[CHAPTER TWELVE]
The cabin Tom and Marie owned couldn't really be called a cabin of sorts. It was almost twenty times bigger than Sydney's own house. The hallway was large enough to fit four cars into. Sydney pulled her coat from around her shoulders, and hung it up on the stand just to the left of the front door. From the many coats already piled over, there were quite a few guests.
"Mike! Sydney!" Tom's strangely feminine voice greeted them as they stepped into the lounge. "You made it!"
"Hi Tom." Vaughn shook the hand offered to him, and beamed at Marie, who had just entered with a glass of wine for them both. "Thanks, Marie." They took in the rest of the guests, four of them deep in conversation. They seemed respectable enough. Not on FBI's most wanted list, anyway.
"Sydney, I love that dress you're wearing! It's beautiful!" Marie forced her to turn around in the dress. "Is that red velvet?"
"Yeah."
"It's beautiful, isn't it Mike!" Marie threaded her arm through Vaughn's and motioned to Sydney. "It brings out her eyes, don't you think?"
"Yes, it does." He brightened instantly, as he took in the shape of the dress. It clung to every curve of her body, accentuating the stunning figure Sydney had. She was blushing, as Vaughn settled his arm around her waist, leading her to the dining room.
"Dinner's being served, ladies and gentlemen!" Tom announced grandly to the guests, scattered through the lounge. Sydney didn't recognize any of them, but felt comfortable with Vaughn by her side. "Sydney, let me show you to your seat."
Tom slid out a seat for her, two seats from the top of the table. She took her seat, and thanked him. Vaughn found his seat, which was across from her. He pulled at his bowtie, running his finger under the band. It was obviously annoying him. She couldn't help but smile, as he fidgeted, unaware of her watching him. When he finally looked up, Sydney raised an eyebrow. He grinned at her sheepishly, and mouthed "itchy". She giggled, and took a sip of the red wine Marie had given her.
"So tell me, Sydney, what's your line of business?" The small talk had started already.
"I work for a bank."
"That must be exciting." A thin, wiry woman sitting to the left of Vaughn leaned over and smirked at her. "All those figures, and numbers. Intriguing."
"Uh. yes. It is." She smiled back, and wished someone would serve the first course.
"My name is Anne Murray. I'm the Dean of Vermont University." Sydney nodded to her, and looked back at Vaughn.
"I'm Michael Vaughn. I work with Tom. Nice to meet you." He turned, and offered his hand. She simply looked at him, then at Tom.
"Another agent for the CIA, Tom? Surely there are enough of you out there already." She turned to the guest on her left, blatantly ignoring Vaughn. Sydney rolled her eyes, and turned to Tom.
"So what do you do for the CIA, Tom? Michael hasn't told me very much about what you do." She reached for her wine again.
"Aah. it's all rather hush-hush, I'm afraid. I'm not really allowed to go into it. Lets just say I deal with important things." She could barely conceal a smirk behind her wine glass.
"It must be important if you can't talk about it. I'm sure you do a great deal of vital work for our country, Tom." She could have gagged right there. Tom was beaming at her proudly, doing his best impression of a peacock without the aid of feathers.
"That it is, Sydney. That it is."
Thankfully, the first course was served before Sydney could speak further. They ate in silence. Vaughn watched as she took in the appearance of the man to her right. He was wearing a dark blue suit, versace probably. It looked very expensive. He had short blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, with a body that could make him quite a few dollars on the model market. He reminded her of someone she knew, but couldn't quite establish who. Vaughn misread it, thinking she was attracted to him. Jealousy wasn't part of his normal behaviour, but something envious stirred inside.
The man he had focused on, had by now finished his first course, and was watching Sydney intently. She barely noticed now, engrossed in the movements of Vaughn. She discreetly observed the rise and fall of his chest through the shirt. His normal suits done well to hide the strong muscular shape of his chest, and no doubt the rest of his body. At this thought, Sydney almost choked on a piece of fruit she was chewing.
The man to her right patted her gently on the back, to which she smiled in gratitude. He took it as a signal to introduce himself.
"Hi. The name's Bradley."
"Hi, I'm Sydney."
"So how do you know Tom and Marie?" Marie had just sat the main course down in front of Sydney, who lifted her fork.
"Through Michael."
"Yes, hi. I'm Sydneys fiance. We're getting married. Man and wife. Matrimony, you know?" He leaned over the table and took Bradleys hand in a firm handshake. Grinning at him, to hide the sneer emerging. "Have you a better half?"
"Uh. no." He looked at Sydney out of the corner of his eye, who was looking at Vaughn with her mouth wide open. "I'm still looking, actually."
"Right. right. Good luck with that. We had settled on a spring wedding, didn't we honey?" He glared at Sydney, who was eating silently. "No point in waiting."
"Yes." She nodded, looking down at her food. The meat she was chewing on didn't seem to taste quite right. She looked at Tom, who was grimacing also. Vaughn was trying to hide his wave of nausea, and Bradley had taken out a napkin, and was hiding the meat under its folds. Down the table, a woman in a green dress was gradually turning the same color as her attire. Bradley leaned over, and whispered in her ear.
"This tastes awful."
She could barely suppress a giggle as Marie sat at the bottom of the table, eating her food as if nothing was wrong. She eyed her husband, who obediently shoved another piece of meat in his mouth, mumbling "yum."
Bradley leaned over yet again, and whispered "Do you think they've got anything else in the kitchen that hasn't been cooked yet?"
"I have no idea." She whispered back conspiratorially, looking down the table at Marie again, who had by now forced the woman in the green dress and her partner, to guiltily eat some more. "I hope so!"
The whispering at the table gradually increased to a dull murmur, demanding Marie to say something about the food.
"Ok, ok. I'm sorry." She began to chuckle. "It's awful. I'm a terrible cook!" She started to laugh, and her husband stood from the table.
"Thankyou for the. interesting. dinner, Marie. It was." he snickered, ".delectable." This gave the rest of the table reprise. They began to laugh good-naturedly, patting Marie on the back. Shouts of "well done", and "amazing cooking skill" were passed around the table. "I'll go see if there is anything else we can salvage. Michael?" Tom motioned for Vaughn to help him. He followed him through to the kitchen.
"Why don't we all go back into the other room while the gents find something edible." Marie threw down her napkin, and wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. "I'm sure I'm banned from the kitchen now!"
They made their way back into the lounge, where Sydney made her way to the comfortable looking wing-back chair beside the fire. Just as she sat down, the woman who had introduced herself earlier as the dean of an university, stood over her menacingly.
"That's the seat I was sitting on, my dear."
"Oh. sorry." She stood up, and moved out her way.
"There's a seat over here next to me, Sydney." It was Bradley, patting the seat next to him on a small couch.
"Thanks." She brushed her hair back behind her ear, and sat down to Bradley's left. She could have sworn he shifted towards her as she sat down, but decided to ignore it. Marie was sitting to her left, and she turned to speak to her.
"It was a lovely first course, Marie. You shouldn't feel bad." Comfort wasn't her strongest point.
"The first course came out of a tin!"
"Oh." She couldn't think of anything else to say, instead leaning back in the seat, and suddenly feeling the pressure of Bradley's arm around her shoulders. Vaughn, with his impeccable timing, entered the room just as she turned to say something to Bradley.
"Dinner is ser." he was cut short by the smug smile Bradley threw at him. He had his arm around Sydney, who was facing him. Trying not to let his jealousy show he looked away. Everyone stood from their seats, and made their way toward the dining room. Vaughn caught Sydney's arm as she walked by, Bradley still glued to her side. He guided her into the hall, much to the disappointment of her new admirer.
"I know, I know." She shrugged.
"He likes you." Vaughn stated the obvious.
"Well, he's not really my type."
"And you're engaged to me."
It should have been a simple statement, reminding her of the cover story. Why did it give them both butterflies? He looked at her seriously. She smiled at him, which progressed into a grin, when she realised.
"You're jealous, aren't you!"
"I'm not jealous." He stood to his full height, looking down on her. "Why would I be jealous? There's no need to be jealous. I'm just taking care. I'm not jealous. There's no jealousy there."
"How many times have you said jealous?"
"Enough to get the point through, I hope. I'm not jealous."
"Ok." She hid a smirk behind her hand, as he turned to walk away. He pivoted round again, and faced her.
"Maybe a little bit. But it's only because he has nice hair. It's nothing to do with you."
"I thought as much." She didn't buy it for a second. He knew she didn't believe him. But there were some things he just couldn't say. "We'd better go back." He nodded in agreement.
As they reached the doors of the dining room, Vaughn took Sydney's hand. They walked in to see a feast of toast and beans. Anything was better than the mystery meat. Bradley looked up to see them enter, and shot Vaughn another smug look. Vaughn knew better than to retaliate. Better judgement wouldn't stop him, though. He turned Sydney to face him, and kissed her softly on the lips. She wasn't too surprised. It was inevitable. Male egos - she wasn't going to complain.
"Do you want some more wine, honey?" He emphasized the word 'honey' loud enough for everyone to hear. Even Tom knew that he was staking his claim on Sydney. He laughed lightly, surprised at Vaughn's protective streak. He didn't act this passionately towards Marie when they were competing for her.
Marie watched them with detached interest. It was obvious Michael loved Sydney. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of spite towards her.
*****
Charades was a complete disaster. Marie obviously couldn't act her way out of a paper bag, and Tom was filled with too much alcohol to form a coherent sentence. The witch who called herself 'dean' had left after dinner, and the woman in the green dress had gotten progressively worse after eating too much of the mystery meat. Her husband had taken her home before dessert. It was down to Tom, Marie, Bradley, Sydney and Vaughn. The atmosphere would have been less bearable, were it not for the amusing antics of a drunk Tom. He tripped over his own shoe reaching for another bottle of wine, and landed headfirst into the lap of a very alarmed Bradley. Sydney laughed, and reached for her glass of wine. Vaughn had put his arm around her protectively, still aware of the presence of a ruggedly handsome admirer.
"So, Sydney. How's your arm?" Marie scrutinized her arm. "It seems to have healed quickly. How did you break it?"
"I fell in the shower. Stood on a bar of soap."
"I've done that a few times myself. Not advisable." Marie had sat beside her, patting Sydney's arm. "At least you had Michael to take care of you. He knows all about broken bones, don't you Mike? Do you remember that time you fell down the stairs? Naked?"
Sydney looked at Vaughn, stupefied. "Naked?!?"
His face began to turn the same shade as Sydney's red dress. "I.I was running to answer the door. I dropped my towel." He looked down at Sydney, who had lapsed into a fit of laughter. "Thanks, Marie. There goes my respect."
"The person at the door was none other than my mother. She was scarred for life." Marie joined in Sydney's laughter fit.
"She was really nice about it. Covered me up, and dialed an ambulance."
"Mike's had quite a few broken bones. For being a hot-shot CIA agent, he is a big klutz."
"I'm better now. I haven't had a broken bone for a long time."
"You always were a warrior!" Tom added his irrelevant contribution from his position beside Bradley's leg.
"I'd better go, it's getting late." Bradley stood up, and smiled at Sydney. "It was very nice to meet you. I'm sure we'll cross paths again." He leaned over, and kissed her on the cheek. "I look forward to it."
"As do I." Vaughn smiled at him, testosterone levels increasing rapidly. "I'm sure if we meet again, it will be an event to remember." Sydney watched, grinning like a cheshire cat.
"Come see us again soon, Bradley." Marie walked with him to the front door, as Tom pulled himself up onto the seat.
"I think I'm going to go to bed, Mike. Too much wine." Tom waved his hand around in explanation, slurring his words.
"I think it's about time we went home too. What do you say, Syd?"
"Yeah. It's late." They stood, just as Marie came back in. "Thank you for the wonderful dinner, Marie."
"Are you leaving too? We've only just got started!"
"Sorry, Marie. It's late. We really should be heading home." Vaughn put his arm around Sydney again, and shook Tom's hand. "You're going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, my friend!"
She sighed, and nodded. "Ok. Do you need a lift home?"
"That would be wonderful, thanks." They walked into the hall, and pulled on their coats. Vaughn helped Sydney into hers from behind, and kissed the top of her head lightly.
"Come on then, lovebirds. I'll get the car." Marie opened the door, and stepped out into the cold air.
"Tonight was good, wasn't it?" He had his arm around her waist, as they left the house. "I mean, apart from that Romeo who thought he had a chance with you." She could hear the obvious jealousy in his voice, and hugged him.
"Bradley was harmless."
"I could have taken him." He puffed his chest out, and
"Of course you could, honey." Sydney ducked into the car, with Vaughn following close behind. Marie was up front, waiting for them to get settled.
*****
The drive home was short, and silent. Vaughn stood at the door, and waved goodbye to Marie. Sydney pulled the key from her bag.
"Before we go in." Vaughn put his hand over the lock. "Can I kiss you goodnight?"
He didn't know if it was the glass of wine, or the stress of the situation, but he couldn't stop the words. As soon as they were to set foot back inside that cabin, they would no longer be engaged, involved, or allowed to look at one another the way they wanted. They stood inches apart, their breath turning to mist.
"Ok."
He leaned forward, and pressed his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around him, under his heavy coat, pulling him closer. He lifted his hands to her hair, running his fingers through its silky depths. She could feel their need, as he pressed his lips firmly against hers. Vaughn broke the kiss, fingers still tangled in her hair. He looked intensely into her deep brown eyes, searching for something.
"Sydney Bristow, I."
His revelation was cut short by the abrupt opening of their front door. Standing in the doorway, was a very disheveled, very frantic looking Eric Weiss.
"Mike, we have a problem."
*****
The cabin Tom and Marie owned couldn't really be called a cabin of sorts. It was almost twenty times bigger than Sydney's own house. The hallway was large enough to fit four cars into. Sydney pulled her coat from around her shoulders, and hung it up on the stand just to the left of the front door. From the many coats already piled over, there were quite a few guests.
"Mike! Sydney!" Tom's strangely feminine voice greeted them as they stepped into the lounge. "You made it!"
"Hi Tom." Vaughn shook the hand offered to him, and beamed at Marie, who had just entered with a glass of wine for them both. "Thanks, Marie." They took in the rest of the guests, four of them deep in conversation. They seemed respectable enough. Not on FBI's most wanted list, anyway.
"Sydney, I love that dress you're wearing! It's beautiful!" Marie forced her to turn around in the dress. "Is that red velvet?"
"Yeah."
"It's beautiful, isn't it Mike!" Marie threaded her arm through Vaughn's and motioned to Sydney. "It brings out her eyes, don't you think?"
"Yes, it does." He brightened instantly, as he took in the shape of the dress. It clung to every curve of her body, accentuating the stunning figure Sydney had. She was blushing, as Vaughn settled his arm around her waist, leading her to the dining room.
"Dinner's being served, ladies and gentlemen!" Tom announced grandly to the guests, scattered through the lounge. Sydney didn't recognize any of them, but felt comfortable with Vaughn by her side. "Sydney, let me show you to your seat."
Tom slid out a seat for her, two seats from the top of the table. She took her seat, and thanked him. Vaughn found his seat, which was across from her. He pulled at his bowtie, running his finger under the band. It was obviously annoying him. She couldn't help but smile, as he fidgeted, unaware of her watching him. When he finally looked up, Sydney raised an eyebrow. He grinned at her sheepishly, and mouthed "itchy". She giggled, and took a sip of the red wine Marie had given her.
"So tell me, Sydney, what's your line of business?" The small talk had started already.
"I work for a bank."
"That must be exciting." A thin, wiry woman sitting to the left of Vaughn leaned over and smirked at her. "All those figures, and numbers. Intriguing."
"Uh. yes. It is." She smiled back, and wished someone would serve the first course.
"My name is Anne Murray. I'm the Dean of Vermont University." Sydney nodded to her, and looked back at Vaughn.
"I'm Michael Vaughn. I work with Tom. Nice to meet you." He turned, and offered his hand. She simply looked at him, then at Tom.
"Another agent for the CIA, Tom? Surely there are enough of you out there already." She turned to the guest on her left, blatantly ignoring Vaughn. Sydney rolled her eyes, and turned to Tom.
"So what do you do for the CIA, Tom? Michael hasn't told me very much about what you do." She reached for her wine again.
"Aah. it's all rather hush-hush, I'm afraid. I'm not really allowed to go into it. Lets just say I deal with important things." She could barely conceal a smirk behind her wine glass.
"It must be important if you can't talk about it. I'm sure you do a great deal of vital work for our country, Tom." She could have gagged right there. Tom was beaming at her proudly, doing his best impression of a peacock without the aid of feathers.
"That it is, Sydney. That it is."
Thankfully, the first course was served before Sydney could speak further. They ate in silence. Vaughn watched as she took in the appearance of the man to her right. He was wearing a dark blue suit, versace probably. It looked very expensive. He had short blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, with a body that could make him quite a few dollars on the model market. He reminded her of someone she knew, but couldn't quite establish who. Vaughn misread it, thinking she was attracted to him. Jealousy wasn't part of his normal behaviour, but something envious stirred inside.
The man he had focused on, had by now finished his first course, and was watching Sydney intently. She barely noticed now, engrossed in the movements of Vaughn. She discreetly observed the rise and fall of his chest through the shirt. His normal suits done well to hide the strong muscular shape of his chest, and no doubt the rest of his body. At this thought, Sydney almost choked on a piece of fruit she was chewing.
The man to her right patted her gently on the back, to which she smiled in gratitude. He took it as a signal to introduce himself.
"Hi. The name's Bradley."
"Hi, I'm Sydney."
"So how do you know Tom and Marie?" Marie had just sat the main course down in front of Sydney, who lifted her fork.
"Through Michael."
"Yes, hi. I'm Sydneys fiance. We're getting married. Man and wife. Matrimony, you know?" He leaned over the table and took Bradleys hand in a firm handshake. Grinning at him, to hide the sneer emerging. "Have you a better half?"
"Uh. no." He looked at Sydney out of the corner of his eye, who was looking at Vaughn with her mouth wide open. "I'm still looking, actually."
"Right. right. Good luck with that. We had settled on a spring wedding, didn't we honey?" He glared at Sydney, who was eating silently. "No point in waiting."
"Yes." She nodded, looking down at her food. The meat she was chewing on didn't seem to taste quite right. She looked at Tom, who was grimacing also. Vaughn was trying to hide his wave of nausea, and Bradley had taken out a napkin, and was hiding the meat under its folds. Down the table, a woman in a green dress was gradually turning the same color as her attire. Bradley leaned over, and whispered in her ear.
"This tastes awful."
She could barely suppress a giggle as Marie sat at the bottom of the table, eating her food as if nothing was wrong. She eyed her husband, who obediently shoved another piece of meat in his mouth, mumbling "yum."
Bradley leaned over yet again, and whispered "Do you think they've got anything else in the kitchen that hasn't been cooked yet?"
"I have no idea." She whispered back conspiratorially, looking down the table at Marie again, who had by now forced the woman in the green dress and her partner, to guiltily eat some more. "I hope so!"
The whispering at the table gradually increased to a dull murmur, demanding Marie to say something about the food.
"Ok, ok. I'm sorry." She began to chuckle. "It's awful. I'm a terrible cook!" She started to laugh, and her husband stood from the table.
"Thankyou for the. interesting. dinner, Marie. It was." he snickered, ".delectable." This gave the rest of the table reprise. They began to laugh good-naturedly, patting Marie on the back. Shouts of "well done", and "amazing cooking skill" were passed around the table. "I'll go see if there is anything else we can salvage. Michael?" Tom motioned for Vaughn to help him. He followed him through to the kitchen.
"Why don't we all go back into the other room while the gents find something edible." Marie threw down her napkin, and wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. "I'm sure I'm banned from the kitchen now!"
They made their way back into the lounge, where Sydney made her way to the comfortable looking wing-back chair beside the fire. Just as she sat down, the woman who had introduced herself earlier as the dean of an university, stood over her menacingly.
"That's the seat I was sitting on, my dear."
"Oh. sorry." She stood up, and moved out her way.
"There's a seat over here next to me, Sydney." It was Bradley, patting the seat next to him on a small couch.
"Thanks." She brushed her hair back behind her ear, and sat down to Bradley's left. She could have sworn he shifted towards her as she sat down, but decided to ignore it. Marie was sitting to her left, and she turned to speak to her.
"It was a lovely first course, Marie. You shouldn't feel bad." Comfort wasn't her strongest point.
"The first course came out of a tin!"
"Oh." She couldn't think of anything else to say, instead leaning back in the seat, and suddenly feeling the pressure of Bradley's arm around her shoulders. Vaughn, with his impeccable timing, entered the room just as she turned to say something to Bradley.
"Dinner is ser." he was cut short by the smug smile Bradley threw at him. He had his arm around Sydney, who was facing him. Trying not to let his jealousy show he looked away. Everyone stood from their seats, and made their way toward the dining room. Vaughn caught Sydney's arm as she walked by, Bradley still glued to her side. He guided her into the hall, much to the disappointment of her new admirer.
"I know, I know." She shrugged.
"He likes you." Vaughn stated the obvious.
"Well, he's not really my type."
"And you're engaged to me."
It should have been a simple statement, reminding her of the cover story. Why did it give them both butterflies? He looked at her seriously. She smiled at him, which progressed into a grin, when she realised.
"You're jealous, aren't you!"
"I'm not jealous." He stood to his full height, looking down on her. "Why would I be jealous? There's no need to be jealous. I'm just taking care. I'm not jealous. There's no jealousy there."
"How many times have you said jealous?"
"Enough to get the point through, I hope. I'm not jealous."
"Ok." She hid a smirk behind her hand, as he turned to walk away. He pivoted round again, and faced her.
"Maybe a little bit. But it's only because he has nice hair. It's nothing to do with you."
"I thought as much." She didn't buy it for a second. He knew she didn't believe him. But there were some things he just couldn't say. "We'd better go back." He nodded in agreement.
As they reached the doors of the dining room, Vaughn took Sydney's hand. They walked in to see a feast of toast and beans. Anything was better than the mystery meat. Bradley looked up to see them enter, and shot Vaughn another smug look. Vaughn knew better than to retaliate. Better judgement wouldn't stop him, though. He turned Sydney to face him, and kissed her softly on the lips. She wasn't too surprised. It was inevitable. Male egos - she wasn't going to complain.
"Do you want some more wine, honey?" He emphasized the word 'honey' loud enough for everyone to hear. Even Tom knew that he was staking his claim on Sydney. He laughed lightly, surprised at Vaughn's protective streak. He didn't act this passionately towards Marie when they were competing for her.
Marie watched them with detached interest. It was obvious Michael loved Sydney. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of spite towards her.
*****
Charades was a complete disaster. Marie obviously couldn't act her way out of a paper bag, and Tom was filled with too much alcohol to form a coherent sentence. The witch who called herself 'dean' had left after dinner, and the woman in the green dress had gotten progressively worse after eating too much of the mystery meat. Her husband had taken her home before dessert. It was down to Tom, Marie, Bradley, Sydney and Vaughn. The atmosphere would have been less bearable, were it not for the amusing antics of a drunk Tom. He tripped over his own shoe reaching for another bottle of wine, and landed headfirst into the lap of a very alarmed Bradley. Sydney laughed, and reached for her glass of wine. Vaughn had put his arm around her protectively, still aware of the presence of a ruggedly handsome admirer.
"So, Sydney. How's your arm?" Marie scrutinized her arm. "It seems to have healed quickly. How did you break it?"
"I fell in the shower. Stood on a bar of soap."
"I've done that a few times myself. Not advisable." Marie had sat beside her, patting Sydney's arm. "At least you had Michael to take care of you. He knows all about broken bones, don't you Mike? Do you remember that time you fell down the stairs? Naked?"
Sydney looked at Vaughn, stupefied. "Naked?!?"
His face began to turn the same shade as Sydney's red dress. "I.I was running to answer the door. I dropped my towel." He looked down at Sydney, who had lapsed into a fit of laughter. "Thanks, Marie. There goes my respect."
"The person at the door was none other than my mother. She was scarred for life." Marie joined in Sydney's laughter fit.
"She was really nice about it. Covered me up, and dialed an ambulance."
"Mike's had quite a few broken bones. For being a hot-shot CIA agent, he is a big klutz."
"I'm better now. I haven't had a broken bone for a long time."
"You always were a warrior!" Tom added his irrelevant contribution from his position beside Bradley's leg.
"I'd better go, it's getting late." Bradley stood up, and smiled at Sydney. "It was very nice to meet you. I'm sure we'll cross paths again." He leaned over, and kissed her on the cheek. "I look forward to it."
"As do I." Vaughn smiled at him, testosterone levels increasing rapidly. "I'm sure if we meet again, it will be an event to remember." Sydney watched, grinning like a cheshire cat.
"Come see us again soon, Bradley." Marie walked with him to the front door, as Tom pulled himself up onto the seat.
"I think I'm going to go to bed, Mike. Too much wine." Tom waved his hand around in explanation, slurring his words.
"I think it's about time we went home too. What do you say, Syd?"
"Yeah. It's late." They stood, just as Marie came back in. "Thank you for the wonderful dinner, Marie."
"Are you leaving too? We've only just got started!"
"Sorry, Marie. It's late. We really should be heading home." Vaughn put his arm around Sydney again, and shook Tom's hand. "You're going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, my friend!"
She sighed, and nodded. "Ok. Do you need a lift home?"
"That would be wonderful, thanks." They walked into the hall, and pulled on their coats. Vaughn helped Sydney into hers from behind, and kissed the top of her head lightly.
"Come on then, lovebirds. I'll get the car." Marie opened the door, and stepped out into the cold air.
"Tonight was good, wasn't it?" He had his arm around her waist, as they left the house. "I mean, apart from that Romeo who thought he had a chance with you." She could hear the obvious jealousy in his voice, and hugged him.
"Bradley was harmless."
"I could have taken him." He puffed his chest out, and
"Of course you could, honey." Sydney ducked into the car, with Vaughn following close behind. Marie was up front, waiting for them to get settled.
*****
The drive home was short, and silent. Vaughn stood at the door, and waved goodbye to Marie. Sydney pulled the key from her bag.
"Before we go in." Vaughn put his hand over the lock. "Can I kiss you goodnight?"
He didn't know if it was the glass of wine, or the stress of the situation, but he couldn't stop the words. As soon as they were to set foot back inside that cabin, they would no longer be engaged, involved, or allowed to look at one another the way they wanted. They stood inches apart, their breath turning to mist.
"Ok."
He leaned forward, and pressed his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around him, under his heavy coat, pulling him closer. He lifted his hands to her hair, running his fingers through its silky depths. She could feel their need, as he pressed his lips firmly against hers. Vaughn broke the kiss, fingers still tangled in her hair. He looked intensely into her deep brown eyes, searching for something.
"Sydney Bristow, I."
His revelation was cut short by the abrupt opening of their front door. Standing in the doorway, was a very disheveled, very frantic looking Eric Weiss.
"Mike, we have a problem."
*****