TITLE: Words
SUMMARY: Pride and Prejudice. Cars. Storms. Syd and Vaughn. To say anything else would be to ruin the story.
RATING: PG
TIMELINE: Post "Phase One"
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. All JJ's.
DEDICATION: To !Kira, for being wonderful. Thanks again for the code, and thanks for starting up Variorum. And everyone, go and read Kira's fics. They're awesome. And she doesn't get nearly enough reviews.

*the words*

"Hey, Syd."

"Vaughn, I have to get this paper written, okay?"

"Yes, Dr. Bristow…"

*the easiness*

"Vaughn, what are you doing? You're distracting me!"

"No, I'm not. You're distracting yourself. I'm just standing here."

"Watching me write! You know how much I hate people standing over my shoulder when I work!"

"Well, I'm not technically standing over your shoulder, actually, Syd."

"Your. Chin. Is. On. My. Shoulder, Vaughn."

"Hmm. So it is. And your point is?"

"Vaughn!"

"Ooof! Syd, you know I'm ticklish!"

"Serves you right, you, you, you big…distractor!"

*the laughter*

"Syd, are you finished with that paper yet?"

"Nearly, Vaughn. Be patient."

"Patience is a virtue I was unfortunately born without."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Okay. I'm done. What's up?"

"What was the paper about?"

"Pride and Prejudice. Have you ever read it?"

"No….Pride and Prejudice really isn't a guys' type of book, Syd."

"Vaughn….there's no such thing as guys' books and girls' books. Really."

"Sure, Syd, sure. All I know is that if Weiss ever saw me reading it, my life would not be worth living."

"You're a spy. You don't think you could keep a simple book hidden?"

"Sydddddd…..it's the principle of the thing."

"You and your principles."

*the kiss*

"What was that for?"

"Having principles."

*the promise*

"Would you like me to read you some of my paper?"

"What's it on?"

"Vaughnnnn, I already told you. Pride and Prejudice."

"Sydd…I already listened. What part of the book?"

"It's significance as an predecessor to modern day romance novels….and how women want to find their very own Darcy."

"Darcy's the guy in the book, right?"

"Yes, Vaughn, Darcy is the guy…"

"What's so special about him, anyway?"

"He's hot. Really, really, really hot. Or Colin Firth is, at any rate. And he's British. And cold. And unemotional, until he falls in love with Elizabeth. He's noble, and he's got a massive estate – Pemberley, and he's misunderstood, and strong, and noble…"

"Syd, should I be jealous?"

"What? Oh! Of course not. You're much more gorgeous than Colin Firth is, anyway. And your taste in clothes is much better than Darcy's."

"Well, that's good to know. But I thought you were going to read me some of the paper?"

"Okay…but you know how much I hate reading my work out loud… 'Another reason behind Pride and Prejudice's success as a novel is its focus on love and marriage. We are programmed biologically to want to procreate, to find a mate and have children. We cannot escape these biological desires, only formalize them and give them names like ''love'' and ''marriage''. All human beings crave love, and most, if not nearly all, of us crave marriage.'"

"Please tell me that this isn't a not so subtly veiled hint at something, Syd…"

"What? No, no, no. Pride and Prejudice has a ridiculous number of weddings, though. I swear, everyone in that novel who's not either already married or just plain evil is married by the end of the novel. And those who aren't are mentioned in the epilogue as having 'married well.' Vaughn, what's wrong? You look disappointed."

"Well, it's just that I wouldn't have necessarily minded it having being a hint – subtle or not."

"Are you-are you?"

"No, not now. It's not the right moment. But someday…sometime….when you least suspect it….I might just pounce. With a ring and a question."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

"You're sure I'm hotter than that Darcy guy?"

"Yes, Vaughn."

*the conversations about nothing at all*

"Syd…do you think I should get a new car?"

"I don't know, Vaughn. What's wrong with your old one?"

"Nothing, really. It's just….old."

"Hmm. It's up to you. What sort of car would you think of getting?"

"Oh, probably just the latest model of the car I've got now."

"Vaughn! You wouldn't change anything? What about the colour?"

"Oh, black, of course. You really can't go past black for a car colour."

"Hmph. Men."

"But you love us anyway, don't you?"

"Yes. We do."

"What's the weather like today, Syd?"

"You don't have legs to walk to the window and see for yourself?"

"I'm tired…."

"And I'm not?"

"You're closer!"

"By three inches!"

"Three inches is a long way when you're this tired! And I think I've drunk too much beer. Really."

"Yeah, well, I could have told you that."

"How's the weather?"

"Pretty dark and grey and miserable, really. It looks like it's about to storm."

"Do you want to watch it?"

"Is the Earth round?"

*and the heartbreaking realization*

"Mike?"

"Mike?"

"Mike?"

"Mike, wake up!"

"Uhhh….Eric….whattya doin' here? And where's-where's Sydney?"

"Mike…she's gone. She's been gone for nearly six months now."

"But the storm – and Pride and Prejudice, and my new car…."

"It was all in your head, buddy."

"It…it was more real than this."

"Yeah, Vaughn, I know. I know."

"So it wasn't real? Any of it?"

"No. I'm sorry, buddy. But she's gone."

"Not in here she's not."

"I know."

*that none of it was real*