A/N- Oh look at that… two chapters in one day. Aren't you special? YES YOU ARE! LOL! By the way, I'll state the blatantly obvious for legal purposes. I don't own Alias. Tragic, but true. I don't own Frankenstein, or Spaghetti O's (but I have some in my pantry) and Where's Waldo (because if you can't find him, you can't own him). Or Mercedes (but that's my name in Spanish class). I'm just a fourteen year old trying to make a living!

Jogging In Place
Chapter Five

Frankenstein

"So do you want me to call in sick for work, or do you think you'll be okay on your own?" Vaughn asked timidly. Sydney had never truly gotten over her 'independence issue' as Vaughn called it. If you stuck her in a forest full of bears with a granola bar and offered to give her help she wouldn't take it.

"Why would you call in sick? You're not sick are you?" Sydney asked, not catching the drift.

"I meant do you want me to stay with you or not?" he asked. He looked at her squarely. Since they had gotten married it had become easier to talk to her, she was even more open than before. Sometimes however, it could be like talking to a brick wall.

"Why would you stay with me? I'm quiet capable on my own you know."

"Because you can't remember anything! You'll probably end up getting yourself locked in a closet or lost in the basement!"

"Well don't beat around the bush! Come right out and say what you mean," Sydney grinned. She knew she was egging him on and it thrilled her when the lines of stress were smoothed away from his brow.

"Would you like me to stay or go?" he asked smiling at her.

"Well… you could stay. I'm pretty sure you don't want to come home to me locked in some closet. I'm sure that would be pretty traumatic. But then again you could leave. Of course, if you're afraid I'll get lost in the basement and find a stack of dead bodies or something you should probably stay. The choice is yours."

"Hmmmm… I better stay home. Wouldn't want you to run into my latest experiment down in the basement. I'm calling him Frankenstein," he said winking at her, "I'll stay. Frankenstein can be unfriendly at times."

"Oh, I see. Thanks for protecting me!"

"So is there anything else you want to know?"

"How about the grand tour. I'm pretty sure I looked in every room, but I don't know the purpose for them. There sure are a lot."
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"So this is the living room," Michael announced after reaching the grand room. Filled with odds and ends from what seemed to be every place around the globe, it took Sydney's breath away.

"Oh wow. Look at the pictures!" Sydney walked over to the grand piano, which was covered in elegant frames highlighting each person of importance in Sydney's life.

"After I bought you that frame it became sort of an obsession. I'd buy you one in every country I traveled to and set it aside. After my run-in with Barnett about the first one, I thought I'd hold back for a while. Now you get one for every holiday, whenever I go out of the country, or whenever I feel like it. Our house is overrun with frames. We probably have more than Martha Stewart," he explained as she looked over each one.

She held up a picture of Alex. "You said he's getting married. Why?"

"Well usually you do that kind of thing when you're in love." Sensing her glare he quickly added, "We're flying out in two days to be at the wedding. You're one of the bridesmaids, although I might add the dresses are not nearly as beautiful as yours were." He slipped his arm lovingly around her waist, and quickly removed it when he heard Sydney gasp.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, obviously upset.

"Sorry, sorry. I forgot you weren't used to that. I'm used to you being my wife. Wives and husbands do that sort of thing."

"Sorry, I'm just not comfortable. The last thing I remember is not the last thing you remember. The last time you had your arms around me was when I learned the truth about my mother. Or at least in my mind it is. It's going to take some time for me to get used to this whole ordeal."

"Well, hopefully you won't have to get used to it. I'm going to take you to the doctors' tomorrow and have them check you out."

"Oh really?" Sydney said, raising her eyebrow.

Michael stood, utterly confused. "Not in that way you sicko! I'm meant I'm going to have them check up on you. Not check you out."

"Sure sure… that's what they all say!" Drifting away from him and into the hallway they continued their journey through the house, through time.
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Soon enough they found themselves back in the kitchen. Looking around in the refrigerator Michael pulled out their possible lunch fare. "Macaroni and Cheese or Spaghetti O's?"

"Geez, do I actually eat that food?" Sydney wondered aloud.

"Nope. This is Tara's food. The grown-up selection is McDonald's or Wendy's," he said grabbing his keys off the rack.

"Why are we going out?"

"We don't have any food. I mean, unless you want Where's Waldo ravioli or something of that nature, which I doubt. We cleaned out most of our food so it wouldn't spoil while we we're in Maine." Dragging him out the door and into his very-posh looking Mercedes, Sydney decided against Waldo.

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