Title: Snow'd In
Author: Lady Rex
Disclaimer: I disclaim, don't own anything alias and Jen and Michael belong to Bad Robot/ABC/J.J. Abrams etc. Don't sue I don't have any money anyways.
Rating: PG-13 for sexual innuendo, and swearing
Summary: Sydney and Vaughn spend a weekend at Vaughn's family's home in the mountains of Colorado.
Authors Note: I have been working on this story for a while and I decided to make it a one-parter like I had originally intended. If you have read Snow'd In previously please reread and tell me what you think, I HAVE changed some parts. I would really like to hear what you think please everyone read and review. Constructive criticism welcome.
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Sydney awoke to the smell of pancakes and the sound of bacon sizzling in the pan. She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings; she wasn't in her bed back in L.A. She then remembered why she was there; there had been a mission, a party and another Rambaldi artifact.
****************The night before******************
Sydney and Vaughn had just been briefed on their latest mission. They were going to a small town in Colorado to steal yet another Rambaldi artifact. There was a wealthy art collector named Marc Roseau who had come into possession of a Rambaldi watch, a critical piece in the Rambaldi puzzle. In truth the man had no idea of the watch's value; his father in law was a large black market arms dealer who wanted the watch someplace safe until he could get a worthy bid for it.
Sydney and Vaughn were to attend a party at Roseau's residence, make a quick infiltration, grab the watch, and then return to L.A. that night. They had received their aliases as a vacationing couple, Matt and Margaret Burdock, and arrived at the airport just in time to catch their flight to Colorado. When they arrived a limo was waiting to take them to the hotel room. Why they needed a hotel room was beyond Sydney. They were only going to use it for about 15 minutes between getting there and going to the party.
They got to the hotel, changed and left again for the party. Everything was going as planned and Sydney had just slipped off to find the watch, when Vaughn noticed a guard walk up to Roseau and whisper something in his ear.
"Syd we have company get out a.s.a.p." he muttered to the comm. disguised as a cuff-link. "Yeah ok just hold on a sec. I almost got it". Sydney emerged from the restricted area with the watch a few moments later just as four armed guards entered the room. As they rejoined each other in the entrance hall they heard voices ring out behind them.
As the voices got louder and more urgent they quickly exited through the front doors to be greeted by their limousine, swiftly they entered the large black sedan. "The airport please" Sydney instructed the driver. "Um no actually, I have something to tell you." Vaughn replied with a mysterious twinkle in his eyes. "We are going on vacation, to my family's cottage up in the mountains, and no there is no way out of this, you work way to hard and I have already approved this with your father, who by the way thinks this is a great idea, so if anything happens with your mother or Sloane we will immediately be notified. Otherwise we're on our own."
So he had taken her to his family's cottage in the mountains of Colorado. As soon as she saw the quaint house she knew she loved it. It seemed to fit her personality perfectly. Once they made it there and they were sure they weren't being followed he led her into the house and took her straight to the master bedroom where he quietly pulled out an overlarge t-shirt and dressed her in it, tucking her into the bed next to him. They fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.
********************Present********************
She sat up in the large king sized bed and looked around the room, taking in her surroundings. There were huge bay windows overlooking a small pond and in the background was a large mountain range, but what made the scene so beautiful was the thick layer of fresh sparkling white snow that covered everything. The room itself was beautiful as well, aside from the vast windows there were also two skylights at each end of the room, and tasteful paintings adorned the walls.
She then looked at the pillow opposite her. A large smile broke across her face as she saw a single white lily with a note written in Vaughn's tidy scrawl lying on the pillow. She could see the indentation where she knew his head had rested that night.
She pulled the cream yellow duvet off of her pajama clad body, and crawled out of the warm bed. She moved over to the large oak dresser in the corner and pulled out a pair of sweatpants (presumably Vaughn's) and an old kings' t-shirt. Quickly changing she decided to find the source of the wonderful aromas filling her senses.
She made her way into the well lit kitchen only to gaze at the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen. Standing in the middle of the kitchen, spatula in hand was Michael Vaughn, dressed only in a pair of kings' boxers (with hockey sticks and pucks on them) and an apron that said "Kiss the Cook". Never had a saying on an apron looked so appealing to Sydney.
"I see you're up" he said while flipping a pancake. Then seeing her state of surprise he walked over to her and put a quick chaste kiss on her lips.
"Morning gorgeous" she mumbled before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his head down to hers for a passionate kiss. They stayed like that for a few more minutes until the smell of something burning filled the air.
"My pancakes!" Vaughn exclaimed but it was too late, they were already unfit for human consumption.
"Syd" Vaughn moaned "you made me ruin the pancakes."
"Oh you poor baby" she giggled. He then grabbed her around the waist and spun her in circles around the kitchen. She squealed for him to put her down, but they both knew she didn't want him to stop, she loved the attention. No one ever pampered her anymore and she enjoyed being the center of attention. Finally he set her down on the island in the middle of the kitchen.
She watched him make another batch of pancakes as well as omelets, bacon, and homemade blueberry muffins. When he was done and the small mahogany table was set for two, with orange juice, and milk set at each plate, and a pitcher of water sat next to a bouquet of white lily's in the center of the table, they sat down to eat.
"Man am I starving" Vaughn exclaimed, his growling stomach contest to his hunger. So they made themselves comfortable in the beautiful mahogany chairs and dug into the inviting food. For a long while no one spoke, they were too absorbed in the food. Finally she spoke up.
"So, what are we going to do, we have all weekend and it seems that we can't go anywhere seeing as we are snowed into this humble abode. How did you do this anyways? We only learned about the watch yesterday." She looked up at him from beneath her long lashes and gave him a seductive smile.
"Well when I heard we were coming here on a mission I remembered that we still owned this place, so I went to your dad and told him I thought you needed a vacation and he got it cleared with Devlin. Then I called a friend who lives up here and had him come set the place up. I wanted to surprise you." A huge grin spread across Sydney's face and a blush crept into her cheeks.
"You did this all for me? I can't believe it; no one has ever done anything this sweet for me." She exclaimed, as she got up and threw her arms around him.
"So ya like it huh?" he said as he pulled her into his lap. "Well good because we have the whole weekend to ourselves." She practically squealed in delight.
"You mean it?!? The whole weekend to ourselves, just us all alone in this wonderful beautiful house?" Vaughn smiled at how exited Sydney was, he loved making her smile. He chuckled to himself and she looked at him "What?" she asked.
"You look like it's Christmas and Santa brought you just what you wanted," he teased. It was true though, she was glowing at the prospect of spending a weekend with Vaughn. "Well what do you want to do first?" he asked "there's tons of stuff to do here, I used to love coming here when I was a kid. We could go ice skating, sit by the fire, go in the hot tub, wat-"but that was as far as he got before she cut him off.
"Wait did you say there is a hot tub here?"
He nodded, a small smile creeping onto his face. "Well what are you waiting for?!?" she exclaimed as she jumped off his lap and pulled him up alongside her. "Wait, what about clothes? As much as I love wearing yours, I can't all weekend."
He smiled "it's ok I got Francie to pack you some clothes, and it doesn't matter you could make a burlap bag look good." She smiled and pulled him back into their bedroom where he showed her where her bag was. Thankfully Francie had packed a bathing suit. She grabbed it and went into the bathroom to clean up. She took a quick shower, brushed her teeth, and changed into the light blue bathing suit she wore on the mission to Cayo Concha. When she exited the bathroom she saw that Vaughn had already changed, made the bed and was sitting on the large overstuffed chair in the corner reading the newspaper.
"Kay, I'm ready" she said as she wrapped a towel around herself. Vaughn looked up, put his paper down and grabbed a towel that was sitting on the bed.
"Ok then lets go," he said grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the exquisite French doors that lead to the patio. "You stay here while I go pull off the cover; I turned it up this morning before you woke up."
Once the top was off of the hot tub Michael returned for Sydney. He led her down the stairs and to the steaming pool.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
That day they spent a total of about three hours in that hot tub Sydney guessed. At one point they were so wrinkled that they couldn't distinguish their fingers. Finally they decided to get out and find something else to do. Sydney jumped out of the tub and sprinted towards the door in a futile attempt to get out of the freezing weather. Laughing Michael followed.
Once they were both warm and dry Michael suggested they bundle up and go skating on the pond.
"We could even play hockey if you want," he added
"Oh yeah I forgot that Michael's life is all about hockey" she joked "I should be worried that you love your precious hockey more than me!" At that he chuckled.
"Don't worry about that I'll always love you most" he replied. She knew he meant it, and she loved him back with her whole heart.
*~*~*~*~*~
About an hour later they turned to the crisp winter air, only this time they were both bundled up and carrying skates over their shoulders.
"I'll race you to the pond, last one there is a rotten egg!" Sydney shouted to Michael as she sprinted towards the small frozen fishpond at the back of the property.
"Hey not fair!" Michael accused, "why do you get a head start?" He yelled after her retreating back, but she didn't hear him because she was already half way there.
Speeding up he ran as fast as he could at his agent. She turned around just in time to see him speeding towards her before he came plowing into her. She screamed in surprise as they both fell, laughing, into the soft blanket of snow.
"I win," he whispered into her hair, his warm breath caressing her cheek. She would never get sick of being in Michael Vaughn's arms; sometimes he could make her forget everything with just one kiss. Everything was changing in her world and he was the one thing that she could depend on, she intended on holding on to him. With Michael she could be herself and not worry about lying about anything, she was free with him, she felt like she was in elementary school again when nothing mattered but having a good time.
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch," she replied with a mischievous glint in her eye as she tried to jump up and run towards the pond.
"Oh no you don't," he said while he grabbed her ankle and pulling her down next to him in the cold snow bank. They then sat up and Michael looked around at the snowy countryside. Their skates had long since been discarded and there was a pathway in the snow from the back door of the cottage to where they were sitting. He then looked over to his beautiful agent. She was smiling and her cheeks were a rosy pink from the frigid air, to him she looked like a goddess.
"Syd, do you have any idea how much I love you?" He asked, brushing her hair out of her face.
"If it's anywhere near as much as I love you then I know I can't put it into words" she replied sincerely.
Just then a small black lab came bounding out of the woods charging at Michael. Laughing as the small dog came running up and jumped on his lap, he patted the dogs head good naturedly.
"Hey Roscoe, Syd this is Donovan's buddy Roscoe, he lives a few miles up the road." Michael explained while Roscoe timidly sniffed at Sydney's feet.
"Well hi there Roscoe, how are you?" She cooed to the small dog. Michael stood up brushing the snow off of his pants and extended his hand to help Sydney up. She took it and pulled herself out of the self made mattress the snow had created when she fell.
"Well what do you say we go skating Ms. Bristow?" He asked.
"I'd say that's a fine idea Mr. Vaughn" she countered and she took his arm as he led her to where they had dropped their skates in the snow.
Once they had their skates on and were both out on the ice with Roscoe following apprehensively, Michael grabbed Sydney's hands and pulled her into the middle of the small pond. She wobbled at first but after a few minutes of coaching she was gliding along the ice like a pro.
The two skated around for a while and laughed at Roscoe, who was sliding around the ice like only a dog could, until their appendages got so cold they were in danger of getting frostbitten. They then skated over to the snowy bank of the pond and took of their skates.
When they got back into the house Sydney sat Michael on the couch and told him to make a fire while she made some hot chocolate. He did as told and when she returned to the living room with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate there was a cheery fire crackling in the stone fireplace. She sat down next to Michael on the couch and handed him one of the mugs. For a while they sat in silence sipping their hot coco, finally Sydney spoke.
"I don't think I ever thanked you for this wonderful weekend Michael" she said putting a hand up to silence his comment "wait I just want to say this. With all that has been going on lately you have been my rock, my solace, my shelter from the storm and I don't think I have ever properly thanked you. You mean the world to me and I love you more than life itself, I would be nothing without you. You are so selfless, all you ever do is for me and I take you for granted-"but she never finished as his lips were pressed firmly against hers.
"Syd, never say that. You can't honestly believe that you take me for granted. I love you and everything I do because I want to see you happy. You don't take me for granted." She just smiled and brought his lips crashing down on hers again.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few hours later they both lay, limbs entwined, in the master bedroom slumbering quietly; When Sydney awoke to a soft knock at the door. She sat up and looked around, the clock on the nightstand said it was 5:30 and she could see the beautiful colors of the sunset through the aforementioned bay windows. She sat up, and Michael stirred next to her.
"Mmm, hey what time is it?" he asked rolling over.
"5:30, now someone needs to get up, put some clothes on and answer the door" she instructed "and just a little hint, its not going to be me that gets out of this warm bed"
"Ok I get the point" he said as he sat up and threw the covers off of his lithe form. He stood and shivered as his feet hit the cold wood floor. Then walking the length of the room he gathered his clothes and began to put them on, when the knock returned, louder and more persistent this time.
"I'm coming, I'm coming" he grumbled as he made his way out to the front door. Sydney lay back in bed and closed her eyes, but when Michael didn't return a few moments later she got curious and crawled from the bed, gathering her own clothes.
When she was dressed, she left the bedroom and walked towards the front door, but once she got there no one was there and she began to panic. What if something had happened to Michael? What if it was Sloane or Sark or her mother who came to kidnap him and take him away from her? Then she heard voices and began to creep towards the kitchen where they were coming from. What if they were there for her, should she save herself? She dismissed that quickly, she could never live with herself if she left and they took Michael.
Reaching the kitchen she crouched low and glanced into the living room. What she saw made her give a sigh of relief. Sitting on the couch was Michael who was talking to another man that was sitting across from him in an overstuffed armchair. The two were talking like old friends and Sydney knew that he was no threat. He was tall and had white hair; he looked like he was in his late 60's early 70's and he was wearing a large long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of old jeans. He looked like he could be Sydney's grandpa.
Deciding to make her presence known she stood up and walked into the living room. The man looked up and smiled at her politely and Michael gave her a heart stopping smile that could have melted ice.
"Hey Syd, this is Harry Peterson, my neighbor up here, he's the one who owns Roscoe."
"Oh, well its nice to meet you Mr. Peterson, by the way I just love your dog." Sydney greeted.
"This is a nice girl you've got here mike, don't let her get away, she's quite a catch, not to hard on the eyes either." He said winking at Michael.
"Yea I know, I don't intend on letting her go anywhere" he replied while placing a protective arm around Sydney's waist.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The three continued to talk well into the night until Harry said he had to go home. After he left Sydney and Michael both decided to make some soup and eat it in bed because they were too tired to make a full sit down meal. Finally they were sitting in bed with their pajamas on and two steaming bowls of chicken noodle soup were sitting on their laps, eating peacefully.
"Harry seems to be a nice guy" Sydney commented as she slurped a long noodle out of her bowl of soup.
"Yeah, he is. I have known him since I was born I think, he has always been around here. He had a daughter my age and we used to be good friends, she died of leukemia when we were 15." He said sadly "After that Harry became somewhat of a recluse, his wife died in childbirth, and then the only other person he had died of leukemia, now all he has left is Roscoe. I think he liked you"
"I hope so, I hope we can come back here and see him again sometime" she looked at Michael hopefully.
"Of course darling, anything you want" he said with a regal tone causing Sydney to burst out laughing.
Once they had both finished their soup and Sydney had stopped laughing, they snuggled down into the warm cocoon of covers and fell asleep content just to be in each others arms.
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Michael awoke to the shrill ring of the telephone. Groaning he rolled over and quickly grabbed the phone off the hook, making sure Sydney was still asleep.
"Hello"
"Hey man, wake up its morning, time to get going!" Weiss' perky voice echoed through the receiver. Michael could just see him sitting at his desk, playing with his yo-yo, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, with the phone propped between his shoulder and his ear.
"Eric, what are you doing? It's…" he paused to look at the clock on the bedside table "its-oh never mind its noon, anyways, what's up?"
"Oh nothing really, I just wanted to call and check up on you and Sydney, see how your little 'vacation' was going."
"You mean to tell me you just called me to ask how my day was?!? Man that's cruel." He said as he rolled out of the master bed and silently padded towards the living room.
"I'm sorry; I didn't interrupt anything did I? I mean I figured since it was so early in the morning you might not be 'preoccupied'" he said, the suggestion evident in his voice.
"Nah man, you think I sound tired because maybe YOU WOKE ME UP?!? Anyways, so what's up back in L.A.? Any news on Derevko or Sloane?"
"Nope notta thing, Kendall's sure pissed about that, especially now that Jack has his job. Sometimes I wonder how you are going to make it in that family."
"Oh Eric just shut up before I come back to L.A. and kick your ass!"
"Whose ass are you going to kick?" A groggy voice asked from behind him. He turned to see Sydney, looking absolutely gorgeous, standing in the doorframe wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Oh you're on the phone, I'll wait"
"Don't worry, its just Eric calling to check up on us."
"Oh ok, well in that case I'm going to go get myself a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee, want anything?"
"No I'm good but if there's any doughnuts in there I want some" she gave him a wink and a kiss as she disappeared into the kitchen.
"So sleeping beauty has awoken" Weiss said with a chuckle "well then I better let you go, wouldn't want to waste any of your precious alone time with your girlfriend"
"Ok, we'll see you when we get back to L.A. and thanks for everything man I couldn't have pulled this off without your help"
"Nah it was no problem… ah Donovan get down from there… I have no life anyways."
"Oh by the way how is Donny?"
"Donny, Donny who? Nah just kidding man Donovan is doing great although I think he's having a fling with the poodle in 3B. Did you know he's a remote control hog?"
"Oh god" Michael immediately got the image of his best friend and his dog sprawled on his couch watching TV and eating pizza.
"Oh yea and by the way I'm in love with your big screen, if it's not here when you get back you'll know where it is."
"Eric," he whined," you know that Donny-boy isn't allowed on my new couch, I told you that before we left."
"Yeah yeah, we know, don't we Donny-boy? Quit worrying about your living room furniture mike, that's what women are for, I mean other than good sex."
"For Sydney I resent that, and you do realize that if I tell her you said that she'd hand you your ass on a silver platter right?"
"Yes, yes I do that's why I have such a great friend like you, to protect me from your unnaturally stalwart girlfriend. I love ya man, I really do."
"Stalwart huh, where'd you get that from, a bumper sticker?"
"No, I got it from my totally awesome word of the day calendar that my cousin, Bobby, from Texas sent me for Christmas. It says 'stalwart - Having or marked by imposing physical strength.' And that pretty much sounds like your girlfriend to me."
"Well thanks, I guess. I better get going before Syd kicks my ass for spending half of our vacation talking to you. I'll see you when we get back".
"Alright bye"
After hanging up the phone in the bedroom Michael entered the kitchen to find…nothing, on the counter was a gallon of orange juice and a piece of paper. Walking over to the counter he found the piece of paper was a note.
Michael,
You're taking to long on the phone with Eric. If you want to remain in my good graces you will come find me and bring a bottle of champagne too.
Yours Always,
Sydney
Smiling he folded the note and shoved it in his pocket before hurrying to the pantry to grab a bottle of champagne. Reemerging he slinked out of the kitchen determined to surprise his girlfriend.
Eventually he found her curled up underneath the afghan on the couch. She materialized from underneath the large fuzzy blanket after watching Michael search for about 5 minutes for her. Her hair was tousled and her face was a bright crimson from the limited air supply under the blanket but to Michael she was the most exquisite thing he had ever seen. He smiled meekly and held up the bottle and two glasses he had grabbed on his way out of the kitchen. Grinning back she sat on the comfy couch and beckoned for him to join her.
After spending an hour sitting on the couch, watching the fire, talking and finishing the bottle of champagne, the couple decided to go sledding. Bundling up to withstand the below freezing weather outside the cozy cottage, they emerged from the small home about 15 minutes later. Michael pulled a sled from the garage and they hurried to the top of a fairly large hill in the backyard. Once at the top he grabbed Sydney around the waist and swung her onto the sled in front of himself. She squealed in delight and pushed them from the snowy peak. Flying down the hill at a pace that would rival a cheetah the smiles on the two lovers faces lit up the already bright winter morning. Once they reached the bottom of the slope Sydney rolled off into the snow and looked up at Michael from under snowy eyelashes.
"That was fun, let's do it again!" Sydney exclaimed. Laughing Michael pulled her from the snow bank she was laying in and hung the sled over his shoulder. "Lead the way" was all he said
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After they were done sledding they returned to the solace of the warm kitchen for lunch. Once again Sydney was not allowed to cook but made to watch as Michael prepared a delectable looking meal. As he finished with the meal, he began to pack it into a large picnic basket.
"What's that?" Sydney asked her interest piqued at the prospect of a picnic
"Oh nothing important, now hold on while I go set this up and don't you dare come peeking." Michael replied as he whisked the basket around the corner to the guest bedroom.
"Where are you going with that? Michael get back here!" Syd whined, and then a mischievous grin spread across her face as she silently padded across the kitchen floor until she reached the door to the guest bedroom. Using her superior spying skills she peered around the corner after listening to make sure he wasn't near the door. Surprised to find no one in the room she took a hasty step forward and clumsily enough tripped over a sock that was discarded on the floor.
"Sydney Anne Bristow, go back into that kitchen and sit your cute butt down until I come and get you!" Michaels voice remarked from somewhere above her head. Grumbling under her breath Sydney finally admitted defeat and returned to the kitchen to wait patiently for her boyfriend.
A few minutes later he reemerged from the guest bedroom brandishing a red patterned handkerchief. "Ok come here and let me put this on you." Obeying orders Sydney set down the magazine she had hastily picked up while trying to look inconspicuous, jumped off the barstool she had been sitting on and skipped to Michaels side.
"Ok now turn around" he explained while rolling the handkerchief to make it fit comfortably over her eyes. She again did as she was told and waited patiently while he adjusted the red piece of fabric over her eyes.
"Now you have to promise me you won't peek at where we're going"
"I promise! I promise! Now hurry up I'm starving."
Smiling silently to himself Michael obliged and led her up the ladder towards a beautifully laid out picnic lunch. When they arrived he stood her in front of the red and white checkered blanket upon which mountains of mouth-watering food rested, and slowly removed the blindfold.
Sydney gasped in delight before whirling on her opponent and kissing him squarely on the mouth.
"Oh Michael, this is wonderful!" she exclaimed while dropping to her knees to…examine the food more closely (GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER PEOPLE!). Without waiting for a response she dove into a plate of fried chicken wings and began to stuff her face.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Once the food was done and the picnic basket was put away Michael returned to the attic only to find the girl of his dreams curled up on the attic floor sound asleep.
Smiling softly he lifted her limp form into his arms and carefully descended the stairs. He laid her softly on the master bed and began to quietly pack.
When he was done packing both of their things into the small carry-on bags they had brought, he wandered into the living room and lit a fire in the fireplace with the wood that was always stacked next to the grill on the patio. He then sat down on the couch with a steaming mug of coffee to watch the warm crackling flames.
This was where Sydney found him more than an hour later. His coffee mug was empty and sitting on an old issue of People magazine on the coffee table, and he was curled on the couch underneath the afghan that Syd had previously hid under, with a far away look on his face.
"Michael" she quietly questioned.
"Yeah Syd" he replied, while he untangled himself from the blanket and stood to face her.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Just about how much fun I have had this weekend and how lucky I am to have a girlfriend like you."
"Oh Michael, I love it here do we really have to leave?"
"Yes, unfortunately the world needs us, and the government thinks we're the only ones who can do the job" he said jokingly. "But I do promise you that we'll come back here someday, right now though it's time for us to face the real world again, after you fell asleep I called the cab, it should be here in about an hour."
"Well it's not here yet and we still have the use of that wonderful hot tub what do you say?" Grinning like mad they spent the rest of their time at the old house on the patio in the hot tub.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Just as the cab pulled out of the driveway the lovers promised that one day they would live in a small house like that and spend their days growing old together, while watching their children grow up and have children of their own, a promise that they would always keep.
~Fin~