Chapter 11

They were quickly seated at a table, and a waitress took their orders. Sydney played with the napkin on the table, the image of the guy at the elevator sticking in her mind.

"What are you thinking about?" Vaughn asked, placing his hand over hers. Sydney smiled at the touch of his hand.

"I was thinking about Weiss." Vaughn gave out a small laugh, and picked up his glass of water.

"Do you mind me asking why?" He took a sip of his drink, waiting for her answer.

"I'm sure I saw him in the hotel lobby." Sydney came right out with it, expecting him to tell her that she was crazy for seeing somebody who was thousands of miles away. But Michael didn't say anything; he couldn't. He started choking on his drink, which he had been swallowing when he heard that she had saw Weiss. His eyes grew wide as he coughed, trying to clear his throat.

"Oh. My. God. Michael, you're choking!" Sydney screamed, standing up and running over to him. Banging him on the back, he finally stopped coughing, his cheeks colouring from all the attention that he had received. Everyone in the restaurant was watching him, eager to find out what was going to happen next.

"Are you ok?" Sydney gave him a side hug, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Yeah I just swallowed too quickly, that's all." He reassured her as she sat back down again. "So you were saying that you thought you saw Eric?" He hoped that she hadn't discovered what he was planning, there were only two days until the wedding and he didn't want the surprise to be ruined.

"Yeah. I know it's really strange. I swear, we talk about him way too much! I'm even hallucinating that he's here with us! I mean how weird is that?"

"Well you know we had just been talking about him, so maybe he was still on your mind when you came back down to the lobby. Your mind might just be playing tricks on you!" He tried to throw her off the trail, praying that she would believe what he was saying.

She nodded a smile on her face. "Your right! Of course Weiss isn't here. It was just some random guy who probably looked nothing like him." She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. Michael was right, there was no way that Weiss could be in Hawaii, I'm just imagining things!

After diner the couple headed back to the bar in the hotel. Vaughn was relived that Sydney had believed what he had said about Weiss. He couldn't believe how close she had come to finding out. They walked into the bar, and Sydney immediately spotted Catherine and Mark sitting at a table in the centre of the room. Catherine waved Sydney over, so taking hold of Vaughn's hand, she weaved her away through the tables until she reached them.

"Hey." She sat down in one of the spare seats, Vaughn taking a seat next to her.

"Hi. Have you two been anywhere nice?" Catherine asked, looking at the fancy attire that they were both wearing.

"Yeah we went and had dinner down by the beach." Vaughn answered, his hand resting protectively on Sydney's back. He smiled at her and leaned forward, planting a quick kiss on her lips.

At the front of the club a young woman was singing, accompanied by a man playing the piano. Several people were dancing in the middle of the club while others watched the singer or chatted among themselves.

"Dance with me?" Sydney asked, standing up and holding out her hand for Vaughn to hold. He smiled and stood up, placing his hand in hers.

"Of course."

"We'll be right back." Sydney smiled at Catherine and Mark and then led Vaughn towards the other dancing couples. Vaughn wrapped his arms around her, his hands resting on her lower back. Sydney smiled, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. They fitted in with the couples around them; everyone on the dance floor looked like they were deeply in love, which was something that came naturally to Sydney and Michael.

"I love you." Sydney whispered in his ear, her head resting on his shoulder. The smell of his aftershave made her smile, it was always a smell that she associated with him, even when he wasn't there. Vaughn kissed the side of her head and smiled.

"I love you too!"

"Thank you for bringing me here Michael. I have had the best time, I honestly don't think that this vacation can get any better!" She smiled as she placed a light kiss on his lips.

Yeah, we'll see! "I wouldn't say that Syd! You never know what could happen in a couple of days!" He shrugged, his smile never leaving his face. Sydney thought about what he had said and slowly nodded.

"Yeah you're right! I'm sure that whatever we do in the next couple of days will be amazing too!" She laughed and rested her head back on his shoulder, holding him close to her.

"I can't believe you did that!" Sydney stomach was hurting from laughing so much. They were both lying at opposite ends of the bed, sharing funny childhood memories. Vaughn was massaging her feet but the minute she started laughing, the massage turned into a tickle. Sydney's legs flew around in the air as she tried to get away from Vaughn.

"Ok, ok, ok stop!" She managed to yell through her fit of giggles. Michael followed her orders and stopped tickling her. They both smiled, enjoying being able to just relax together with not a care in the world. Sydney yawned, her eyes slowly starting to close over. Vaughn smiled and stood up walking to the foot of the bed. He bent down and scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the top of the bed.

"What are you doing?" She asked sleepily, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Ssh! I'm just tucking you in." He lay her down, wrapping the covers around her delicate body. She snuggled into the pillow, finding a comfortable position and letting out a content sigh. Michael smiled and kissed her forehead. He waited until he was sure that she was asleep and then he phoned Weiss.

Ten minutes later, Vaughn was sitting in Weiss's hotel room with Marshall, Carrie, and Jack. Jack had actually shuck Vaughn's hand when he walked in the room, which had taken him by surprise but he managed to hide it well.

"You nervous man?" Weiss asked, patting Vaughn on the back. Vaughn smiled and nodded.

"Yes a little. But I am so excited! I love Sydney so much, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with her." He smiled at them. "Sydney saw you before Eric, well she thinks she did!"

"What?"

"Yeah! She went up to the room to get her purse and when she came down she thought she saw you standing at the elevators. But luckily she didn't get a view of your face, so I think I managed to convince her that it wasn't you."

Weiss nodded slowly. He couldn't believe that he had almost blown this whole wedding. "We'll just have to be extra careful! There wedding's the day after tomorrow, so if we all just stay low tomorrow then hopefully Syd won't grow anymore suspicious." Everyone nodded their agreements.

"I can't believe you're doing all of this for her. It is so romantic." Carrie gushed, a smile playing on her lips.

"Yeah I never knew you had a romantic side!" Weiss joked.

"So do you know how you're tell her that she's getting married?" Jack asked, sitting back on the chair that was in Weiss's room.

"Yeah actually. I'm going to need the wedding dress…"

"Sure." Carrie smiled at him as she left the room to get the dress. A couple of minutes later she returned with a black clothes bag and hung it on the back of the bedroom door.

"Don't look at it before the wedding!" She warned him, resuming her seat on beside Marshall.

"Hey, don't look at the dress before the wedding ok?"

Vaughn nodded and smiled. "Ok I wont! Thank you Carrie for choosing the dress, I wouldn't have been able to do it, I know nothing about wedding dresses and stuff!"

"Don't mention it! And I thought that that might be the case so I bought some shoes and things. They're in the bag." She nodded at the bag and smiled.

"Thanks!" He couldn't believe just how great his friends were. They had all done so much to help him with this wedding, he couldn't even begin to thank them enough.

"Did my mom get here ok?" Vaughn knew that he should have called her himself to tell her the good news, but he knew she would understand. She loved Sydney and she would want him to be doing everything to make her wedding perfect for her.

"Yeah, I spoke to her before. She wanted me to tell you that she's so happy for you both and that she'll see you at the ceremony!" Jack told him.

An hour later, Vaughn returned to his own room to find that Sydney was still fast asleep. He stood silently in the doorway watching her for a minute, before climbing into the bed next to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and cuddled up to her, lightly kissing her on the head before falling into a peaceful sleep.