Disclaimer: Only Sara is my creation. Vaughn, Sydney and Will are properties of  J.J. Abrams.

Summary: Vaughn and Sydney go on a double date…but not with each other…and learn a few things along the way.

Warehouse

Sydney heard Vaughn's cell phone start to trill and looked up. He was always so conscientious about giving her his full attention that it surprised her to find out he'd left his phone on. If he was expecting a call he couldn't miss, she was curious as to whom it could be.

"Sorry." He gave her an apologetic look. She responded with a shrug as he answered his call. She noticed he looked at the number displaying on his Caller ID before saying anything.

"Hello?" So it wasn't work, otherwise he'd have answered "Vaughn".

"Oh, hi." His voice lost its professional edge. A personal call, then?

"I did too." He agreed with his caller. Did what?

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it." He was excited about something?

"Uh-huh. 7:30. I'll see you then." He ended his call. "Sorry." He said again. "I had it on in the car and I forgot to turn it off before I came in."

"It's all right." Sydney said neutrally, her mind doing cartwheels as she tried to piece together Vaughn's side of the conversation. "You're allowed to have a personal life."

Vaughn caught her gaze. "What makes you think it was a personal call?"

"Well, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but seeing how it's pretty unavoidable in this small space, I did hear you say you were looking forward to something." She gave him a pointed look. "And I'm assuming you're not socializing with Devlin after hours…"

"No." His face creased into a grin, but didn't elaborate further.

"Hmmm, not talking, huh?" She gave him a shrewd look. "Okay, so let's see if I can figure this out." Her eyes took on a mischievous gleam.

"Sydney, it's no big deal." Vaughn said uncomfortably.

"No, let me practice my deduction skills." She insisted. "Now we know it was a personal call."

"You never did make it clear to me why you thought it was personal." Vaughn looked at her.  "Just because I'm looking forward to something doesn't mean it can't be about work."

"Yeah, right, having everyone around you scrutinize your every move is really something to be excited about." Sydney said mockingly. "No, this was personal. I could tell by the tone of your voice. You didn't sound so professional and self-assured."

"Plus you said hello instead of 'Vaughn.' If it was work, you would have identified yourself."

Okay, he would give her that. "Fine, it was personal. Can we get back to your mission now?" He said hopefully.

But Sydney was not to be deterred. "Your caller was a woman, wasn't it?"

"Not a bad guess, Agent Bristow, considering you have a 50/50 shot." He drawled, trying to hide his surprise that she was doing pretty well with her conjecturing.

Sydney treated him to a full-dimpled smile. "What can I say? I'm good."

"Or just lucky." He kidded her.

She stuck out her tongue. "So was it your mother?"

Ah-ha, so she wasn't quite as good as she thought she was. "Why would you assume the only woman who would call me would be my mother?"

It was Sydney's turn to be surprised. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were seeing someone." Sydney felt strangely perturbed at the thought of Vaughn dating.

"Well, not really. I mean, it's only a second date." He confessed.

"Second date, huh?" She tried to sound unaffected. "Well, the first date must have gone well if you asked her out again."

"It went all right." He said casually.

"So what's she like?" Sydney asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Sara? Oh, I don't know." Vaughn shrugged. "Blonde, blue eyes, petite."

"Oh, you mean, your type." Sydney blurted out before she knew what she was saying.

Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "And you know my type how?"

"Well, I saw that picture of—what was her name again?" Sydney knew perfectly well who Alice was, but damned if she'd let him know she bothered to remember.

"Alice." Vaughn said patiently.

"That's right. Alice." Sydney reacted as if he'd just jogged her memory. "Anyway, I saw her picture and wasn't she blonde and blue-eyed, too?"

"You seemed to have gotten a lot out of only seeing a picture once and briefly at that." He noted with interest.

"I have an eye for detail." She said loftily.

"Evidently." He deadpanned. "But for your information, I didn't ask her out, so you really can't say that I sought her out based on her looks." He told her. "Weiss fixed me up with her, actually. She lives in his building."

"Hmpf." Sydney sniffed dismissively. "If she's so great, why didn't he ask her out himself?"

"Eric has it in his head that I need a distraction from work. He thinks I think about it too much." Vaughn didn't elaborate that Weiss actually thought he thought about her too much, but then that wasn't the sort of thing Sydney should know, anyway.

"He's probably right." She said grudgingly. It felt petty of her to be miffed that Vaughn was trying to do what everyone else on the planet was trying to do, so she tried to tone down her animosity towards the magnificent "Sara."

"You know, since we're talking about it, I wanted to ask you if you had any restaurant recommendations." Vaughn asked, oblivious to Sydney's inner turmoil.

He was asking her for a way to impress his new girlfriend! Sydney fumed. Well, you are 'friends.' The sane voice in her head pointed out. Friends do that for one another.

"I've heard that Marquise is pretty hot." She finally responded. "If you like French." She added.

"I am kind of partial to French cooking." He smiled, as if he knew a secret she wasn't privy to. "Thanks, Sydney."

*      *      *      *

The next day, Sydney arrived home from work, cranky and tired. Francie was out with Charlie, so she would be home by herself, which was fine with her. She planned on a quick dinner of chicken soup, a long soak in a bubble bath and then blissful slumber under her warm quilts.

Sydney dropped her bag on the couch and then ambled into the kitchen. She was just grabbing a pot from the rack as the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Syd, it's me."

"Well, long time no see, stranger." She said teasingly as she leaned against the counter. "Jenny keeping you busy?"

Will winced. "We're not dating." He said emphatically.

"Uh-huh." Sydney said knowingly. "So what's up?"

"Well, I was calling to ask you if you'd eaten yet."

"No, but I was just about to heat up some soup."

"Well, cancel that and come out with me instead."

"What's the occasion?"

"No occasion." Will said offhandedly. "Can't I ask my best friend—who I haven't seen in days because of her thankless job--to go out to dinner?"

Sydney rolled her eyes at Will's tone. "Sure, where do you want to go?"

"How does Marquise sound to you?"

Sydney did a double take.  Which should have surprised her more? That Will would spring for a dinner at an expensive French restaurant or that that was the exact same restaurant she had recommended to Vaughn?

"Will, are you serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"


"Because Marquise is like the hottest restaurant in town right now, not to mention outrageously expensive." She pointed out. "And let's face it, my friend, your cheapness is legendary."

"Okay, okay," Will gave in. "Truth is I'm in the doghouse with my editor and she passed this assignment on to me as punishment because our regular reviewer has food poisoning."

"Assignment?" Sydney repeated with glee. "Are you saying you have to review the restaurant?" She giggled. "Will Tippin, intrepid investigative reporter, is doing a fluff piece restaurant review!" She crowed.

"Don't make it worse than it is, Syd."

"Oh, poor baby!" She crooned. "Well, I am certainly not going to pass on an expensive meal at an exclusive French restaurant, so I say, pick me up in an hour!"

After a shower and shampoo, Sydney blow-dried her hair until it fell in a soft, shiny mane. She proceeded to do a quick makeup job and then went over to her closet to find something to wear.

She finally decided on a curve-hugging black halter dress. It flattered her figure tremendously and on the off chance that she did see Vaughn that night, she wanted him to be impressed. It had occurred to her that he had never seen her in full glamour mode ("Let's see…bozo hair, tank tops, heavy winter coats…nope, no glamour there.") and it was high time he did.

To be continued…