Title :Chance Meeting
Rating:G
Disclaimer: I don't own the show or any of the characters.
Summary: Sydney and Vaughn coincidentally meet on a Saturday afternoon.
A/N: Just a short story that is set pre- ATY I suppose, but it is separate from most things in the show. However a passing reference is made to the photo frame Vaughn gave Sydney and the hockey game invite.
(I might continue this story- I'm not sure yet!) So please tell me what you think of it- Thanks!
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Sydney and Francie waited outside their favourite shoe store after a whole morning of successful shoe shopping. It was beginning to get a bit colder as the breeze picked and whipped around them.
"What time did Will agree to meet us?' Francie asked as she looked down at her watch. Will was already running twenty minutes late. "My feet are killing me and we have all these bags. I really need to sit down soon." Francie added.
Sydney looked around once more and eventually saw Will walking hurriedly towards them. Sydney pointed to her watch as if to say that he was in big trouble.
"Sorry, guys. It took me longer than I thought to finish that article I was writing."
"Don't worry." Sydney replied. "But you can carry our bags." Will reluctantly took a few of the bags and walked beside them.
Sydney couldn't help being in a good mood. It felt amazing being able to have a day off, not worrying about work and everything else in her life. Just being able to go shoe shopping with Francie was enough to make her happy.
"I'm sure there's a coffee shop around the corner- we can go there." Sydney suggested.
"Great!" Francie replied. "Will?" she asked.
"Yeah?" Will answered as Francie stepped in between Will and Sydney.
"How are your feet?" She asked as she limped along.
"My feet are fine Francie. I have said I was sorry I was late!"
"You will be even more sorry if we don't reach that coffee shop soon." Francie warned.
Sydney decided not to get involved in the brewing argument between Francie and Will. Instead she closed her eyes for a second, letting the warmth of the sun fall on her face. The breeze made her chestnut hair flick behind her as she walked. She felt for a brief moment as if she didn't have a care in the world.
Sydney opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times. As her eyes focussed in the sunlight, her entire body froze. She managed to edge closer to Francie hoping that she wouldn't be noticed.
"What's wrong Syd?" Francie asked following her gaze.
"N-nothing. Just someone from work, that's all." Sydney berated herself for not being able to think of a lie quickly enough.
"He looksnice." Francie teased as she saw a young, tall man with short blond hair joking with a dark haired guy as they walked out of a bar. Sydney saw Vaughn looking happy, relaxed, chatting and laughing. She couldn't think of a time when she had seen him like that.
"Come on Syd. Are you going to introduce us?" Francie asked bringing Sydney out of her reverie. Francie gently pushed Sydney into Vaughn's direction.
"We'll miss the game at this rate Eric! Hurry up!" Vaughn said before turning to see Sydney right in front of him. "Oh, hi Sydney." Vaughn managed to say. He hoped he didn't look too surprised to see her. He had occasionally imagined what it would be like to meet her in public without any having to pretend they didn't know each other. He had never thought I would ever happen like this.
"Hi." Sydney eventually said to Vaughn. Her mind had gone blank. All she could do is stare at his face hoping that he would be the one to come up with a plausible lie. Sydney urged herself to regain some composure. "Oh, I'm sorry. This is my friend Will Tippin." Sydney said. Will hoped no one noticed him wince at the word 'friend'.
Vaughn reached out to shake his hand. As Will took it, Vaughn said, "Nice to meet you, Will."
"Same here." Will lied. Will wondered why Sydney had never mentioned him before. 'Was he the one that had given her the photograph frame?' he thought.
"And this is Francie." Sydney added smiling.
Vaughn shook her hand and said "Hi Francie." Francie said 'hi' back and looked across to Sydney. She studied her face and saw Sydney smiling broadly at him.
"Francie, Will, this is Michael Vaughn and Eric Weiss."
"Hi." Eric replied trying not to laugh. He couldn't believe how funny it all seemed despite the seriousness of their situation. Both Michael and Sydney were pretending to be indifferent when he could tell by their expressions that they were really pleased to see each other
"Eric and Michael work in the same department as I do at the bank." Sydney explained to Will and Francie. Vaughn tried not to look too happy when she just used his first name.
"So do you both get to take as many business trips as Syd does?" Will inquired.
"No, no. We're pretty much stuck behind our desks." Vaughn quickly replied. He decided they needed to change the subject. "We were going to the hockey game, but Eric kidnapped me and forced me to go and have a drink. So now two hours later we might finally actually get to see some of the game!" Vaughn smiled at Sydney, but he couldn't help thinking it should have been Sydney he was going to the hockey game with, not Eric.
"Yeah, of course. I should have known Mike would blame me!" Weiss joked.
'Mike' Sydney thought. She had spent so long calling him Vaughn, adding yet another layer to the wall of professionalism, but in reality she longed to be able to call him Mike in the same comfortable way he called her Syd.
Vaughn suddenly felt Will's eyes on him. He could guess what he was thinking because he was thinking the same thing about Will. Vaughn tried desperately to look at Sydney as if he was just meeting a co-worker on a Saturday afternoon, but he knew there was much more to their relationship.
"Well I should let you get to that game." Sydney said. In reality she would have liked to have talked more. She never really had a chance to find out about Vaughn's life outside of work. She didn't know little things about his family or what he was like when he was a kid.
"Yeah, the game will be over before we get there at the rate we're going." Vaughn said reluctant to end their conversation. "It was good meeting you all." Vaughn added.
"Same here." Francie replied.
"Sosee you at work on Monday." Vaughn looked at Sydney.
"Yes, Monday." She repeated.
"Bye Sydney." Vaughn said sadly.
"Bye Michael. Bye Eric."
"See you Sydney." Eric replied.
As they walked away Francie decided to talk about Vaughn with Sydney.
"He's cute!" Francie suddenly said. Sydney just nodded.
'Yes he is!' Sydney said to herself.
"Is he the guy that gave you that Christmas gift?" Will asked.
"Eryes." Sydney hoped that they would then stop the questioning.
"Hey, is he single? You should ask him out on a date." Francie suggested. "He looks nice even in those old, faded jeans and T-shirt."
'Especially in those jeans and T-shirt!' Sydney found herself thinking.
"And his friend Eric seemed okay, so he must be a great guy." Francie said to Sydney.
"Oh, erthe bank discourages employees dating. You know, it creates a bad working atmosphere when people break up. It gets messy."
"But they can't stop you, can they?" Francie asked.
"No, but" Sydney didn't know what else she could say to put Francie off.
"You should go for it. There can't be many guys out there that understand how hard you work and why you have to take all those business trips."
'If you only knew!' Sydney thought, but instead she said, "I've never really thought of him in that way Francie."
"Yeah, right Syd! I saw the way you two were looking at each other. We all did!"
"Really?!" Sydney replied desperately hoping her blushing wasn't too noticeable.
"I can see the coffee shop. It's on the other side of the road." Will said glad to change the subject.
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"It'll be nice if we got to see the game today." Vaughn said looking at his watch.
"Are you going to be able to concentrate on the game?!" Eric responded.
"Of course." Vaughn lied. "Come on! This is better!" Vaughn then added, finally able to break into a long stride.
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As Sydney turned the corner, she managed to sneak another glance back in Vaughn's direction. She was pleased to see him in the distance smiling at her before he disappeared from sight.