19.

Sydney felt the sunlight on her face before she opened her eyes. And she also felt the warmth that was Vaughn next to her. She smiled and opened her eyes, holding back the yawn that was about to erupt from her mouth. She turned and looked at him. Her fiancé. Michael Vaughn was her fiancé.

She grinned and bent over him to lightly kiss his adam's apple. He stirred and opened his eyes.

"Good morning sweetie."

He closed his eyes again in ecstasy. "It feels so good to have you call me that."

Sydney grinned. "Guess what?"

He yawned. "What?"

"We're engaged." Vaughn's lips opened into a smile as he brought her closer to him.

"Yes we are. We most definitely are. We are extremely, totally, completely engaged." He twirled her ring with a finger and smiled at her. "I never thought this would happen. I can't believe that in three months, you have made me the luckiest man ever to walk the earth. No one has a better life than me. No one."

Sydney lay back down against him. "I'm glad you think so. Because I'm pretty damn happy myself. But we have to get up. We have to go to work."

She started to get up but Vaughn pulled her back down. "Or. . . we could both be sick again."

She laughed and swatted him playfully. "Come on Michael. It's not like we have unimportant jobs. And besides, you'll ruin your record for most days spent at the office."

Vaughn chuckled. "Oh yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to screw that one up. CIA's most cherished workaholic. Screw work. Let's quit."

"I'm almost shocked. Work is your life and all of a sudden you want to throw it all away?" Sydney lifted an eyebrow in mock concern.

"Wrong on both counts. Work was never my life. Work was a way to see you or talk about you or think about you without people being suspicious. But now I have you. Why should we go to work anymore?"

"SD-6." Sydney said quietly, looking down at her hands.

The magic spell was broken, the innocence of the day was gone and all that was left was the hard truth. SD-6 was still out there and it still needed to be taken down. There was no arguing that. Michael twirled her ring one last time so that it faced the inside of her hand before nodding and getting up.

Sydney walked to his closet to pick out some of her spare clothes that she always left for such cases. And then she made breakfast. It felt good to make breakfast for two again. She hadn't done it since Danny died. She didn't even remember eating breakfast until she met Vaughn.

She was just finishing up the omelettes when she felt a stubbly kiss on her cheek. "You forgot to shave." She said.

He turned her around. "I thought you liked it. I was thinking of growing a beard actually. Wouldn't that make me look rugged?"

Crinkling her forehead and nose, she shook her head. "Don't you even think about it. Why would you want to hide your face with a beard? I like you clean-shaven."

"Duly noted." He walked to the bathroom again but she caught his arm.

"Not so fast. I'll take another prickly kiss before you go." He grinned and obliged her.

~:~

"All right, I'm going. What are you doing today?"

"I actually don't have any meeting until 3 so I'm just going to stay around here. Watch a movie, eat some food. The basic stuff."

Vaughn groaned. "Are you sure I can't stay home sick today, mother?"

Sydney pushed him out the door. "If you're good, I'll make you your favorite dinner."

He raised his eyebrows and left.

Laughing, Sydney went to Vaughn's video collection. Which wasn't much. *Hey, Vaughn has While You Were Sleeping??? I didn't think he was the type* She smirked as she took it out of the case.

~:~

"What, because I hugged him?"

"And then you leaned."

"And then I leaned. . . Okay, how did I lean when I leaned?"

"You see, leaning is a lot different from hugging. Hugging. . . that involves arms and hands and leaning. . . leaning is two bodies moving together. . . leaning is giving. . . and recieving. Leaning."

(Yes I improvised some of the lines. . . I didn't feel like looking it up)

Sydney sighed. She loved that part. She loved Bill Pullman and his deep voice. Vaughn kind of sounded like that sometimes. . . psychiatrists would have a field day with that one.

She paused the video and opened the phone book until she found it. Chinese Food. Exactly what she was craving.

"Hello? China Express? I would like to order a two item combo. . . umm, I'll take Chow mein, orange chicken, and beef with broccoli. No, I don't want a drink. The address is 243 N. Mead Lane. Yes, that's the zip code. Okay, all right. Thanks."

She sighed and put a hand to her stomach. Lord she was hungry.

She played the movie again. Bill Pullman was at the wedding, telling Peter Gallagher that he sucked while Sandra Bullock walked down the aisle. Good times good times. Did movies every get any better than this? The phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm looking for someone tall, dark, and sexy?"

Sydney laughed out loud, Vaughn had changed so much during the last few months. . . she would never have imagined him saying anything like that to her then. "I'm sorry you have the wrong number."

She heard him laughing. "I don't think I do."

"Okay then, I'm not one to reject compliments."

"How are you?"

"You mean in the 3 hours it's been since you left? I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"I just missed you that's all."

"I miss you too."

"That's good. I wouldn't want to be alone on that one."

"Don't worry. You're not. I love you."

"Me too. You know, I'm glad that you said it first."

"Why?"

"Because it's nice. To have someone say it to you when they don't have to. It lets you know that it's true. Not forced, you know?"

"Yeah. I'll say it more often."

"I'll never stop saying it."

"That too." She smiled into the mouthpiece. Who would want to remain single when there was this kind of love waiting for them? She kept an eye on the screen, her heart doing the usual flutter she saw Bill proposing and then Sandra kissing him. There had been a time when she had dreamed that it was her. And now she had it.

~:~

The doorbell rang and Sydney got up, hungering for the chow mein that was on its way. It had only been 20 minutes though. Oh well, it wasn't like she was complaining.

But it wasn't Chinese awaiting her.

"Oh my." Sydney brought her hands to her face, unable to stop the smile overcoming it. In front of her were roses. And roses. And roses. "How- how many?"

The delivery man smiled at her. "5 dozen. You have yourself either a very wealthy or very loving man, Ms. Bristow." Sydney grinned.

"I do."

She signed and took them into the apartment. He thought of everything. He was so sweet. He was so- he was just so. . . perfect.

She opened the card.

"I knew you were watching that movie. I guess that shows you how well I know you. And these roses are supposed to tell you how much I want to know everything else about you. Hopefully, I will never get to the end. I want to spend the rest of my life being surprised by you. I love you. ~ Michael."

She picked up the phone.

"Michael, you didn't!"

"I didn't? I thought I did."

"How did you know I was watching that movie?"

"Well. . . I know you like it and I know that it is one of my only chick flicks that I own. . . and my beliefs were reinforced when I called you because I heard the background music. Besides, I'm crafty. I never said what movie I knew you were watching."

"Thank you for the roses."

She heard his chuckle over the line and she closed her eyes, almost able to imagine him standing in front her of her.

"Thank you for you."

"Okay, I'll let you -"

"Come home and pretend I'm sick?"

"- get back to work."

"Oh. Okay."

"I'll see you tonight."

"I should hope so after I bought you 5 dozen roses."

Sydney laughed and gently put the phone back in the receiver.

The doorbell rang again and Sydney grinned. If it was another man delivering 50 boxes of chocolate. . . She looked through the peep whole and saw no chocolates. It was the Chinese food. She sighed, finally able to quiet the rumblings of her stomach.

She turned to get the 20 that was lying on her dresser. Strangely enough, she felt as if she was moving in a dream. Though she was relatively positive that she everything was normal and the world was not revolving any slower, it felt like it was. Maybe this was really love. Not any love but that love where you know that there will never be another one. . . the one where you love the other person so much that you make them promise to die after you. . . the one that will never happen again and the one where if he isn't there, the entire world changes rhythm. She smiled then, letting her emotions show fully on her face. Sydney Vaughn. Sydney Bristow Vaughn.

She shook her head slightly at her own girlish antics and placed a hand on the doorknob. She could almost smell the orange chicken from here.

But when she opened the door, she froze. Completely froze. Her face went numb and her throat constricted; she didn't know whether to scream or cry or just stare. She stood frozen in the doorway, the 20 dangling uselessly in her hand. This wasn't Chinese food.

She gulped, trying to regain control of herself and failed miserably.

"Danny?"



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