Chapter Four: Apples and Oranges
"How many do you want?"
"What - babies or apples?"
Alice paused, one hand over the bin of shiny, red fruit and the other clutching a plastic produce bag. "Well," She chuckled. "I was referring to the apples, but as long as we're on the subject," She handed the produce bag to Vaughn and returned to their shopping cart.
"We've been on the subject since we entered the store," Vaughn pointed out, hoping his words did not sound like a complaint.
"I know, I'm sorry," Alice turned back to him, shopping list in hand, and smiled warmly. "I just can't seem to think of anything else. It's so exciting."
Vaughn dropped the last apple into the bag and smiled up at his wife, the grin on his face betraying the shock he felt within. He had yet to accept the fact that he was going to be a father. He had barely gotten used to the idea of being a husband.
Vaughn reached around Alice to set the bag of apples in their cart. "We shouldn't talk about it too much. We haven't even told your mother yet," He grabbed the cart handle and began to push as Alice moved off towards the bakery aisle.
"I'm glad you brought that up," Alice smiled again, her face lighting up. "We need to go see her. I was thinking tomorrow night. Would that be all right?"
Vaughn leaned against a rack of French bread, watching as Alice sorted through a display of muffins and bagels. She glanced up at him, awaiting his reply, and he reached out to gently smooth a strand of her hair back from her eyes.
"Yes," He said, smiling, pushing away the darkness of doubt that lapped at the corners of his mind. "That would be great."
"That settles it, then," Will Tippin tapped the freezer-case door and watched it close with a resounding "woosh" before turning back to Sydney Bristow and their half-full shopping cart. "As soon as you're up to it, we'll go. Trust me, you'll love Chicago."
"It'd be nice to take a vacation," Sydney mused, watching as Will dropped a box of frozen pizza puffs in the cart. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You can't keep eating this crap, Will," She said, her tone mock-serious. "Not if you have any hopes of working in the field."
Will pivoted sharply, nearly knocking over a display of ice cream cones as they made their way through the frozen foods section.
"You're kidding."
Sydney said nothing, raising her eyebrows as she pushed the shopping cart.
Will quickly took two giant steps to get in front of the cart, halting its progress and stopping Sydney short.
"You just said, 'work in the field', Syd," Will gripped the edges of the metal cart. "Did someone say something? Wait - what? Do you think I could do that? That I'm qualified?"
Sydney grinned, nodding slowly. "I've seen you in action, Will."
"You have?"
"Yeah. And from what I heard from Dixon after you escaped from that transport bus," Sydney struggled for a moment with the sequence of events, finally settling on "way back when, you've got the right instincts."
Will was flabbergasted. "Really? You really think so?"
Sydney just continued to smile. "I bet with the right training, your hands could be lethal weapons."
Will's eyes were wide, his mouth agape. He took a moment to look down at his hands, holding them out as if he were afraid they'd attack on their own. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Sydney trying to stifle a laugh, and he quickly caught on.
"Oooh," He narrowed his eyes at Sydney, his lips curling into a smile. "I get it. This is Spy Flirting, isn't it? Complimenting fighting technique. What's next - praising my lock picking ability?"
Sydney laughed outright, realizing the game was over. Will just yanked hard on the cart, pulling it out of her hands.
"You shouldn't fool with me like that," Will warned jokingly. "I believed you, for like, half a second."
"No, no," Sydney was still laughing. "It was longer than that. I think you actually believed I was going to tell you that you were being offered the job."
"Don't laugh so hard," Will said, looking hurt. "You're bruising my ego." He pushed the cart on ahead, his sights set on the produce section. "What do you think, Syd - oranges? They're allowed on the fake-field agent diet, right?" Will was expecting a jab in the ribs, but when his comment went unanswered, he turned around. "Syd?"
Will stopped in his tracks when he saw Sydney just a few steps behind him. She was facing the checkout lanes, her arms crossed over her chest. Will followed her gaze and felt his heart sink when he realized what Sydney was studying so intently.
"Syd," Will backed the cart up and came to Sydney's side. "Let's go get some fruit, what do you say?"
"No. I think we should check out now," Sydney reached around Will and grabbed the cart, but Will would not let go. He met Sydney's eyes as he placed one of his hands over hers.
"What are you going to do?" He asked warily.
Sydney looked innocently at Will, her eyes imploring him not to argue. "I'm going to go check out," She explained patiently, managing finally to free the cart from Will's grasp. "And then I'm going to go talk to her."
"Hey!" Will called after her, but it was no use. She was already gone.
Within the space of twenty minutes, Alice and Vaughn had checked out and had finished unloading their groceries at about the same time that Sydney and Will were on the way to Will's car. As fate would have it, they had only parked two cars away from each other; Alice and Sydney nearly collided carts as Alice made her way across the crowded parking lot toward the overflowing shopping cart corral.
"Oh my gosh, hi! It's Rita, right?"
Standing by the car, Vaughn's heart plummeted at the sound of Alice's voice. He had noticed Sydney and Will in the store, in a checkout lane a few yards away, and he had hoped they wouldn't notice him. Apparently they were not the ones he had needed to worry about. He'd had no idea that Alice would remember "Rita", nearly three years after they'd originally met.
Alice gave her cart a shove into the rack and extended her hand to shake. Sydney accepted it with feigned confusion.
"Oh, hello," She said slowly, searching Alice's face as if she couldn't place her.
Alice noticed and was quick to fill in the blanks. "I'm Alice - you work at the State Department with my husband, Michael."
As the weight of those words caused Sydney's heart to drop and break like porcelain on concrete, she suddenly wondered what the hell she was doing. She fought to recapture her resolve, pushing her feelings back, way back, out of sight of her fractured heart.
"Oh, right! I remember you," Sydney smiled broadly, relying on her training to slip into a role, to pretend to be everything she was not: calm, cool and collected. "We met at the hospital, when Michael was ill."
"Right! Right," Alice smiled gratefully and reached out to lightly touch Sydney's arm. Sydney almost recoiled, but remained still, forcing a smile. "I hope I remembered to thank you for keeping an eye on him."
"You did," Sydney nodded, her smile fading as her memory served to remind her of the panic on Alice's face that day in the hospital, the love she felt for Vaughn worn clearly on her sleeve.
Meanwhile, Vaughn glanced up over the top of his vehicle and noticed Will standing awkwardly by his car, tossing his keys from one hand to the other. Dropping his chin to his chest, Vaughn drew in a deep breath, pausing for a moment before taking the short stroll over to Will's car.
"Hey," He said.
"Hey," Will returned the greeting, unsure of how to proceed. He didn't know whether to explain Sydney's actions or play dumb. Out of respect for his colleague, he chose the former. "I tried to stop her, Vaughn. I told her-"
Vaughn cut him off with the wave of his hand. "You forget how well I know her," He said, coming to Will's side and sliding his hands in the pockets of his khakis. "She can't be stopped."
Will was uncertain how to read Vaughn's comment, thinking best to just let it go. He simply nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, watching as Alice and Sydney conversed. It looked as though they were having a pleasant discussion, neither of them seeming to be tense or uncomfortable. But Will also knew Sydney's talent for role-playing; she could be in the jaws of a shark and pretend to be perfectly at ease.
"So, Alice, I guess congratulations are in order," Sydney pasted on yet another smile, crossing her arms at her waist and trying to hold back the wave of sadness that threatened to crash over her whenever she thought about Alice being pregnant with Vaughn's child.
"Oh, thank you," Alice gushed, glancing over her shoulder at Vaughn. She paused briefly to smile at him before going on. "We're really happy. It happened kind of fast, but it had been a long time coming. Michael and I have known each other for years."
Sydney couldn't stop her smile from being replaced by a confused frown. Her brow furrowed as inwardly she asked, "What the hell is she talking about?" Outwardly, she just questioned, "I'm sorry? What happened fast?"
"Oh, sorry," Alice reached out to lightly touch Sydney's arm yet again, causing Sydney to grit her teeth. "I know, we just got back, and I'm sure Michael hasn't had the chance to catch up all of his work friends on exactly how it happened."
How it happened? Sydney was thoroughly confused, now. Surely Alice didn't mean what she sounded like she meant.
"How did it happen?" Unwillingly, Sydney asked the question, hoping hard that she wasn't about to hear the last thing on Earth she wanted to hear.
"We were really only going there for a vacation," Alice said, grinning. "But once we got to Vegas, we started talking, and right there at dinner Michael just said, 'Let's get married'. So we did! We found a beautiful wedding chapel the next day, and we did it. It wasn't exactly the wedding of my dreams, but that doesn't matter, not really. Not once you find the person you're meant to be with."
Sydney couldn't tear her eyes from Alice's beaming face. She felt as though someone had just swung a wrecking ball through her stomach, leaving an empty, gaping hole. She wanted to look away, but she was afraid that if she did, she'd crumple to the pavement and never move again.
"When-" Sydney's voice wouldn't come. She cleared her throat and tried again. "When was this?"
"Monday," Alice glowed. "We were just starting our honeymoon, so to speak, when Michael got called back on urgent business. I don't know if you know, but he had to go overseas suddenly. We were supposed to be in Vegas through next weekend."
"Yeah, I know," Sydney nodded slowly. "I know about his sudden trip."
"Well, that's just the nature of his work, I suppose," Alice shrugged, grinning ruefully. "I guess I'll just have to get used to it." She watched Sydney's face, her smile suddenly lessening. "Hey, Rita, are you okay? You look a little pale."
"I - uhm, I'd better go," Sydney pointed over her shoulder at Will and his car. "My friend is waiting."
"It was nice seeing you again, Rita," Alice patted Sydney's arm once more. This time, Sydney didn't hesitate to pull away. Alice paused for a moment, her smile dimming once more, before she continued. "Michael and I will have to have you and your friend over for dinner some time."
"That'd be great," Sydney said hollowly. She forced a small smile and muttered a goodbye before turning and pushing the grocery cart toward Will's car. She wanted to run, but she forced herself to walk calmly, coming upon Will and Vaughn engaged in "guy talk".
"When did you get a Ford Focus?" Vaughn motioned towards Will's shiny black car. "I thought you had a Bronco."
"It finally died," Will replied. "I'd wanted a new car, anyway. I bought the Focus because I figured it must be good - it seemed like everyone I knew was driving one."
"Yeah, they're not bad," Vaughn walked around the vehicle, inspecting it from headlight to tailpipe. "They can go pretty fast, too."
Sydney chose that moment to join them, marching up to the car and parking the shopping cart near the trunk. She looked pointedly at Will, taking pains to ignore Vaughn as he started to slowly back away.
Will quickly unlocked the trunk and began helping Sydney with the groceries.
Vaughn paused for a moment, his eyes searching out Sydney's face. Ever so slightly, she turned her head his direction and looked him squarely in the face. He felt her eyes upon him like a kick to the gut; he mumbled a goodbye and quickly retreated.
Sydney watched him out of the corner of her eye until she could no longer stand the sight of him with Alice; she turned her back to them as they drove away and sullenly slid into the front seat of Will's car.
Will got in beside her and put the key in the ignition. "Are you crazy?"
"Will," Sydney warned.
Will would not be deterred. "When Dr. Barnett told you that you need to confront Vaughn's marriage head-on, I don't think that's exactly what she had in mind."
Sydney stared straight ahead as she put on her sunglasses, her mouth set into a tight line. Will watched her for a moment before finally sliding on his seatbelt and starting the car.
"Alice is pregnant, Will."
Will shot Sydney a surprised glance. "Really?" He questioned, his hand hesitating over the gearshift. "She just told you that?"
"No," Sydney finally turned her head to look at him, her expression vague and unreadable. "She told me that she and Vaughn just got married, less than a week ago, and that he got called back to serve as my contact in Hong Kong while they were on their honeymoon."
"Wow," Will slumped in his seat, his brain working over what he had just learned. "I knew he'd gotten married - Weiss was spreading the news around the morning of the day you turned up alive. But I didn't know anything about Alice being pregnant." Will's eyes grew wide. "Wait - how do you know she's pregnant?"
"He told me."
Sydney and Will stared at each other for a moment, Will's eyes growing wider.
"Wait - do you think-" He paused, exhaling sharply. "Do you think that he married her because-"
"I don't know what to think, Will," Sydney quickly looked away from him, her emotions tangled in an unidentifiable mess that left her feeling close to both tears and elation. She was confused about everything, most of all being the door that was now open a crack, the one she'd previously thought had been slammed shut in her face.
"That woman, Rita, she's so nice," Alice said, getting into the car next to Vaughn. "You don't mention her much. Do you still work in the same department?" She looked expectantly at Vaughn as he busied himself with the seatbelt, trying to appear only mildly interested in the fact that his ex- girlfriend had just had a seemingly impromptu but carefully premeditated conversation with his wife.
"Oh, uhm," Vaughn had to search for the right words. He wanted very much to ask Alice to give him the play-by-play of what she and "Rita" had discussed, but he didn't dare raise Alice's suspicions by asking questions. "No. Well, she got transferred, and she was gone for a while, but she's just recently returned."
"Well, she seems really great. I told her that she and her boyfriend will have to come over for dinner sometime," Alice pulled on her own seatbelt and began to search through her purse for her sunglasses.
Vaughn started the car as his mind replayed the word "boyfriend" in agonizing slow-mo. "Is that what Rita called him? Her boyfriend?" He asked casually. "Cuz he actually works with us, too, and I wasn't aware they were seeing each other."
"Oh, no, I guess she didn't," Alice chuckled breezily. "I guess I just assumed. I think she just called him her friend." She looked over at Vaughn, her smile fading as she noticed him just staring out the windshield at nothing in particular. "Michael, honey, are you okay? We should get going - the ice cream will melt."
"Right, right," Vaughn suddenly snapped to and reminded himself where he was and whom he was with, stopping just short of asking himself why.
******
A/N: Thanks to all for the kind reviews - they educate and inspire.
Oh - and I apologize for the Ford Focus reference, but I just absolutely, positively could not help myself. Hee hee.
"How many do you want?"
"What - babies or apples?"
Alice paused, one hand over the bin of shiny, red fruit and the other clutching a plastic produce bag. "Well," She chuckled. "I was referring to the apples, but as long as we're on the subject," She handed the produce bag to Vaughn and returned to their shopping cart.
"We've been on the subject since we entered the store," Vaughn pointed out, hoping his words did not sound like a complaint.
"I know, I'm sorry," Alice turned back to him, shopping list in hand, and smiled warmly. "I just can't seem to think of anything else. It's so exciting."
Vaughn dropped the last apple into the bag and smiled up at his wife, the grin on his face betraying the shock he felt within. He had yet to accept the fact that he was going to be a father. He had barely gotten used to the idea of being a husband.
Vaughn reached around Alice to set the bag of apples in their cart. "We shouldn't talk about it too much. We haven't even told your mother yet," He grabbed the cart handle and began to push as Alice moved off towards the bakery aisle.
"I'm glad you brought that up," Alice smiled again, her face lighting up. "We need to go see her. I was thinking tomorrow night. Would that be all right?"
Vaughn leaned against a rack of French bread, watching as Alice sorted through a display of muffins and bagels. She glanced up at him, awaiting his reply, and he reached out to gently smooth a strand of her hair back from her eyes.
"Yes," He said, smiling, pushing away the darkness of doubt that lapped at the corners of his mind. "That would be great."
"That settles it, then," Will Tippin tapped the freezer-case door and watched it close with a resounding "woosh" before turning back to Sydney Bristow and their half-full shopping cart. "As soon as you're up to it, we'll go. Trust me, you'll love Chicago."
"It'd be nice to take a vacation," Sydney mused, watching as Will dropped a box of frozen pizza puffs in the cart. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You can't keep eating this crap, Will," She said, her tone mock-serious. "Not if you have any hopes of working in the field."
Will pivoted sharply, nearly knocking over a display of ice cream cones as they made their way through the frozen foods section.
"You're kidding."
Sydney said nothing, raising her eyebrows as she pushed the shopping cart.
Will quickly took two giant steps to get in front of the cart, halting its progress and stopping Sydney short.
"You just said, 'work in the field', Syd," Will gripped the edges of the metal cart. "Did someone say something? Wait - what? Do you think I could do that? That I'm qualified?"
Sydney grinned, nodding slowly. "I've seen you in action, Will."
"You have?"
"Yeah. And from what I heard from Dixon after you escaped from that transport bus," Sydney struggled for a moment with the sequence of events, finally settling on "way back when, you've got the right instincts."
Will was flabbergasted. "Really? You really think so?"
Sydney just continued to smile. "I bet with the right training, your hands could be lethal weapons."
Will's eyes were wide, his mouth agape. He took a moment to look down at his hands, holding them out as if he were afraid they'd attack on their own. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Sydney trying to stifle a laugh, and he quickly caught on.
"Oooh," He narrowed his eyes at Sydney, his lips curling into a smile. "I get it. This is Spy Flirting, isn't it? Complimenting fighting technique. What's next - praising my lock picking ability?"
Sydney laughed outright, realizing the game was over. Will just yanked hard on the cart, pulling it out of her hands.
"You shouldn't fool with me like that," Will warned jokingly. "I believed you, for like, half a second."
"No, no," Sydney was still laughing. "It was longer than that. I think you actually believed I was going to tell you that you were being offered the job."
"Don't laugh so hard," Will said, looking hurt. "You're bruising my ego." He pushed the cart on ahead, his sights set on the produce section. "What do you think, Syd - oranges? They're allowed on the fake-field agent diet, right?" Will was expecting a jab in the ribs, but when his comment went unanswered, he turned around. "Syd?"
Will stopped in his tracks when he saw Sydney just a few steps behind him. She was facing the checkout lanes, her arms crossed over her chest. Will followed her gaze and felt his heart sink when he realized what Sydney was studying so intently.
"Syd," Will backed the cart up and came to Sydney's side. "Let's go get some fruit, what do you say?"
"No. I think we should check out now," Sydney reached around Will and grabbed the cart, but Will would not let go. He met Sydney's eyes as he placed one of his hands over hers.
"What are you going to do?" He asked warily.
Sydney looked innocently at Will, her eyes imploring him not to argue. "I'm going to go check out," She explained patiently, managing finally to free the cart from Will's grasp. "And then I'm going to go talk to her."
"Hey!" Will called after her, but it was no use. She was already gone.
Within the space of twenty minutes, Alice and Vaughn had checked out and had finished unloading their groceries at about the same time that Sydney and Will were on the way to Will's car. As fate would have it, they had only parked two cars away from each other; Alice and Sydney nearly collided carts as Alice made her way across the crowded parking lot toward the overflowing shopping cart corral.
"Oh my gosh, hi! It's Rita, right?"
Standing by the car, Vaughn's heart plummeted at the sound of Alice's voice. He had noticed Sydney and Will in the store, in a checkout lane a few yards away, and he had hoped they wouldn't notice him. Apparently they were not the ones he had needed to worry about. He'd had no idea that Alice would remember "Rita", nearly three years after they'd originally met.
Alice gave her cart a shove into the rack and extended her hand to shake. Sydney accepted it with feigned confusion.
"Oh, hello," She said slowly, searching Alice's face as if she couldn't place her.
Alice noticed and was quick to fill in the blanks. "I'm Alice - you work at the State Department with my husband, Michael."
As the weight of those words caused Sydney's heart to drop and break like porcelain on concrete, she suddenly wondered what the hell she was doing. She fought to recapture her resolve, pushing her feelings back, way back, out of sight of her fractured heart.
"Oh, right! I remember you," Sydney smiled broadly, relying on her training to slip into a role, to pretend to be everything she was not: calm, cool and collected. "We met at the hospital, when Michael was ill."
"Right! Right," Alice smiled gratefully and reached out to lightly touch Sydney's arm. Sydney almost recoiled, but remained still, forcing a smile. "I hope I remembered to thank you for keeping an eye on him."
"You did," Sydney nodded, her smile fading as her memory served to remind her of the panic on Alice's face that day in the hospital, the love she felt for Vaughn worn clearly on her sleeve.
Meanwhile, Vaughn glanced up over the top of his vehicle and noticed Will standing awkwardly by his car, tossing his keys from one hand to the other. Dropping his chin to his chest, Vaughn drew in a deep breath, pausing for a moment before taking the short stroll over to Will's car.
"Hey," He said.
"Hey," Will returned the greeting, unsure of how to proceed. He didn't know whether to explain Sydney's actions or play dumb. Out of respect for his colleague, he chose the former. "I tried to stop her, Vaughn. I told her-"
Vaughn cut him off with the wave of his hand. "You forget how well I know her," He said, coming to Will's side and sliding his hands in the pockets of his khakis. "She can't be stopped."
Will was uncertain how to read Vaughn's comment, thinking best to just let it go. He simply nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, watching as Alice and Sydney conversed. It looked as though they were having a pleasant discussion, neither of them seeming to be tense or uncomfortable. But Will also knew Sydney's talent for role-playing; she could be in the jaws of a shark and pretend to be perfectly at ease.
"So, Alice, I guess congratulations are in order," Sydney pasted on yet another smile, crossing her arms at her waist and trying to hold back the wave of sadness that threatened to crash over her whenever she thought about Alice being pregnant with Vaughn's child.
"Oh, thank you," Alice gushed, glancing over her shoulder at Vaughn. She paused briefly to smile at him before going on. "We're really happy. It happened kind of fast, but it had been a long time coming. Michael and I have known each other for years."
Sydney couldn't stop her smile from being replaced by a confused frown. Her brow furrowed as inwardly she asked, "What the hell is she talking about?" Outwardly, she just questioned, "I'm sorry? What happened fast?"
"Oh, sorry," Alice reached out to lightly touch Sydney's arm yet again, causing Sydney to grit her teeth. "I know, we just got back, and I'm sure Michael hasn't had the chance to catch up all of his work friends on exactly how it happened."
How it happened? Sydney was thoroughly confused, now. Surely Alice didn't mean what she sounded like she meant.
"How did it happen?" Unwillingly, Sydney asked the question, hoping hard that she wasn't about to hear the last thing on Earth she wanted to hear.
"We were really only going there for a vacation," Alice said, grinning. "But once we got to Vegas, we started talking, and right there at dinner Michael just said, 'Let's get married'. So we did! We found a beautiful wedding chapel the next day, and we did it. It wasn't exactly the wedding of my dreams, but that doesn't matter, not really. Not once you find the person you're meant to be with."
Sydney couldn't tear her eyes from Alice's beaming face. She felt as though someone had just swung a wrecking ball through her stomach, leaving an empty, gaping hole. She wanted to look away, but she was afraid that if she did, she'd crumple to the pavement and never move again.
"When-" Sydney's voice wouldn't come. She cleared her throat and tried again. "When was this?"
"Monday," Alice glowed. "We were just starting our honeymoon, so to speak, when Michael got called back on urgent business. I don't know if you know, but he had to go overseas suddenly. We were supposed to be in Vegas through next weekend."
"Yeah, I know," Sydney nodded slowly. "I know about his sudden trip."
"Well, that's just the nature of his work, I suppose," Alice shrugged, grinning ruefully. "I guess I'll just have to get used to it." She watched Sydney's face, her smile suddenly lessening. "Hey, Rita, are you okay? You look a little pale."
"I - uhm, I'd better go," Sydney pointed over her shoulder at Will and his car. "My friend is waiting."
"It was nice seeing you again, Rita," Alice patted Sydney's arm once more. This time, Sydney didn't hesitate to pull away. Alice paused for a moment, her smile dimming once more, before she continued. "Michael and I will have to have you and your friend over for dinner some time."
"That'd be great," Sydney said hollowly. She forced a small smile and muttered a goodbye before turning and pushing the grocery cart toward Will's car. She wanted to run, but she forced herself to walk calmly, coming upon Will and Vaughn engaged in "guy talk".
"When did you get a Ford Focus?" Vaughn motioned towards Will's shiny black car. "I thought you had a Bronco."
"It finally died," Will replied. "I'd wanted a new car, anyway. I bought the Focus because I figured it must be good - it seemed like everyone I knew was driving one."
"Yeah, they're not bad," Vaughn walked around the vehicle, inspecting it from headlight to tailpipe. "They can go pretty fast, too."
Sydney chose that moment to join them, marching up to the car and parking the shopping cart near the trunk. She looked pointedly at Will, taking pains to ignore Vaughn as he started to slowly back away.
Will quickly unlocked the trunk and began helping Sydney with the groceries.
Vaughn paused for a moment, his eyes searching out Sydney's face. Ever so slightly, she turned her head his direction and looked him squarely in the face. He felt her eyes upon him like a kick to the gut; he mumbled a goodbye and quickly retreated.
Sydney watched him out of the corner of her eye until she could no longer stand the sight of him with Alice; she turned her back to them as they drove away and sullenly slid into the front seat of Will's car.
Will got in beside her and put the key in the ignition. "Are you crazy?"
"Will," Sydney warned.
Will would not be deterred. "When Dr. Barnett told you that you need to confront Vaughn's marriage head-on, I don't think that's exactly what she had in mind."
Sydney stared straight ahead as she put on her sunglasses, her mouth set into a tight line. Will watched her for a moment before finally sliding on his seatbelt and starting the car.
"Alice is pregnant, Will."
Will shot Sydney a surprised glance. "Really?" He questioned, his hand hesitating over the gearshift. "She just told you that?"
"No," Sydney finally turned her head to look at him, her expression vague and unreadable. "She told me that she and Vaughn just got married, less than a week ago, and that he got called back to serve as my contact in Hong Kong while they were on their honeymoon."
"Wow," Will slumped in his seat, his brain working over what he had just learned. "I knew he'd gotten married - Weiss was spreading the news around the morning of the day you turned up alive. But I didn't know anything about Alice being pregnant." Will's eyes grew wide. "Wait - how do you know she's pregnant?"
"He told me."
Sydney and Will stared at each other for a moment, Will's eyes growing wider.
"Wait - do you think-" He paused, exhaling sharply. "Do you think that he married her because-"
"I don't know what to think, Will," Sydney quickly looked away from him, her emotions tangled in an unidentifiable mess that left her feeling close to both tears and elation. She was confused about everything, most of all being the door that was now open a crack, the one she'd previously thought had been slammed shut in her face.
"That woman, Rita, she's so nice," Alice said, getting into the car next to Vaughn. "You don't mention her much. Do you still work in the same department?" She looked expectantly at Vaughn as he busied himself with the seatbelt, trying to appear only mildly interested in the fact that his ex- girlfriend had just had a seemingly impromptu but carefully premeditated conversation with his wife.
"Oh, uhm," Vaughn had to search for the right words. He wanted very much to ask Alice to give him the play-by-play of what she and "Rita" had discussed, but he didn't dare raise Alice's suspicions by asking questions. "No. Well, she got transferred, and she was gone for a while, but she's just recently returned."
"Well, she seems really great. I told her that she and her boyfriend will have to come over for dinner sometime," Alice pulled on her own seatbelt and began to search through her purse for her sunglasses.
Vaughn started the car as his mind replayed the word "boyfriend" in agonizing slow-mo. "Is that what Rita called him? Her boyfriend?" He asked casually. "Cuz he actually works with us, too, and I wasn't aware they were seeing each other."
"Oh, no, I guess she didn't," Alice chuckled breezily. "I guess I just assumed. I think she just called him her friend." She looked over at Vaughn, her smile fading as she noticed him just staring out the windshield at nothing in particular. "Michael, honey, are you okay? We should get going - the ice cream will melt."
"Right, right," Vaughn suddenly snapped to and reminded himself where he was and whom he was with, stopping just short of asking himself why.
******
A/N: Thanks to all for the kind reviews - they educate and inspire.
Oh - and I apologize for the Ford Focus reference, but I just absolutely, positively could not help myself. Hee hee.
