Thanks to my reviewers. I dedicate this chapter to you guys!
Sydney woke up, her eyes all puffy from where she had cried herself to sleep the night before. She walked over to her door, where a stream of light came through the little window on the door. The view into the hallway was grim. She then saw something that caught her eye. She opened the door. On her door was a note taped to it. She picked it up, and recognized the handwriting almost instantly. It was Vaughn's. She crumpled it up, but she quickly flattened it out, and read the first word. Sydney. She read. Her heart skipped a beat. Maybe he was apologizing to her. She shut her eyes before she continued on. But decided before she opened the note that she didn't want his apology yet, and she quickly crumpled it up, and tossed it at the trash can. She walked over to her cot, but then turned around, and ran to the trash can to retrieve the trashed note. Sydney hesitated before she opened it, and considered throwing the note away again, but changed her mind. She flattened it out, and read the neat handwriting.
Sydney, my break's at 2. We leave then.
~Vaughn
"Good thing I read this." She mumbled, as she threw the note away. Sydney looked at the clock that was in her room. It was ten. She quickly grabbed a towel, and a clean jumper that Vaughn had given her the night before, and ran to the former locker rooms. She could tell that they had to clear out the abandoned women's locker rooms for her. She could tell that they essentially had two shower rooms before she came along. In their haste to move out of it, several of the agents had left behind some of their things. She eyed the left over boxers suspiciously, and then carefully kicked it onto the floor, and under a seat. She turned on the water, and felt each drop pound her skin, washing away two weeks worth of grime and oil. But no matter how hard she scrubbed, her guilt, and pain for breaking up with Vaughn still made her feel dirty.
She got dressed, and went out into the halls. There were noises coming from one of the rooms, and Sydney followed the sound. Her surroundings felt more familiar as the noises got louder. "This is the break room." She said. She cautiously opened the door, where three of the guys were sitting down, watching a hockey game. All three heads turned to her. One of whom belonged to Vaughn. "I didn't know the Kings played this early." She said. She saw some bagels and donuts on the table, and she began to help herself.
"We recorded it from last night." One of the guys had. "It's almost better that way because then we can fast forward through the boring parts." He finished.
Sydney gave a polite smile, and then turned to Vaughn. "Agent Vaughn, I got your note. Sounds good." She said. She stood at the door, "Bye guys." She said, she turned and left. She heard the door open, but continued to walk away.
"Sydney, please wait." She could hear Vaughn call. Sydney stopped, and decided to hear his plea. She turned around to face him in the eye. "I just wanted to know if there was any specific place you wanted to go shopping today."
Sydney was caught off guard with Vaughn's question. She half expected him to try to get back together. "Oh, uh- I don't really care. What ever is convent." She stumbled.
"Ok. I'll just meet you at two in the break room." He said.
"Sounds good." Sydney stood there, looking straight into Vaughn's deep green eyes. She wanted to take back everything she had said the night before, and run over and kiss him. Sydney could sense that Vaughn was staring directly at her as well. "I better go." She said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah." Vaughn said, he didn't and couldn't take his eyes off of her. Her hair was still wet, and clinged to her shirt, and he thought she didn't look that bad in the jumpsuit once she had cleaned up. Neither one of them moved as they just looked into each other's eyes. Sydney gave a small shy smile, and then turned to walk back into her room. Vaughn just starred at the spot where Sydney last stood and immediately regretting volunteering to take her shopping. It was going to be hell. Deep inside, Vaughn really missed Sydney. He knew that he wanted to be more than friends, and he hoped that Sydney would come to her senses and feel the same way. When two o'clock rolled around, he and Sydney met up just outside the break room.
"Ready to go?" Vaughn asked.
"Yep." Sydney said. She felt really stupid going out into public in the yellow jumpsuit, but she didn't have any other choice. That was the whole purpose of this trip, to get her out of the yellow jumpsuit. He walked her across the street into the shopping mall.
"We need to be quick in here. Like maybe try to limit your shopping to an hour."
"Sure."
Vaughn followed Sydney into the women's department of the store. Together they passed the men's department on their way to the women's. Sydney caught little glances of various shirts that they had displayed. Vaughn would look good in that shirt. Sydney thought, upon seeing a long sleeve shirt. The green matched his eyes almost perfectly. It would really show off his body. Maybe I'll buy it for him for Christmas.. Sydney almost slapped herself for thinking that. They were no longer together. It pained Sydney to force herself to think that they weren't together. I'm the one that broke up with him. HE didn't care about US. But Sydney wasn't convincing herself.
Vaughn liked being in public with Sydney. He knew that they weren't an item anymore, but the thought of people seeing them together gave him some satisfaction. He watched as Sydney picked out each item carefully. As he passed thing he would have liked to have seen Sydney in, Vaughn had to constantly remind himself that he and Sydney had broken up. "Vaughn?" Sydney said, as she looked at a pair of jeans.
"Yeah?" Vaughn asked his full attention on Sydney.
"Do you think we could still be friends after last night?"
"I think we are."
"Ok." There was an awkward pause" I'll be right back." Sydney took the few items into the changing room. Vaughn sat in one of the chairs right outside of the changing room. A friend wasn't what he wanted to be. He wanted to be more than friends. He half expected to see Sydney come out of the room to show him her outfits. But that was something she would have done while they were together. And they weren't anymore. Vaughn opted to watch the other shoppers. There were the giggly high school girls, and the shopoholics. But his favorite people to watch were the husbands who follow their wives around, because the wives told them too. They looked bored, but went because they loved their wives. Vaughn scrambled up in surprise at what he just realized, and then quickly sat down again. He wasn't shopping with Sydney because the agency asked him too. No, the agency didn't say anything about shopping. And if they had ordered someone to shop with Sydney, it would have been someone slightly lower in the ranks. Vaughn realized he was there because he loved Sydney. He was there because he wanted to.
"Your wife drag you here too?" A man sitting next to Vaughn asked.
"She's not my wife." Vaughn answered.
"Wow, you must really love your girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend." Vaughn answered. "Anymore." He added under his breath.
"Wow. I'm impressed. So what got you stuck her shopping?"
Vaughn opened his mouth to answer, when Sydney came and saved him. "I'm ready." She said. She walked over to the cash register. Vaughn flashed Sydney a smile as he approached her. "What?" Sydney asked.
"Nothing."
"No really, what?"
"Never mind." Vaughn said. Sydney shrugged her shoulders. After putting the clothing on her charge card, Vaughn thought she was ready to go. He was wrong.
"I'm just going to quickly change out of this jumpsuit and into these really quick." Sydney said, returning to the changing room. Vaughn looked at the guy who was still sitting there. Rather than going back and trying to explain to the perfect stranger his precarious relationship with Sydney, Vaughn chose to stand by the check out counter. He watched Sydney's retreating back, and knew he had to do everything in his power to win her back. Of coarse it couldn't be tacky.
"Sir, can I help you with something?" The store clerk asked. She looked at Vaughn, and rolled her eyes.
"No, just waiting for my friend here."
"Ok, but could you move, I have other customers waiting." Vaughn looked behind him. He hadn't realized how in the way he was. Embarrassed, he quickly moved out of the way. Sydney emerged three minutes later, in a pair of what looked to be old jeans, and a simple, skin tight black t-shirt. Vaughn stared at her open mouthed. He hadn't seen Sydney's casual wear, and he had to admit that she looked pretty good in a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans.
"What?" Sydney said upon seeing Vaughn's stare.
"Nothing, I just thought I saw my mother." Sydney turned around. "But it was just my imagination."
"I'm ready to go." Sydney said.
"Ok." Vaughn and Sydney walked out of the mall together, fairly close together. When their hands would gently breeze by each other, the temptation to hold each others' hand was strong.
"Do you know how the LA part of the mission is going?"
"Well, and on schedule."
"Good. I am really glad to hear that." They walked quietly back to the building. Sydney had in her arms, two bags. One full of her old clothing and a bag full of some other clothing, for when the ones she was wearing got dirty.
"You want to take the next shift?" Vaughn offered.
"Sure, what time does that start?"
"In an hour."
"Sure."
"I get your gear if you follow me." Vaughn led Sydney to a closet. "Here's your gun. It is loaded, but we don't want to fire any rounds."
"I don't either. These are my friends in there."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I sure hope so. Once they understand why…"
"They may not understand."
"You're just Mr. Optimistic aren't you?"
"I'm just being realistic."
"Sydney, you're such a great girl, that I don't think any one could dislike you."
"But you just said,"
"I know what I said, and I think you will arrive with some resistance."
"Figured."
"I'll see you in there.
"Yeah." Sydney walked into her room, and put the clothing on her bed. She looked around and realized that there was nothing left to do, and turned around to head to the break room. There was no one else in the room. Sydney turned on the TV, and began to flip through the channels mindlessly. She sat there for an hour, very relieved that there was no one else there.
Vaughn went back to his room and began to plan how to get Sydney back. He would constantly write things down, and then would scrunch the paper up, and threw it towards the trash can. None of his plans would work. Not after the mess up he had just had. He shouldn't have had told Sydney that everyone would probably hate her. It was a definite set back. Vaughn thought back to the first day that Sydney was there. How they had sat down and watched Moulin Rouge together. They were both happy and content with how, and where they were. Then, the idea hit him. He quickly began to scribble notes on a piece of paper, of things he would need, and everything else that would create the perfect atmosphere. As he looked over what was required, Vaughn figured that he would need to wait until after the take down. But he knew, he could tell, that if things went right, Sydney would go crying back into his arms. Vaughn picked up the phone and began making the arrangements.