The Dream

Chapter 13: The Interruption

A/N: This is set before everything of The Prophecy and Q & A.

"Sydney?" Vaughn asked in a whisper. She looked up at him; his eyes silently questioned her, asking her what to do. He brought a hand up to her face, cradling her cheek. She leaned into his touch, sighing. Then she took his hand and kissed it, and leaned closer to him.

"When I turn off the water, you get in the shower and stay there. Be quiet."

"I know," he answered.

"Syd?" the voice called again, and the knocking became louder.

"God damn it!" Sydney whispered angrily and then said in a louder, more cheerful tone, "Just a minute!"

Vaughn stood up. "You ready?"

Sydney nodded and opened the shower curtain. She reached in to turn off the water, but then stopped. She stuck her head in the shower for a moment, letting the drops of water pound on the top of her head and then run down her face like tears.

"Hey…" Vaughn whispered, and she felt his hand on her elbow as he pulled her towards him. She could hear the concern in his voice, but the look in his eyes was asking her what the hell she was doing.

The water was streaming down her face. She wanted to laugh, but instead smiled and murmured, "I need to look like I was taking a shower."

Vaughn only nodded and brought his fingers up to brush the wet hair out of her eyes. Sydney's shirt was soaked and she shivered. She wished Vaughn would hold her, warm her, and almost moved forward into his arms.

Then she heard the footsteps pacing outside the door.

"Can you hand me that bathrobe?" she whispered, pointing.

Vaughn turned in the direction in which she was pointing, walked over to it, picked up the bathrobe, and turned around to hand it to Sydney. When he turned, she was no longer face to face with him, but more importantly, she was no longer clothed.

Well, that wasn't entirely true, she still had her pants on, but she had taken off her shirt, and the skin on her back looked so smooth and inviting…

"Oh my God!" Vaughn thought, "I'm going to lose it." But he couldn't. He had to keep some semblance of control. He could control her breathing, her pulse, her laughter, her smiles…But no, he had to control himself and the urge to run his hands, his lips over her bare flesh…

Staying as far away from her as he could and averting his eyes, Vaughn handed her the bathrobe, almost throwing it at her. He barely heard her whispered thanks. Fortunately, she kept her back to him and put on the bathrobe before quickly removing her pants and tying the robe.

Vaughn looked back at Sydney. He knew he shouldn't be looking at her, but he couldn't keep his eyes off her. He kept picturing what she would look like without the robe. He was staring, he knew he was staring. She had turned around. Shit! Now, she knew he was staring. Why couldn't he make himself look away?

He was staring at her. His eyes seemed to be boring holes into her flesh. Sydney thought she would melt.

There was only one thing she could do to keep herself from running at him. She averted her eyes and concentrated her thoughts on the objective, on what needed to get done. Hide Vaughn, answer door, make person at door go away. This is how she got through every single one of her operations; this was her "mission mode." As long as she remained like that, she should be able to complete her objective without a problem.

She could still hear the pacing footsteps outside the door. They had to hurry. She looked toward Vaughn, but wouldn't let her eyes focus on his, or show any emotion. She hated to have to do that, but he would understand. He always did.

Sydney didn't even need to speak. Vaughn understood her unspoken words, her movements, her facial expressions, her eyes, and nodded to show that he was ready.

He walked over to the shower. Sydney was already there, hand poised to turn off the water. Her wet hair brushed back behind one ear, her dark eyes deep in concentration, her smooth skin next to the soft, white bathrobe, the delicate curve of her jaw…She was gorgeous, she was irresistible…She was turning off the water, and it was time for him to get in.

Vaughn silently slipped into the shower. He just saw Sydney nod in satisfaction before he closed the curtain. The footsteps outside the door had grown even more restless and there was another knock at the door.

"Coming," Sydney answered, and Vaughn heard her walk over to the door.

The door opened. There was a pause. Vaughn wished he could see who was there, who was interrupting them.

Finally Sydney's voice broke the silence, "Hey, Will. What are you doing here?"

Will. Sydney's friend Will. Sydney's friend Will who didn't have to see her in secret, who could see her, call her at any time of the day and had chosen now to come talk to her. If Will hadn't been Sydney's friend, if Vaughn hadn't known how much she cared about him, he seriously would have come out of hiding and given Will a piece of his mind.

But dammit, Will was Sydney's friend, and Vaughn didn't want to make her lie to her friends any more than she already had to, so he stayed where he was.

Will had started talking, the first time Vaughn had ever heard his voice, "Hey, um, I was just driving by and you know, there's this strange car parked outside. Is someone in there with you?"

Will had involuntarily done something very wrong by being concerned for Sydney, because in Vaughn's mind had been placed on the same list as Haladki. That sniveling, spying little weasel! Who the hell did he think he was?!

Vaughn's hand tightened into a fist. If Sydney hadn't started speaking at that moment, he wouldn't have remained in the shower much longer.

"Why would I take someone into the bathroom with me?" she asked slowly and coolly.

Damn that woman was good. She didn't even crack under pressure. Vaughn could picture what Sydney's face looked like as she said that. Will had no idea that Sydney could kick his ass in two seconds flat, and Vaughn almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

Then Will started to talk again. Couldn't he just shut up and go away?

"It's just that, um, I saw that car…"

"And so you just assumed that I took someone in the shower with me?" Sydney interrupted. She was trying really hard not to be completely pissed off, but Will was making it very difficult.

"Right, I mean no! Of course not! I would never…it's just…"

Sydney sighed. "Will, forget it. It's okay." She gave him a weak smile. He really didn't try to be a pain, that's just the way it turned out most of the time.

Will looked obviously relieved. Sydney was glad that he had dropped the idea of someone being in her shower. It would certainly be awkward if Will found Vaughn. She could just picture it: "No Will, I don't know how he got in here. Someone must have left the door open and he just wandered in…"

Yeah right.

Well, now that Will was satisfied that no one was in her bathroom it was time for him to leave. Because, now that Sydney was thinking about it, there were plenty of reasons to bring a person into your bathroom, especially if that person was Vaughn.

She sighed and smiled. Will was looking at her strangely. It was definitely time for him to leave. "Will, what are you doing here?" Sydney asked, almost sweetly. How do you kick your friend out without being rude?

"Oh, right. I have a story due tomorrow on Hemingway and all the libraries are kind of closed now. I know that you have all those old books…"

"My mom's books?"

"Yeah. I know that you really love those books and I promise I'll be really careful with them…"

She let her thoughts wander as Will babbled. Why did everything always have to come back to her mother? Sydney had never thought how that would affect her relationship with Vaughn. Damn Will for bringing it up. No, he didn't know, it wasn't his fault. Damn her mother. If it was anyone's fault, it was hers.

"Sure you can have them, Will. Spill coffee all over them, rip them up; I don't care."

"Thanks, Syd. You're a lifesaver."

"Don't mention it. Just hold on and I'll get you those books."

Sydney went into the other room and quickly grabbed a bunch of books off of a shelf. She hurried back to Will, but he was not where she had left him.

"Will?" she called, praying that he'd answer from the kitchen, the living room, Francie's room, just not the bathroom.

"In here," he answered.

Great. He was in the bathroom.

Sydney walked over to the door. Her heart was beating so hard that it was giving her a headache.

She hadn't heard any fighting, so Will couldn't have found Vaughn. At least she hoped that he hadn't.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she found Will looking in the mirror. "Here," she said, handing him the books. "There's a book of short stories and some novels."

"Thanks a lot. I promise I'll be really careful…"

"Don't worry about it. Well, you had better go and get started on that story."

Will nodded, but didn't move.

God, couldn't he take a hint? She resisted the temptation to look over at the shower, to where she knew Vaughn would be standing. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I'll bring these back tomorrow." Will walked over to the door, and then stopped and looked around the bathroom. "You know, it smells really nice in here. Like cologne or something. Did you get some new air freshener?"

Yeah, it's a new scent called Michael Vaughn. Sydney almost laughed, but was able to look at Will and seriously respond, "Yeah, it was something new I saw at the store and decided to give it a try."

"Smells good…Well, I've got to go."

Thank God.

Will gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and walked past her. When he reached the door he turned and said goodbye. Sydney waved back. She smiled as she walked out the door and finally shut it behind him.

Was it wrong of her to be so glad to see him go?

Sydney quickly decided it wasn't, and locked the door. She could hear the running water of the shower; Vaughn must have gotten out and turned it back on. She walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Before she could turn around and face him, Vaughn had her in his arms. It felt so good to be so close to him, to be held by him. She shivered as she felt him kiss the back of her neck. Then she felt his breath against her ear.

"Where were we?" he whispered.

A/N: I could keep writing this fic forever, but you would all probably start to get bored of it, so I think I'll end it in the next chapter. Please let me know what you think, and thanks so much for reading.