Sydney and Will stayed up talking until way after midnight when she finally forced him to go to bed because he had to get up early the next morning. With his involvement in the wedding, Will was taking a few days off from work and he wanted to tie up some loose ends on some of the projects he was working on.

Sydney was still curled up on the sofa under a light coverlet when Will came out of his bedroom around six-fifteen the next morning. He was freshly shaven, his hair was combed and he was dressed rather nattily in a well-cut gray suit. Whatever else his employment by the CIA had done for him, at least it had gotten him out of his always- slightly-rumpled reporter duds.

The aroma of freshly brewed coffee hit Sydney's nostrils, rousing her from sleep. She padded into the kitchen in her bare feet, surprising Will, who was scarfing down a bowl of Cheerios.

"Hey, I'm sorry, did I wake you?" He asked as Sydney grabbed a mug and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"No, it was the coffee." She gave him a sleepy smile as she sat down next to him at the breakfast bar. "Nice suit."

"Thanks." Will grinned at her. "So what do you have planned for today?"

"I thought I would go see Francie." Sydney replied. "I told you last night that my dad thinks I should settle things with her and he's probably right." She was determined to see that at least one good thing would come out of her return to L.A. Even if she was unable to do anything about Vaughn, having her best girlfriend back in her life would take a little bit of the sting out of losing the man she loved.

"I think it's a good idea myself, Syd." He nodded approvingly. "You should probably go to the restaurant rather than the apartment because that's where she always is. It's actually a good day to go see her because the restaurant isn't open for lunch on Wednesdays."

"Well, maybe that's a sign that my luck is changing." She took a sip of her coffee.

Having finished his cereal, Will stood up and took his empty bowl over to the sink. Then he turned around to face her. "I'm…uh…supposed to meet Mike and Eric for lunch today." He announced and then wondered to himself why he had felt the need to proclaim it to Sydney.

"Oh?" She said politely.

"Yeah, it's sort of a last-meal-as-a-free-man thing. After today, he's taking the next three weeks off. We've got our last tuxedo fitting tomorrow and then for the rest of the day up until the cocktail party, Alice has him playing chauffeur for all of her relatives that are flying in."

"Lucky him having to deal with airport traffic for an entire afternoon." Sydney commented neutrally.

"Mike originally didn't want to take any time off before the wedding because he's so swamped at work, but Alice threw a major hissy fit. She went on and on about how she didn't want him to be so obsessed about his job and how he should have been feeling more excited about the wedding and the fact that he would get to leave all of his work behind while they're away on their honeymoon." Will suddenly looked uncomfortable. Maybe he was being unintentionally cruel by telling Sydney all about Vaughn's wedding plans.

"Honeymoon." Sydney echoed, the word seeming to strike a chord with her. Hearing it actually said out loud made Vaughn's upcoming wedding seem more real to her than ever. "Do you know where they're going?" She asked, curious in spite of herself. During her years as Sydney Bristow, Superspy, she had been all over the world many times over, so no place on earth held any particular appeal to her. Paris, France or Paris, Texas, it was all the same to her. Still, it would be interesting to find out where Vaughn had chosen to take his bride.

It was true that Sydney had never let herself even imagine what it would be like to plan her own wedding. Picking out her china pattern. Choosing a wedding dress. Having her father walk her down the aisle. Thinking about those kinds of things could only lead to heartache if none of it ever came to pass.

But she'd be lying if she said she'd never given a second thought to her honeymoon. A honeymoon was different. The wedding was already over and the rest of it was all about basking in the fun and frivolity of being with the man she loved, in this case, Vaughn. For some reason, she always pictured them going away to someplace tropical and exotic, with white sand beaches and crystal-blue waters and private little coves that were just perfect for a newlywed couple to do a little…exploring.

"Syd?" Will's voice suddenly brought her out of her reverie. "Did you hear what I just said?"

Sydney blushed, partly at having been caught spacing out, but mostly because she had been picturing Vaughn in nothing but a pair of swim trunks and a smile. "I'm sorry, Will, what did you say?" She gave him what she hoped was an innocent look.

He looked at her strangely, but said nothing. "I was just telling you that Mike and Alice are going to Italy."

"Italy." She repeated slowly, her heart doing a little flip-flop. Maybe it was a bit foolish, but she had always considered Italy to be theirs. Breaking into the Vatican had been the first sign of just how far Vaughn was willing to go for her when they had worked together in order to clear her name in light of the Rambaldi Prophecy. And how could she forget that it was the first time he had ever asked her out? Would Vaughn take his new wife to Trattoria di Nardi? Of course he would. It was his favorite restaurant, after all. She suddenly felt depressed.

"She wanted to go to Paris, but he said it would be like visiting his home and who wants to do that on your honeymoon?"

Sydney couldn't resist a smirk in spite of herself. "Paris is so trite and overdone, anyway." She said snarkily.

Will was at a loss for words at that one, so he let it pass. "Getting back to my original statement, since I'm going to be seeing Mike later on today, do you want me to keep quiet that you're here?" 

Sydney looked indecisive. "He's not likely to ask about me, so why should you bring it up?" She finally said.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Maybe to warn him?"

"Against me?" She arched an eyebrow. "Vaughn is in no danger from me."

"Well, I don't know about that." Will muttered.

*     *     *     *     *

After Will left for work, Sydney tidied up around the apartment before showering and getting dressed in jeans and a white henley-style tank top. She took a moment to check her phone messages at home (none from her father) and then headed out to Francie's restaurant.

When Sydney pulled open the front door to the restaurant, the first thing she noticed was that the artwork on the walls was different, in a more elegant and classier sort of way. She strolled casually into the dining room and saw that the table linens were now made of a heavier, more expensive fabric and the old, slightly outdated flatware had been replaced with a sleeker, more modern pattern. Then Sydney spied upon the recently renovated outdoor patio dining area with its romantic Spanish-style black wrought iron tables and chairs. It was obvious that Francie was doing quite well for herself.

"Excuse me?" Sydney stopped one of the busboys who was busy setting up the tables for future patrons.

The clean-cut young man looked up at her. "Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am, but we're not open for lunch on Wednesdays." He said politely.

"That's okay, because I'm actually not here for lunch." She gave him a smile. "I was wondering if Francie was around."

"Is this a business matter?"

"No, actually, I'm an old friend." Sydney replied, wondering to herself if Francie would find fault with that statement.

"Well, hey, then she'll probably be glad to see you. She's in the kitchen." The busboy pointed towards the back of the restaurant and then resumed his duties.

Sydney wandered towards the kitchen and slipped through the swinging door marked "In." She spotted Francie standing next to a stainless steel counter, her head bent over to read a recipe while she whisked something yellow and frothy in a clear glass bowl.

"Francie?" Her voice was surprisingly loud and clear.

Francie's arm froze in mid-whip and she turned around with a stunned expression on her face. Sydney noticed that her hair was shorter than she remembered, but the style suited her, framing her face rather nicely.

"Sydney." Francie's intonation of Sydney's name was flat without a question at the end.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you." Sydney said hesitantly.

"No." Francie set down her bowl and wiped her hands on a dish towel. "I was just testing a frittata recipe for a catering job I'm doing." She appeared tense as well and had a problem figuring out what to do with her hands. "So when did you get back to town?"

"I drove in yesterday." Sydney took a tentative step towards her in an attempt to bridge the gap between them, both literally and figuratively. "I spent the night at Will's."

Francie nodded. "He didn't tell me you were coming."

"He didn't know." She replied. "It was sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing."

"Oh." Francie nodded again. A long uncomfortable silence ensued.

"The restaurant looks great." Sydney finally said. "I love the new patio."

"It's been pretty popular so far." Francie gave a shrug. "People like doing the al fresco thing during summer."

"And I've heard that you're doing really well with the catering."

"Oh, well, that's still getting off the ground." She responded modestly. "I've mostly just been providing the food rather than doing any party planning."

"Well, I remember you saying that you felt like taking on a new challenge." Sydney said with an encouraging smile.

Francie's mouth quirked. "Yeah, I remember saying that, too. I was telling you that I was afraid I was getting into a rut at work and I asked you how you avoided that after working so many years at the bank." She gave Sydney a pointed look. "Do spies get into ruts?" Her question was edged with an uncharacteristic sharpness.

Okay, Sydney grimaced to herself. "I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I never did. Every mission is different, so it's hard to feel as if you're doing the same thing over and over again." She purposely kept her tone even, not wanting to antagonize her friend. If Francie wanted to vent a little, Sydney would let her. She deserved the chance to speak her mind.

"Hmmm, I guess we should all be so lucky to have a career as stimulating as yours was." Her friend said with a touch of sarcasm in her voice. "Then again, now that I think of it, everyone did. You, Will, your father. Did your dad get a bonus at work for recruiting all these new employees to the company?"

"Francie, your beef isn't with my father." Sydney rebuked her mildly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to talk about the real reason why I'm here."

"Which is?"

"I came here to see if we could salvage what's left of our friendship."

"Is that what we had?" Francie questioned her. "A friendship? I don't think you even know what that word means." She said harshly.

"Francie, you're not being fair--"

"I tried to see you, you know." Francie cut her off. "When I first heard about the raid at the bank, I thought they had made a mistake. That they hadn't really meant to target Credit Dauphine."

"But when I got to the lock-up where they were holding you, some gargantuan guy in a dark suit told me that Agent Bristow was restricted from receiving any outside visitors." Francie looked at her, the hurt in her eyes apparent. "He called you 'Agent Bristow.' That when I knew it wasn't a mistake."

"No, it wasn't." Sydney said quietly. "Credit Dauphine was a front company for SD-6. It was a real bank only in the sense that it laundered the money that funded SD-6."

"So you never worked for a bank."

She shook her head. "When I was recruited to SD-6, they told me I fit a profile. They told me I would be serving my country by ridding the world of evil." Sydney let out a sarcastic laugh. "And me being as gullible and idealistic as I was, I believed them."

"For the first seven years, I thought I was working for the good guys. They told me SD-6 was a black ops division of the CIA, where we didn't have to go through all of the proper channels in order to get things done."

"I enjoyed doing what I did, Francie." Sydney gave her an imploring look. "I was good at it and it made me feel as if I was doing something that mattered."

"It's not your fault that they fooled you, Sydney." Francie suddenly interrupted. "You were just a kid, wanting to fight for truth, justice and the American way. You had no reason to suspect that you were just being manipulated by people who got off on pulling your strings." Sydney was surprised and moved that Francie would speak up to defend her actions.

"That Arvin Sloane. Was he as bad as they made him out to be?" Francie asked.

"He was worse." Sydney looked grim. "He was guilty of all the crimes for which they had accused him and so many more that they didn't." She was still bitter about the fact that Sloane had never been charged with Danny's murder. No evidence, no paper trail, no Shepard to be found. The federal prosecutors would never have been able to make the charges stick, so they chose to just drop the matter entirely.

"Are you talking about what he did to Danny?"

Sydney looked up. "You know what he did to Danny?"

Francie nodded. "Will told me that Sloane had him killed when you told him about SD-6."

"My greatest mistake." Sydney looked despondent. "That's when I found out the truth about SD-6." She gave Francie an anxious glance. "You believe that, don't you, Francie?"

"Of course, Syd." Francie replied. "It never once crossed my mind that you would willingly choose to be a traitor to your country."

"When I found out about SD-6, that's when I went to the CIA. My only objective was to destroy SD-6 like they had destroyed me."

"And that's what you were doing the last five years."

Sydney nodded. "With a lot of help."

Francie had a pensive look on her face. "All that time we lived together and I never even had an inkling that you were anything other than what you proclaimed to be." She gave a short laugh. "I do remember thinking it strange that you used to go on so many business trips, though. I mean, does anybody travel that much?"

"Spies, yes. Bankers, no." Sydney shook her head. "And don't beat yourself up about not knowing. For years, I thought my father sold airplane parts."

"Well, it's nice to know that I'm not the only clueless one around here." Francie deadpanned and then sobered. "You know, I can reconcile with the fact that you were a spy. That part is actually kind of cool."

"But the thing that really gets to me is that you had to lie about it. Even to me." She looked miffed. "I mean, everyone else knew about it. Why couldn't I?" Perhaps a grown woman like herself should not have been whining like a two-year-old who didn't get her way, but it still hurt to feel left out, at any age.

"Francie, I know it might have seemed as if everybody knew, but I tried so hard to keep it a secret." Sydney gave her a sympathetic look. "It was for your own protection, not because I was trying to exclude you from knowing about such an important aspect of my life."

"Yeah, I know that now." Francie conceded. "After you left town, Will told me how conflicted you always were about the lying and the deception."

"In my head, I know I shouldn't have been hurt. You weren't trying to be mean or vindictive by keeping me in the dark about what you were really doing." Francie looked at Sydney. "But in my heart, I felt so out of the loop. Like I wasn't trustworthy enough to be let in on the big secret."

"No, Francie." Sydney took her friend's hands in her own. "I mean, Will only found out because he kept digging into Danny's death and in the end, it cost him a lot. He had to give up a career that he loved and he was forced to endure the public humiliation over that phony drug bust. Trust me when I say it was better for you that you didn't know."

Francie nodded. "You know, ever since Will told me about everything you went through during the last five years, I've wanted so much to apologize for the childish way in which I behaved after I found out about your secret life." She gave Sydney an embarrassed look. "I bet all of your high schoolers act more maturely than I did."

"Ha, you would be surprised." Sydney grinned.

Francie's mouth curved into a smile. "It took a lot of guts to come see me this morning, Syd." She looked impressed. "But then I guess that's what you're all about, huh?"

It lifted Sydney's heart to see the twinkle in Francie's eye. "For awhile, I wasn't so sure." She admitted. "But now I'm hoping that I have the strength to summon up the courage I used to have."

For a few moments, the two friends just looked at each other. In the next instant, they were hugging and the tears were flowing freely.

After awhile, they managed to collect themselves to the point where the tears stopped and the smiles remained. Francie whipped up some omelets and the two of them sat down to an early lunch.

"So what's with all the food?" Sydney gestured towards the multitude of ingredients that were laid out on the stainless steel countertops.

"Oh, it's for a catering job this weekend." Francie waved her hand. "A big society wedding."

Right. Vaughn's wedding. How could she forget? Sydney wondered about the possibility that Francie might have sent her the fake wedding invitation. But Francie didn't know about her feelings for Vaughn, did she? She couldn't, not unless Will had blabbed to her about it.

"Oh, really?" Sydney murmured noncommittally.

"Yeah, it's for one of Will's friends, actually. They work together at the Agency." She shot Sydney a grin. "You know, I still can't get used to the idea of Will working for the CIA. You, I have no problem with, but I just can't picture it with him."

"I'll have you know that he's surprisingly good at his job." Sydney informed her. "Who would've thought?"

"So anyway, that's the reason for all the food. In addition to the wedding reception, I'm also doing a cocktail party tomorrow night, a barbecue on Friday and the rehearsal dinner." Francie looked pleased. "We're talking five figures, Syd."

"Wow, I'm impressed."

Francie grinned. "Yep, it's one of my biggest jobs to date and I owe it all to the blushing bridegroom."

Sydney did a slight double-take. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, well, he's the one who recommended me for the job." She explained. "Will introduced us awhile back and it was amazing how quickly we connected. Sometimes I get the feeling he knew me in a past life or something."

Sydney hid a grin. Obviously, Vaughn had been listening to her during all those times Francie had come up in their conversations. Sometimes they'd be waiting for their plane to refuel or for their transport to arrive and she'd remember some funny little anecdote that she couldn't resist sharing with him. It was those kinds of moments that made her feel closest to him. For the briefest of instants, she could pretend that they weren't on some life-or-death mission, but just two friends telling each other about the everyday occurrences in their lives.

"--really great guy in addition to being majorly hot." Sydney tuned back into the conversation just in time to see Francie screw up her face into a wry grimace. "Too bad he's off the market."

Majorly hot, huh? Now whom did she know who fit that description? "What's his name?" Sydney asked casually. "Maybe I know him."

"Oh, you probably do, considering that you were CIA and he still is." Francie nodded. "His name's Mike."

"Mike." She wrapped her lips around the unfamiliar name. She could never call him "Mike." That just wasn't how she saw him. "Are we talking about Michael Vaughn?" She asked tentatively.

"So you do know him!" Francie looked up and caught the crestfallen expression on Sydney's face right before it disappeared. "Syd, what's the matter?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." She said hastily. God, could things get any worse? Not only was one of her best friends in the world an usher in Vaughn's wedding party, but her other best friend was catering the blasted affair! What more did Alice want to take from her? She already had Will, Francie and Vaughn. Did she want to borrow Jack, too, so that she would have someone to walk her down the aisle?

"Oh, my God!" Francie suddenly gasped. "Mike is the guy, isn't he?"

"The guy?" Sydney repeated blankly. "What guy?"

"Sydney," Francie rolled her eyes. "I know I was a total ditz when it came to ferreting out your real occupation, but give me some credit in figuring out your personal relationships or lack thereof."

"The last three years we lived together, you didn't go out on a single date. I knew it couldn't have been from a lack of invites, so I was positive that it had to be your decision."

"Well, for the most part, yes." Sydney admitted. Not that she hadn't had opportunities in the last three years she had worked as a spy to go out on a date like a normal person, but she could never bring herself to do it. She and Vaughn had a sort of agreement, whether they acknowledged it or not, and she didn't want to be the one to betray it.

"For awhile, I thought he was some married guy who worked at the bank, but I knew you wouldn't be stupid enough to get involved with a married man." Francie said distastefully.

"I should say not."

"So then I moved on to the scenario that you were in love with a guy who didn't know you existed. You know, the whole unrequited love bit?"

"That sounds so high school, Francie." Sydney stood up and went over to the coffee machine to refill her cup. "What's the big deal about my love life, anyway? In case you don't remember, I did have other things on my mind. You know, like saving the world from power-hungry despots?" She reminded her friend.

"Oh, come on, Syd, even spies need a little romance in their lives." Francie teased her. "James Bond is a spy. Tell me you met someone as fine as Pierce Brosnan."

"Noah was also a spy." Sydney said matter-of-factly. "Does that tell you anything about the dating pool?" She arched an eyebrow.

Francie made a face. "Well, that's because he was one of the bad guys. Mike isn't."

Sydney let out a sigh. What was the point in denying it any longer? Vaughn was the whole reason she was here, wasn't he?

"Who was he to you, Syd?" Francie asked softly.

Sydney looked at her friend for a long moment. She had known that Francie was a longshot for being the culprit behind the phony wedding invitation and it was never more apparent than after hearing that question fall from her lips. If Francie had to ask what Vaughn meant to her, then she couldn't have predicted that Sydney would rush back to L.A. the moment she found about Vaughn's wedding. 

"Vaughn was my CIA case handler." She finally confessed. "He and I would meet in secret to discuss my counter-missions against SD-6."

"Oooh, secret meetings!" Francie squealed. "I know you probably couldn't be seen together, so where did you meet? Did you have to drive fifty miles into the desert or go up in a hot air balloon or shack up in some sleazy motel with a vibrating bed?" She asked eagerly.

"Francie!" Sydney tried to look appalled but laughed instead. "We weren't having some cheap, illicit affair! It was always very professional and businesslike."

"Business mixed with pleasure, obviously." Francie said perceptively. "You were in love with him, weren't you?"

Sydney gave a reluctant nod. "He was just always there for me, Francie. I trusted him completely and I was able to be totally honest with him." She met her friend's sympathetic gaze. "You don't know what a big deal that was to me especially when I had to spend the rest of my days lying to you and everyone else."

"A guy who gives you unconditional support and understanding while still managing to be incredibly easy on the eyes?" Francie's mouth curved into a grin. "What's not to love?"

Sydney smiled. "It didn't happen right away, but when it did, it hit hard and I haven't been able to shake it in all these years."

"Why would you want to?" She quipped and then her expression turned serious. "Sydney, you have to do something." Francie said with a determined look in her eye.

"Francie, he's getting married in three days!" Sydney said in a half-hearted protest. "Or have you forgotten you're catering his wedding?"

"Oh, who cares, I already have her deposit!" Francie waved her hand carelessly. "This is more important, anyway. Mike's an absolute doll, but snooty Miss Alice is a royal pain in the--"

Another rider on the I-hate-Alice bandwagon? "You don't like her, either?" Sydney interrupted, unable to keep the glee out of her voice.

"Alice had 'reservations' about my ability to cater the wedding because she was concerned about my 'lack of experience,' as she put it." Francie looked piqued at having to do the double quotation marks with her fingers twice in one sentence. "Uh, hello, I've had my own restaurant going on five years now and I've been catering for the last year."

"Of course, if you're not some trendy boutique café, you're not considered good enough for her refined palate." Francie sniffed.

Sydney had a smug look on her face upon receiving the validation that Alice was indeed the snob Sydney had figured her to be. "So if she was so unenthusiastic about hiring you, how did you wind up getting the job?"

Francie grinned broadly. "The caterer she originally hired was closed down for health code violations." She looked downright joyful at the thought of Alice being screwed. "Rat feces, cockroaches. It was all very disgusting, but suffice it to say that Alice could no longer engage the woman's services for her self-proclaimed dream wedding."

"By that time, it was too late to book another one of her high society caterers, so I sort of got the job by default because I was available and because Mike vouched for me." Sydney had to smile at that. Vaughn was always loyal to his friends.

"Of course, had I known how difficult she was going to be, I definitely would have told her to take a flying leap off a very short pier rather than have to deal with her for one more second." Francie made a face. "She's changed the menu on me three times! I'm about ready to have a heart attack every time I see her number on the Caller ID."

"So why don't you tell her to take a hike?" That would be a good reason to postpone the wedding, wouldn't it? Can't have a wedding without food.

"Well, it's partly because I can make really good contacts at all the events we're doing for her." Francie admitted. "But mostly it's because of Mike. He's a nice guy and I don't want to let him down."

"I'm glad you like him." Sydney was smiling, but her eyes were sad. "I used to wonder how the two of you would hit it off. It was one of my little fantasies that there would come a day when I could bring him by the apartment to meet you without fear of our getting shot as we walked through the front door." She looked rueful.

Francie experienced a wave of compassion for her friend. "Was he in love with you, Syd?"

Sydney hesitated before replying. "We never said those exact words to each other, but I like to think we both knew the feelings were there."

"I'm sorry you never got the chance to tell him how you felt." Francie said in a quiet voice. "You could have saved him from that she-devil."

"Wow, you really don't like her." That was saying a lot because Francie liked practically everyone. "What is it about her that pushes your buttons?" Sydney asked curiously. She had already heard Will's reasons, but now she was interested in a woman's point of view.

Francie let out a sigh. "Did Mike ever tell you about her?"

"Bits and pieces." Sydney shrugged. "Nothing specific."

"Well, to tell you truth, I don't know that much about their history together, either. Just some stuff that Will has told me." Her friend said. "I do know they used to date a few years ago, but they were broken up for quite awhile before they got back together."

"It was more than a few years ago." Sydney said absently. "It was closer to five."

"You know when they broke up?" Francie raised an inquiring eyebrow. "Did Mike discuss his personal life with you during your 'business' meetings?"

Sydney blushed. "To be honest, I was the one who did most of the talking. He was the one who always listened to me."

"But there were times when he would open up to me." She let a smile play about her lips. "The reason I know when they broke up is because he told me when it happened. Two months after he became my handler, they stopped seeing each other."

Francie's eyes got wide. "Because of you, right?" She cried out. "Oh, Syd, is that why you're here? To get him back?"

A pained look spread across Sydney's face. "Francie, I don't want to cause trouble for him if he's happy. It'll kill me to see him marry someone else, but I'll live with it if it's what he truly wants."

"But Alice can't be what he wants! Not if he was ever in love with you!" Francie said insistently. "You and she are like total opposites of each other! She's like the poster child for 'high-maintenance woman' and you are so…not!"

Sydney smiled. "He used to have a picture of her in his office." She looked thoughtful. "They were smiling and they looked happy."

"Everybody smiles in photographs, Sydney."

"Maybe he just wants to recapture whatever he had with her." She gave a helpless shrug. "I can't blame him. She's beautiful and she takes care of him and his life is probably much simpler than it ever would have been with me."

"He's taking the easy way out." Francie said adamantly. "I will grant you that she is blonde and gorgeous with more money than she'll ever know what to do with."

"But, Syd, she's just not right for him. Even I can see it and I haven't known him as long as you have." Her eyes looked troubled. "She's so fussy and pretentious and needy. He always has to be at her beck and call whenever they go out and he goes along with whatever she says."

Sydney frowned. "I can't believe that. The Vaughn I remember was always so…outspoken and independent. He used to take a lot of flak for helping me whenever I wanted to do something the higher-ups wouldn't approve of."

"Well, if she's changed him that much, then maybe he should think again if it's in his best interests to be with her." Francie said pointedly. "Do you know that when we all got together to decide on the menu for the reception that he barely said a word? He just sat back and let her make all the decisions. She never even consulted him on anything!"

"Maybe he just wants her to take charge of his life." Sydney suggested weakly.

"Why? So that he doesn't have to think for himself?" Francie countered. "Why would he want to be led around by a ring through his nose for the rest of his life?"

Sydney couldn't think of an answer to that one. "You know, the one thing you're forgetting here is that Vaughn was the one who made the decision to propose marriage to her. He wouldn't have done that if he didn't have real feelings for her."

"Knowing Alice, she probably told him how he felt." Francie sneered. "I can totally believe that she orchestrated the entire marriage proposal, right down to telling him where to buy her ring."

"You're not being fair, Francie. We don't know what's going on in their relationship."

"You don't have to be a fly on the wall in their bedroom to know exactly how it's going to be for Mike." She retorted.

Sydney didn't like hearing that. "You know, Will invited me to be his guest at the cocktail reception tomorrow night. He wanted me to see for myself how Vaughn is with her."

"I think that would be a good idea." Francie's eyes gleamed. "Then you could see just how much he needs to be saved."

Sydney gave her a heartbreaking look. "He can only be saved if he wants to be."

To be continued…

Author's Note: To anyone expecting Sydney and Vaughn to meet up in this chapter, I hope you're not disappointed that it was mostly about Francie. I always intended for Francie to have her own moment in the sun (probably because she does so little on the show) and it was not an attempt to drag out the wait for S/V to see each other again. I just wanted to use Francie for the female perspective on Vaughn's and Alice's relationship as well as to give Sydney more validation that she's doing the right thing in trying to stop the wedding.  Most of all, I just wanted Sydney and Francie to make up, so that their storyline would be resolved.

Oh, yeah, and Vaughn is scheduled to make his first appearance in the next chapter.

Thanks for keeping up with the story and please review if you feel like it!

See ya later!