Chapter Nine - Breathe Out, So I Can Breathe You In

And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again

"Everlong," Foo Fighters


[Vaughn's POV]

"You're going to regret it if you don't tell me."

I don't think I've ever seen her smile so brightly in all the time I've known her. She has certainly undergone a tranformation because this isn't the same Sydney I used to know. Or wait, maybe it is, but it's just her without all that emotional baggage she's forced to carry around back in LA.

"I will never speak a word of it to my dying day and there's nothing you can do to change that." I say adamantly as I cross my arms.

I must be in another world or lifetime rather.

Before I realize it, Sydney has both of her legs on either side of my midsection and her hands are planted firmly on my bare chest.

"I'm not getting up until you tell me."

Fine by me.

"Just so you know, Sydney, this isn't exactly torture." I say with a grin as my hands graze the skin at the top of her hips underneath my old t-shirt that she's wearing.

I've definitely never seen Sydney this playful before. And feisty for that matter. But hey, I'm not complaining.

It must be around 2 AM. Let's just say I rocked her entire universe quite awhile ago, but we haven't really been able to fall asleep. I mean, what guy would want to sleep when it's so much more fun to be awake? I must say, being with Syd when she's on her post sex natural high is the most fun anyone could possibly have.

"Uh uh uh," Sydney says, shaking her head at me with a devilish smile. She's prying my hands off her waist and pinning them above my head on the bed. Sweet! "No touching unless you tell me what record you held in college."

I shake my head nonchalantly.

"Nope. No way. And let me just say, this is the best torture ever."

Is she laughing? What happened to her hard as nails tactics?

Her hands loosen their grip on mine and I feel hers begin to travel down the length of my chest and stomache. I catch my breath as I feel her finger brush against the scar on my lower abdomen, her touch as light as a feather. Eigth grade: appendecimy. Impressive battle scars, I know.

I can't help butbe disappointed as she "dismounts" and sits cross legged on the bed beside me. I slide up and let my back rest on the headboard.

Her hands are playing with my right arm and as much aws I want to grab her and kiss her a thousand times over, I can't. Because I know I'll look over and she'll be staring back at me with her huge brown puppy dog eyes and all those embarassing stories I've worked so hard to keep hidden, will be revealed.

Don't do it, Mike. Fight the urge...

Hell, who am I kidding?

I look over there and of course, I've got a pouting Syd staring right back at me.

You're a pathetic excuse for man, Michael Vaughn. You have absolutely no will power, whatsoever.

"Aw, don't look at me like that..." I plead as a last ditch effort, knowing full well that there's no turning back now, and I have no choice but to tell her. Come to think of it, that story's probably not the worst, so it shouldn't be too bad...

No, it will. It certainly will.

I look back up at her and I'm pretty sure she's gotten more pouty. Is that possible? Is 'pouty' even a word? Probably not, but that's the least of my worries, right now.

"Syd--"

"Come on, Michael..." she begs, running her hands up my arm. How am I supposed to resist this again?

Just look her in the eyes and say "no." Strongly and firmly, she'll get the point.

My eyes linger over her flawless face and before I am fully aware of what's coming out of my mouth, a huge grin is spreading across her face.

"Okay, fine, but only this one story. Nothing more."

"Okay! Perfect!" She says, glowing. "That's all I wanted anyway. I seriously thought I'd die of curiousity. Okay, on with the show!"

Now she's clapping at me. What am I, a circus clown? Here simply for her amusement and to fulfill hersexual desires?

Wait, that's definitely fine with me...

"Okay, in college I was a really by the book student..."

"Oh what a suprise," she replies sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, hurt. Okay, maybe not really hurt, but you get the point.

"Nothing, nothing," she says smiling, "continue."

"Okay, so when it came to school work I was a really diligent guy. Everything had to be done and everything had to be done perfectly for me to even consider going out and partying. Well, yeah, basically by the time exams finished every term, I had all of this pent up energy that would just be begging to be let out."

"Uh huh..." she responds slowly. She's getting way too much fun out of this.

It really isn't that embarassing. It really isn't.

Yeah, just keep telling yourself that Mike, keep telling yourself that.

"So me and Ed and a few of the guys would just party so insanely hard when exams were over and we could really afford to do so...Apparently, I partied the hardest out of all us guys and that's what record Ed was talking about." I finish quickly and avoid eye contact because I can't lie to her. It's not humanly possible for me to lie to her. Especially when looking straight into her eyes!

"You're lying. I mean it, if you don't tell me the truth, you'll really regret it."

I sigh. This isn't fun. Okay, it is, but sort of isn't either. Yeah, not making any sense again.

"Come on, Syd, I really don't like recalling it. It wasn't exactly what I'd like to be remembered by."

She's glaring at me. Ugh.

"Let's just leave it at the fact that it involved gratuitous nudity."

That got her attention.

"Gratutious, eh?" She says, wiggling her eyebrows.

"As I said, not my proudest moment."

"Oh, I most certainly beg to differ," she says flirtatously, assessing me with her eyes. I think my face is turning bright red, but hopefully that's only in my head. "Aw, you're blushing."

Sh-t.

I roll my eyes and try to look upset, but it's hard when Sydney is curled up against you, holding your face in her hands.

"Stop," I say shyly, turning my head. I don't particularly enjoy being admired as cute after revealing one of the most embarassing moments of my life.

"When did you of all people become shy?" She says, mockingly. It's actually not as much mocking as it is heavenly.

I don't say anything, and just look at her with a shy smile.

What has come over me? I haven't acted like this since I was like ten. Seriously.

"Aw, I think I like 'Shy Michael,'" she replies, tilting her head to the side as she plays with the hair on the side of my head.

"Stop calling me shy," I say, tickling her abdomen slightly.

Interesting. If only those big ass men she fights all the time knew what her one weakness was...She's ticklish.

"Stop being shy," she replies jokingly. She rests her head on my chest, and I watch as her eyes begin to droop. I can't help but laugh.

"What?" She asks, grinning sleepily.

"Nothing," I say playfully.

She glares up at me, then lets her eyes drop once again.

"I would find out, but I'm too tired right now. So you're off the hook."

"Okay," I say with a smile, as I reach over and pull the blanket farther up Sydney's body.

"Goodnight, Michael," she breathes into my neck before kissing it lightly.

"'Night, Syd," I reply, in a daze.

This is all still to surreal for me to accept.

"Thank you," she adds, barely above a whisper. I smile then kiss her hair.

Thank you, Sydney Bristow.

~~~

The Next Morning

Uhhhh...Sunlight bad. Darkness good.

Did I mention how much I hate mornings?

I yawn and begin to stretch my arms, and am startled by Sydney's movement against my chest.

Stuckeyville certainly is amazing. It has officially changed my hatred of mornings into a love of mornings. From this moment on, I love mornings with a passion roughly equivalent to my prior hate. That's a pretty passionate love.

I feel Syd take in a deep breath and begin to move away from me.

"What time is it?" She mumbles, almost incoherently. I smile down at her as she tries to find her way out of the mass of hair that's covering her face. Looking at the alarm clock, I shake my head.

"It's 12." I say, springing up suddenly.

"Who cares?" She replies plopping her head back down into the pillow.

She's adorable first thing in the morning. No, she's more like breathtakingly gorgeous.

"I care," I say, getting up and heading towards my clothes, "I haven't gone jogging in like a week."

"You go jogging every morning?" Syd asked, bolting up in bed.

"Why do you find that so shocking?" I ask with a grin.

"I don't know," she says, pulling the covers off slowly, "you just don't seem like a jogging kinda guy..."

"Well you don't seem like an ass-kicking kind of girl," I reply smugly.

She raises her eyebrows at me. Whoa, that's supposed to be my move.

"Well people aren't always like they seem."

"My point exactly," I say, smiling. I'm pretty sure this smile won't be leaving anytime soon. I'm in a state of ecstatic euphoria beyond anything that anyone has ever experienced in their life, I'm pretty sure.

She gets up and I just stand and admire her as she puts her hair up in a clip.

"What?" She asked, slightly embarassed. "Do I have drool on my face or something?"

Yeah, you could probably make drool look hot, too.

"No," I respond, laughing. "I was just thinking that you look so much better in my clothes than I do."

She looks down and examines herself closely, then glances back up at me with a curt shake of the head.

"I don't think so," she replies, walking over and stopping right in front of me. "Isn't this crazy?"

"What? That you look better than me in my own clothes?" I ask jokingly.

"No," she says, rolling her eyes as she pushes me lightly.

"Hey, no hitting, I bruise very easily." Don't you just love setting someone up to give a priceless line?

"That's not what you were saying last night," Syd said, unable to restrain her laughter.

"Oh, snap!" I exclaim, waving my hands in her face.

"Okay, Michael, no. You're so not ghetto." She says, shaking her head disdainfully.

"Hey, if Mike can rap to Eminem, I can pull off the 'snap.'"

"Yeah, because you haven't been a white little french boy for the past thirty three years..."

"Little? I thin--" She covers my mouth with her hand and has a huge grin on her face.

"Don't even say it, you dirty, dirty boy." She slowly takes her hand off my mouth and that creepy grin is still on my face. She laughs. How can someone's laugh be so perfect? "And yes, back to what I was talking about...I mean this. How crazy is this? The fact that a week ago we couldn't even look at each other in public and now we're here...doing this..."

Her arms slowly wrap around my neck and she leans in for morning breath kiss. Either she doesn't have morning breath at all or my senses have been completely clogged by her presence, because I'm pretty sure she smells like roses.

"Yeah, it is pretty crazy, isn't it?" I reply, my face inches from hers.

"Crazy is the understatement of the millenium," she says, chuckling as she walks towards her stuff.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

~~~

Stuckeybowl -- 1:30 PM

"So you two finally decided to get out of bed, huh?" Right as we walk through the front door, Ed greets us oh so graciously.

"I didn't want to but he forced me to," Syd says, leaning into me.

Yeah, it's still a little strange to be able to partake in public displays of affection...Arms around each others waists, touching, leaning...

"Funny, Mike never was a morning person in college." Ed's shaking his head at me with that 'Oh you dog, you' grin on his face. I look down then back at Ed with a smug expression.

"Well, he seemed to be pretty chipper this morning...Or noon rather," she jokes, turning towards me. I can't stop looking at her. There's just something about that face that just begs m to stare at it. Or kiss it furiously, but I don't think now's the time or here's the place.

Oh, what the Hell...

I lean in and give her a quick kiss, but we're rudely interrupted by Ed's horrible fake clearing of the throat.

"Get a room." I hear Ed croak in the background. Syd smiles against my lips, then pulls away, wiping the lipstick off my lips with her hands.

"Sorry," she says lightly to me, then turns to Ed. "I apologize," she says jokingly.

"I don't know if I can accept," Ed retorts, spraying disinfectant into the shoes. "A man can only take seeing so much PDA."

"Hey, just because we're happy together and you're a sad, lonely, old man, doesn't mean you have to take it out on us." What am I going to do with Ed? That man has relationship issues if I've ever seen them.

"Oh, that hurts. Really." Ed replies, clutching his heart.

Right as I'm about to come back with a sharp witty comment (because we all know how sharp and witty I am) a guy rolls up in a wheelchair. I feel Syd's arm slide off of my waist as she makes her way to a chair and sits down.

"Yo, Ed. I don't know what we're gonna do about this birthday party of twenty five man." He says.

"What do you mean, Eli? I thought everything was set." Ed responds, suddenly worried.

"Hell no. Did you hear Phil? The dude wants to bring in animals. Farm animals. He keeps sayin' somethin' about it being our big money maker...Petting Zoo Bowling Alley."

I can't help but laugh as I see that exasperated expression on Ed's face that I'm more than familiar with.

"I'm telling you, Bosco, it'll be like floppy hat night at baseball games. People will flock here in the millions." A guy with dark hair and some poor excuse for a shirt walks up to Ed.

"Phil, what have I told you about farm animals and the Stuckeybowl? They don't mix. Period." Ed says, putting a towel over his shoulder.

"Bos--" Suddenly, who I presume is Phil, stops speaking and stares over at Sydney. I don't like the way his eyebrows are moving. That man is up to no good. Okay, he's moving in. That's my cue...

"Why hello there, who might--" He starts, but before he can get out the rest of his pick-up line, I'm sitting beside Syd. I know, it's stupid to be territorial over a woman...I mean, she can, after all, fend men off for herself, but now we're an item. Or atleast that's what I assume. And this kind of stupid stuff is what boyfriends are supposed to do.

"Hey, you must be Phil," I say standing up and extending a hand to him. "I'm Michael, a friend of Ed's from college."

"Oh, I see," he says, sizing me up with his eyes.

"And this is Sydney," I say, wrapping my arms around her shoulder as she stands. I feel her hand rub the back of mine, and smile. Job well done, Mike.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you Phil," Syd says, also extending her hand.

Phil grins like the horny bastard he is, takes Sydney's hand and kisses it. I hear her laugh and decide to play it cool. From what I hear, this Phil is quite a character...

"So, Phil, I've heard a lot about you," I say politely.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm a world renowned snowboarder actually." Phil replies apathetically. Yes, from what I hear, he's also a compulsive liar.

"No, you're not," Ed calls out from behind the counter without even looking up.

"Don't listen to Bosco here, he's always been jealous of my agility atop the 'board. He has this undying desire to be young again, but I keep tellin him, after you reach the big 5-0, it's tough to pass yourself off as one of the boy-z."

This Phil is actually quite entertaining. I must admit that he is bearable as long as he keeps his filthy hands off Syd.

Wow, I'm getting really really really territorial.

And it's actually kinda fun.

We've been here for what? A couple days? And she already has some teenager and some creepy thirty-something vying for her affections. I can't blame them though, I would too, if she wasn't already mine.

And I don't mean mine in the possessive ownership kind of way, I mean--

Ah, you know what I mean.

"Why don't I give you guys a formal introduction," Ed says, stepping down from the island in the middle of the Stuckeybowl. "Sydney, Michael -- this is Phil Stubbs. He's an employee here at the Stuckeybowl."

"Manager." Phil pipes in.

"Dude, face it, you lost your job. I'm in control now and you better get your sorry ass back to work before I throw it out onto the street." I hear the guy in the wheel chair call out as he rolls up to us.

"And this is Ely. Ely -- Michael and Sydney. Me and Michael went to college together in New York."

"Nice to meet you two," Ely says shaking our hands.

"Uh Ed. We've got a party of 25 waiting in the lobby and the cows and sheep are ready to be herded in and want to know where to go."

What the Hell?!

I turn around, startled by the monotone female voice I hear behind me. Ah, this must be Shirley. Ed's "quirky" (as he liked to call her) secretary. Yeah, she's a little creepy...

"I'll take care of the animals, Shirley," Phil says, making his way towards the entrance.

"Thank you, Shirley," Ed says tiredly, looking back towards Phil.

"And who might you two be?" Shirley says turning towards me and Sydney.

"Hi, I'm Michael, a friend of Ed's from college. And this is Sydney. We're going to--" Suddenly, I'm cut off by this robot-esque woman dressed in this freakishly crisp blue suit.

"Alright. As long as you're not here to take away Fluffy. I don't know what that boy said, but she did not scratch any police officer."

I look over to Ed, slightly confused and he looks just as puzzled as I do. I turn to Syd, with a grin on my face and she has a hand covering hers to supress her laughter.

"Yeah, this will be fun," I whisper to her. She nods her head and looks at me knowingly.

"Well we've got this huge birthday party coming in so why don't we head over to my office." Ed says, walking towards a fairly large room. We both follow and as he shuts the door, I look around in admiration.

"So this is where the infamous bowling alley owner practices his own version of small town law. I have to admit, it's quite charming." I say fiddling with the colorful bowling balls that adorn his wall.

"Charming, indeed," Syd adds, sitting down in the chair in front of Ed's desk.

"I like to think so," Ed replies with a smile.

"So, Edward, how have things been progressing with you and Ms. Vessey." I say, venturing out on a limb as I sit down in the seat beside Sydney. She looks over at me with a somewhat suprised look on her face.

This might be a sore subject, so I guess I should tread softly. He hasn't mentioned Carol for quite awhile now...I'm starting to think that something's up. Clearly, this Denis Martino guy is out of the picture, but...

"So you do like Carol," Syd says with a grin. "I had a feeling. She's sweet. I like her, you two would be cute together."

Yeah, Ed doesn't seem too happy. He actually looks agitated more than giddy, like he usually is. He looks up and makes eye contact with me and I immediately feel bad for bringing up the Carol issue. Something clearly happened, and he isn't comfortable with sharing it with Sydney too. I would say that it's no big deal, you could talk about it around her too, but he doesnt seem to excited to talk...

I give him a knowing glance, and he looks back down.

"I don't think anything will ever really happen between me and Carol." He says in a hushed tone.

Sydney looks at him, then back at me. Clearly her spy sense has picked up the tension on it's radar. And I'm not suprised. She's got one damn good spy sense.

"Oh, I see how it is. I won't pry..." Sydney says, looking at me with a glint of rebellion in her eye.

Ed has turned back to his work intently and I know exactly what me and Syd are going to do. Our 'mission' per se, because we are very 'mission'-oriented people.

We're gonna get Ed some lovin'!

Preferrably in the form of Carol Vessey.

I nod discreetly at Syd, and she gets the sign. Never in my life have I even considered becoming a cheesy matchmaker, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The closest this boy has gotten to being happy was with that Bonnie woman. And we all know how that turned out. Carol getting jealous...Heartbreak...Carol moving on and leaving Ed in the dust...

No matter how crappy Carol treated Ed, the only way he will truly be happy is if their together. There's something about that woman that makes him wild, and not having a steady girlfriend for almost 3 years is really sad.

Times, they are a'changin.

In Edward J. Stevens's favor.

This will be so much fun. I think I'm starting to feel like an old woman trying to set her son up so he'll settle down. Yeah, that defintely means I'm getting way too excited.

Calm yourself, man. You are a thirty three year old man and do have personal standards that you need to keep in mind.

Okay, better.

"So, Syd. You excited to teach at my big alma mater? Stuckeyville High, baby!"

Changing the subject. Interesting. Perhaps feelings still linger? I think so.

"I'm actually really psyked!" Syd replies excitedly.

She should be excited. She has no clue what awaits her first day as Ms. Sydney Hanton, substitute teacher in English Lit at Stuckeyville High. I'm actually suprised she hasn't asked about my cover as of yet...

"Yeah, the kids down there are actually pretty cool. A lot of them hang out here...Like Warren, who you met." Ed adds in with a laugh.

"Oh God, don't remind me!" Sydney responds, also laughing.

"Will you marry me?" I say in a squeaky voice, leaning over towards Sydney's chair.

"Shut up!" Syd jokes, smacking me in the arm.

"Hey! What did I tell you about hitting?" I exclaim.

"Yeah, this boy bruises like a peach," Ed says sarcastically, walking over to me and patting me on the back. "Yeah right."

"I have to concur. This boy is really quite robust, if I do say so myself." Sydney jokes. I swear, she just loves to watch me blush doesn't she? Sh-t. Now Ed's going to harrass me.

"Did Mikey score last night?" He asks, turning away from his law books to face us. "Judging by the color of his face, and the lateness of you guys' arrival, I'd say yes."

Why must Ed always dwell on sex. It's a natural experience in life and just because he doesn't get any, doesn't mean that I have to deal with his smart ass quips.

"Aw, is Mikey embarassed?" Syd asks, rubbing her hand over my face, much like she did last night.

I look up at her, pleading with my eyes for the sex talk to stop. I don't know why, but I can talk about it to guys, and I can talk about it with my girlfriend, but mixing the two just doesn't work in my book. No way.

She grins up at me and shakes her head.

"I never knew you were so sensitive." She says mockingly. She just loves to give Ed more and more to harrass me about, doesn't she?

"If you think that's him being sensitive, you should see him when he watches Bambi. Bawls like a baby."

Oh God.

END CHAPTER NINE