Chapter 7: Shopping

"Okay, here we go. We need…" Sydney's sentence wandered off as Vaughn pulled out the cart and stood next to her, waiting patiently for her to continue.

"Yes?"

"We neeeeeeeeed…"

Vaughn sighed, knowing she was making a mental list while staring at a quick sketch she wrote up in the car. He leaned against the handle of the cart with a loving smirk on his face while watching the light bulb go on behind her dancing eyes.

"Look, why don't we just go down each aisle and then grab things we think we'll need." He suggested, and she turned to look at him.

"Well…I was going to suggest splitting up to get the most done quickly…"

"What's your hurry? We'll probably just walk in on Eric and Nadi making out on the couch anyway…blech." Vaughn fake a shudder as he stood tall, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her toward the back end of the market.

"I like your idea better anyway." She grinned, placing a kiss to his stubbly cheek as they wandered into the produce section.

"Must have taken a wrong turn…" Vaughn tried, but she'd already made her way to the fruit section.

"Sorry sweetie, we're having a fruit salad as well. Can you find me ten nice apples? Fuji or Gala, if they're fresh."

She laughed as he grumbled something akin to 'you can't grill a fruit' and picked through the fruits and vegetables, having everything save for the apples that Vaughn went in search of nearly five minutes ago.

"Vaughn?" She asked over her shoulder, seeing him standing at the cart, leaning with folded arms over the hand rest once more, staring at her with devoted green eyes. "What's up?" She asked with a curious smirk.

"Nothing."

"No, something's up. I know you too well. What did you do?" She squinted a bit, trying to read his face for any other little tidbit of information, but his demeanor gave nothing away.

"I like this."

"You like this? Shopping for fruit?"

"No…just shopping. I realized we've never actually been this domestic." He smiled as they continued out of the produce section, making their way toward the meat area.

"Here we go…the man's department." He puffed out his chest and parked the cart. She reached out, smacking him lightly above his sternum causing the air he held in to fly out with a whoosh.

"Oh ya, macho."

"Shut up. Why don't you go find some chips? I may be here for a while…" he grinned with a wiggle of his eyebrows as his gaze turned from her to the various slabs of dead animals wrapped tightly with styrofoam.

"You gonna to be okay by yourself little guy?" She asked in a motherly tone, making the attendant behind the counter grin as he patiently waited for Vaughn to give his attention his way.

Vaughn glared at her as she blew him a kiss and a wink before turning and heading off in search of chips.

"Newly weds?" The attendant asked as Vaughn graced him with a small smile.

"Not quite." He laughed, ending the conversation there and moving the topic over to grillable items.

While he picked out several pounds of various meats, Syd made her way to the chip aisle and picked up a few backs for the guys, snagging two large bags of SmartFood Popcorn for herself and Nadia.

She met up with Vaughn as he headed toward her, a light smile on his face.

"You happy you got your dead animals, baby?"

"Absolutely." He grinned and pulled her close, setting a kiss to her lips before pulling back.

"We need dip for the chips, but I didn't have enough hands. Oh…and cheese for the burgers."

"Copy that, Mountaineer, dip and cheese." He pretended to talk into his ear as she yanked his arm away from his head with a scolding smile.

"Don't do that. Does the phrase covert mean anything to you?"

"Nope." He laughed and pulled her toward the dairy section at the other end of the store. They passed the card aisle and Sydney stopped, setting a small hand to his arm.

"I'm going to grab a get well card for Dixon." She turned back as Vaughn nodded, moving by her. Passing the floral department, and a small bucket containing short stemmed roses, he read the sign. After stopping interest.

'$2.00/rose.' He grinned, glancing back to the card section and making sure she wasn't walking his way. Pulling his wallet out quickly, he handed two dollars to a surprised clerk and lifted up a rose as Sydney rounded the corner. Panicking, he opened his jacket and slid the stem into the inside pocket as the flower attendant chuckled.

"You find any dip?" Syd asked lightly, gazing one final time at the card before setting it into the envelope and on the seat in the front of the cart, seeing a strange, somewhat surprised look on his face.

"Nope…you may have to take a look. I don't know what everyone likes." His voice was slightly strained and she gave him an odd look, moving away from him after taking the cart.

He let out a pained hiss and threw open his jacket the moment she was out of sight as the clerk busted into a fit of giggles. A tiny spot of red marked the center of his left pectoral as the young woman handed him another rose.

"I'll trade you, sir. This one without thorns for the one in your pocket."

He tossed her a mock glare mixed with a smirk while taking the rose from her hand and trading before jogging to catch up with Sydney, the de-thorned flower tucked firmly back in his jacket.

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