump out from behind the fort that they had built together a day ago, firing little snowballs at his uncle. Vaughn stood, making his way up after his wife. He leaned against the door, watching her lay Izzy in next to her brother, nap time commencing for both babies. They'd been a bit off on their sleeping patterns for the last week, nearly wearing Sydney out. Danny would go down for a nap right after lunch, and the twins before and during, but lately Danny's nap time came a bit later, around 3:00 o'clock, and the twins had decided that they were going to nap at opposite times.
If one was asleep, the other was undoubtedly awake and ready to have all the attention.
"Sydney, I don't want to make you uncomfortable," he paused, seeing her turn after placing a blanket over the babies and placing matching pacifiers into their mouths.
He waited until she was close enough before pulling her into his arms, her head automatically going to his shoulder.
"I really don't want to segregate my families. I love you all, you know that. As far as your mother is concerned, she paid me in full by saving your life…not to mention the lives of my kids. Besides, it'll be fun. Our first little mini-vacation," he grinned, trying to bait her as she sighed into his chest.
"There's no talking you out of it?"
"Nope. We're goin'."
Looking over at her relaxed features as she slept, his hand rubbed soothing circles over her hand, he drove on. Surprisingly, his son was keeping his questions at bay, but when Vaughn looked into the back of the large van - seeing the twins sleeping soundly with Denver's legs stretched into the air from the far back couch-like seats - Danny was resting with his forehead against the window fast asleep.
He smiled, continuing the drive to his family's house. The winding road lead up to the elegantly landscaped driveway formed a circle, a fountain sitting in the center.
"Wow. Aunt Trish dropped a lot of cash into this," he mumbled, his eyes scanning the scenery and not noticing said aunt walking up behind the car and tapping with a long, purple fingernail on the window.
Vaughn jumped away from the window, his elbow smacking Sydney's as she bolted awake, her hand swinging up and catching Michael's cheek and ear.
"What? What happened?" She asked, adjusting to her surroundings as Michael laughed an apology with a hand patting her knee and hitting the button to roll down the window.
"Bonjour, bonbon!" [Hello, sweetie]
"Bonjour, auntie Trish."
"Do come now, get out of that vehicle and let Bernardo park it around the side. Do hurry, I cannot wait to meet those little babies!"
And, almost as quickly as she'd appeared, she was gone. "So that was her?" Sydney asked, earning a questioning frown from her husband. "Crazy Aunt Trish?"
Michael laughed, jumping at another knock on the window as Bernardo bowed in apology before opening the door for the young man. Sydney collected her wits, pushing aside the growing ball of…something in her stomach that was clogging her throat. It wasn't until Vaughn moved to her side to collect the twins and release the groggy dog that he noticed her standing and staring at the elegant home.
Her dress pants accentuated her hips, thighs and backside, tapering down to a flare, the white dress shirt looking slightly wrinkled from their long flight and drive. Per usual, her little 'ticks' of nervousness were giving her away. Her hands laced back and forth, fingers immediately twisting her wedding and engagement rings on her finger.
"Baby, everything will go fine. Hell – you and I have faced worse things than this, right? Firing squads, torture, your father when he was angry."
"Yeah, I guess, but it doesn't compare to the gauntlet of questions I'll have to field from every member of your family. This is a different kind of firing squad. I didn't get training for this one."
"Nah, it'll be easy. You'll see," he reassured her, turning and un-strapping the seat belt from behind the twins' large joint carrier.
"Yeah…well – I hope so."
...