The beginning of month 3 found Sydney preparing for a trip to Brazil. She was going to be there a week, and dreading the long absence from Vaughn. They had already gone over her counter, and now she had to last 8 days without him. To relieve the depression, she headed out to shop for the nursery.

At the paint store, she was mulling over a pale yellow and a soft green when she heard a familiar voice.

"Sydney!"

"Dixon! What are you doing here?"

"Oh I promised Diane I would re-paint the bedroom. I'm almost done, but I ran out of paint."

Sydney almost laughed out loud. It was difficult to imagine her partner doing normal family stuff and working around the house, when she was used to disguises and dangerous missions.

"I'm just trying to pick out a paint color for the nursery. Are you going to do the painting for me?" she teased.

"Sorry Syd, I'm never doing this again! Besides, that's Will's job!"

Sydney nearly choked.

"You alright Syd?"

"Yeah, fine."

"Syd, are things going bad with you and Will?"

She smiled sadly. "Yeah, you could say that."

"I've got to be honest Sydney, I've been concerned about a few things for a while. Can you go somewhere? Maybe get some coffee and talk?"

"Actually Dixon, I should be going. But I'll see you tomorrow."

As she walked out, Dixon watched on with suspicion. She was clearly avoiding a confrontation, she hadn't even bought the paint.