We left the cafe not a moment too soon in my opinion. I had come pretty damn close to admitting to Vaughn that I had feelings for him, which would not have been a good idea.
We continued our walk passing some of the same shops as earlier and some different ones. It may have just been the caffeine, but I felt a little more relaxed than before. I actually felt a little guilty for just how relaxed I was right then. Was that how I had wanted to spend my vacation all along?
"Yes," I grudgingly admitted. But was that really so weird? To want to spend Christmas with the people you love?
"Whoa! Did I just say love?" I was in serious trouble, that was obvious. I knew there was a perfectly good reason why agents were not supposed to fall for their handlers, such as the whole getting killed factor, but unfortunately some dark side of my heart or my mind, I don't know which, did not listen. I sighed. At least I wasn't the only one having to deal with this. I was pretty sure Vaughn at least had some feelings for me.
I sighed again, there was really no point in worrying about that right now. Even if I did know for sure it wasn't as if we could do anything about it. Just going for a walk together was dangerous, but since we had already decided to take that risk I decided I might as well enjoy it.

All in all I'd say the day was good. Even though we spent most of it in silence for fear of ruining the mood or saying to much, and when we did speak it was small talk that would go along with our cover as two strangers.
I stopped for a moment to stretch my back, "What time is it?"
"About five," he said glancing at his watch thoughtfully, "you want to see something neat?"
I laughed, "Neat?"
He stopped walking and turned to glare at me lightly, "Are you coming or not?"
I laughed again and rolled my eyes dramatically before following.

He lead me to a park at the edge of the town and to a hill containing a very Forrest Gump-ish bench. As I got to the top I understood what he wanted me to see. The hill was not very high but compared to the valley on the other side it was practically Mount Everest.
"Wow," I said and stared out over the long expanse of California grape country as it dipped down low then rose up again and connected with the sky, which was, at present, streaked with orange, pink, and lavender as the sun fell.
I looked at him and smiled, "Pretty neat."
"You're just not going to drop that are you?" he asked.
I just laughed. In response he sighed heavily and sulked over to a spot on the bench. If by doing so he had been trying to be unamusing, he failed miserably.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. It's very pretty," I said coming over to sit next to him.
He chuckled lightly but did not say anything. I looked back toward the valley and thought about how 'pretty' was an understatement. A view like that one was postcard material. I wondered how he discovered it. He mentioned that his mom bought the inn when he left for college. I imagined a younger version of Vaughn sitting on that very same bench to study while home over the a long weekend.
I tore my attention away from the sunset for just long enough to notice where our hands rested side by side on the bench. I wasn't really even thinking as I did it, but I lifted my hand and laid it over his. I felt him stiffen for a moment before he turn his hand to squeeze mine back. We both stared out, pretending to still be fascinated by the view, with our hands softly clasped. He slowly ran his thumb back and forth in half circles over my first two knuckles. I sighed softly making sure not to moan and pretending that I didn't feel little butterflies flapping away in my stomach. "Yep, I've got it bad," I thought to myself resignedly.

The moment ended abruptly as we released each other's hands and stood up.
"Well, we better get going," he said clearing his throat.
"Yeah," I agreed nodding. I took a deep breath then let it out as I started down the hill.
"Wouldn't want to forget the milk," I called back over my shoulder.