Chapter 5

Vaughn stood at the pier staring out into space, thinking. It had been a long time since he had last been here. It was just too painful to come back here to what they once had. He sighed. Vaughn was glad he had come here first. It gave him more time to think about what he was going to say and calm himself down some more. Why was love so difficult? People say that it's easy to fall in love, but it's hard to fall out of love. They were right. All these years, no matter who he tried to date or how many times he avoided any place that reminded him of Sydney, he still loved her with all his heart. He didn't know how this meeting would go or what would happen. Vaughn just hoped it would turn into something good and shed some light on Sydney's decision to leave in the first place.

He heard little creaks on the wood of the pier and realized Sydney was coming. Vaughn took a look at her out of the corner of his eye. After all these years, Sydney still looked the same as the day he met her, well without the red hair that is. She was wearing a pink flowered skirt, a white tank top, and pink shaded sunglasses. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore white sandals. Sydney looked stunning.

He took off his sunglasses to get a better look at her and watched as she started to play with the sunglasses she had taken off. Vaughn stepped back into reality as Sydney stood in front of him, obviously waiting for him to start talking. Vaughn had thought this through and decided it was best to let Sydney tell her story and then he could tell his.

"So...why don't you start from the beginning?" She didn't answer him, but instead just nodded. Sydney moved to the railing and stared out at the water. He turned around and did the same. A couple of seconds passed by before she began her story.

Words started to spill out of her mouth as she started talking about finding out she was pregnant and being scared and excited at the same time. When she said our baby, I knew that Joey was mine. I looked towards her, but knew that it was best I let her continue.

She started to tell me about calling my house and hearing a woman answering the phone. Vaughn racked his brain trying to think about what Sydney could be talking about when a thought popped into his head. She was talking about his sister! His sister, Sarah, had been over because her house was being fumigated.

Vaughn grabbed Sydney's hand as she stopped to grab a tissue out of her pocket. She looked questioningly at him before he spoke.

"Sydney, the person you talked to was my sister." Sydney was clearly surprised and confused about this revelation and asked him what his sister was doing there. Vaughn told her about his sister's house being fumigated before Sydney started to cry.

""You mean to tell me that all this time was wasted? Wait. Why didn't you ask me to stay then?" He sighed and looked out at the ocean. Vaughn told her how he had felt. How he felt she didn't feel the same way he did and that she didn't care about him. This caused Sydney to feel guilty about all the time they had wasted and Vaughn just wouldn't have that. He argued that he could have stopped Sydney from leaving in the first place. That it was part his fault as well.

"Why do we always get ourselves into bad situations?" Sydney asked as she turned towards him. Vaughn didn't know the answer to that, but saw that Sydney needed his comfort. Before he knew what was happening, Vaughn had his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. They stood there for what seemed like forever, him comforting her and she crying. Vaughn knew his shirt was getting wet, but he didn't care. All that mattered to him was that Sydney would be okay. He sighed. It felt good to be able to hug her again. Finally, she pulled back. Vaughn heard her mumble something about being sorry about getting his shirt soaked. He chuckled and told her not to worry about it.

Since he didn't really know anything about Joey, he decided this was the perfect time as any to ask Sydney about their son. He saw Sydney smile before facts and stories started to spill out of Sydney's mouth. She told him about how much Joey looked like him and how it tortured her. Vaughn learned about his son's personality and what he liked and disliked.

He laughed when Sydney told him Joey hated girls. Vaughn had been just like him as a kid. Then in high school, he had met Angela Long. His perception of girls soon changed. Vaughn knew Joey's would too and told Sydney as much. She smiled, love in her eyes.

After they stopped talking about Joey, Sydney asked him, "What happens now, Michael?"

Vaughn was so happy to hear her say his first name, he didn't comprehend the question at first. What were they going to do now? He quickly decided they should start from beginning and go on a date. Vaughn suggested it to Sydney and was delighted when she responded in the positive. He decided to ask her formally since it was the right thing to do.

"Sydney, would you like to go to dinner with me Friday night?" Vaughn asked.

"I would love to Michael," Sydney replied, a big grin spreading over her face, causing her dimples to show. Vaughn smiled back, the smile reaching his green eyes. He leaned over and their lips met in a short kiss, well it was supposed to be a short kiss. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him even closer. He ran his hands through her soft brown hair as their tongues met. Although they had kissed before, this one was different. It was sweeter, more passionate, and had more meaning. *I could do this forever* Vaughn thought. As they pulled back, he saw that Sydney was smiling foolishly at him and he knew he was probably doing the same thing. Soon it was getting late and Sydney suggested he come over so that they could tell Joey about him. Vaughn agreed and they headed off the pier towards their cars, hand in hand.

A hour later, after Vaughn had gone back home to check on a few things and feed Donovan, he was standing at Sydney's doorstep. He reached to ring the doorbell, but pulled his hand back at the last minute. Vaughn wasn't ready to come in yet. He was too nervous. What would Joey think of him? Would he get mad? Demand he leave? Vaughn just wasn't sure. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The ever-present wrinkles lines were definitely present tonight. Finally after a couple of minutes, Vaughn ran the doorbell. Soon Sydney appeared at the doorway and smiled at him.

"Hey," Vaughn said as he offered Sydney a nervous smile. Sydney, sensing his nervousness, reassured him that Joey would like him. He shivered at the feel of her hot breath on his skin as she whispered words of encouragement to him. Vaughn wasn't so sure she would be right. *What am I supposed to say? Hi, I'm the father you've never seen. I was your mom's CIA handler?* Vaughn thought.

After Vaughn took off his wool jacket, he and Sydney sat down on the couch and waited for Joey to come back into the living room. When Vaughn saw him, Joey had a confused look on his face as he asked why Vaughn was here. He didn't blame him. Slowly after Sydney confessed about who Vaughn really was, the pieces seemed to fit themselves together in Joey's head. Vaughn could almost see it. Since he was his parent's child, he had inherited Vaughn and Sydney's smarts.

Although at first there were silences, tears from Sydney, and then questions directed towards Sydney about why she didn't tell him before, Joey soon seemed to accept the news he had just received and asked Vaughn a question that broke the ice.

"So do they allow a dad to coach his son?" Vaughn smiled and told Joey that it could be arranged. He was only kidding though. There was no rule that prevent Vaughn from coaching his son. Even if there was, it wouldn't stop him. Joey realized the Kings game would be starting soon, so Vaughn and him settled down to watch the game after promising Sydney they would help another time. *I could get used to this.* Vaughn thought.

*Hey guys. Sorry to end it here, but since I'm nearing the last few chapters, I wanted to think about where I want to take this and what scenes I still want to include and what scenes I want to add. As you could probably tell, I didn't want to repeat the scenes too much so I rephrase a lot of them and put them in more of Vaughn's perspective since this is after all his POV. What do you guys think? Please REVIEW!!!! Thanks a lot and bye for now!