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Chapter 23: "Hypothetical Questions"
"I still can't believe you flew all the way across the country just to spend 36 hours with me," Sydney sighed as Vaughn kissed her neck. His kisses were gentle but insistent and she cocked her head to the side to give him better access.
"I would have flown all the way across the country just to spend 15 minutes with you, Syd."
"How did you know that I wouldn't have plans?" she wondered as he returned his attention to her neck.
"I didn't," he admitted a few moments later when he came up for air. "I just prayed that if you did have plans, you'd ditch them for me," he laughed.
"I totally would have, too," she grinned as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap.
"I know you would have, because I would have made it worth your while," he said with a seductive grin.
He pulled her into another kiss as his thumbs softly grazed the bare skin just above the waist of her jeans. They'd spent the past hour on the couch drinking champagne and making out like teenagers and between the slight buzz from the champagne and the feel of her mouth and body pressed against his, he felt as if he was in heaven. He slid his hands down and began to caress the back of her thighs as she straddled, then moved his hands around to stroke her along the inside of her thighs. As she pulled him deeper into their kiss, he stealthily moved one hand upward until it brushed against her crotch and she moaned into his mouth. The sound was music to his ears after such a long separation from her, and he wanted to hear it again and again. He brushed his hand against her again, applying slightly more pressure, and heard her breath catch in her throat as she pulled away from their kiss and looked him in the eye. She held his gaze as she leaned back slightly, unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, then took his left hand in hers. She softly kissed his palm before lowering his hand and slipping it inside her jeans. "Touch me," she whispered.
"Don't you want your gifts first?" he breathed, knowing full well that gifts were the furthest things from either of their minds.
"Later. Right now, all I want is you. I *need* you, Vaughn. I've missed you so much," she murmured as she stroked the side of his face. "So start touching me," she ordered with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Okay, but I'm warning you that once I start touching you, I might not be able to stop."
"I'll take that risk," she smiled.
*****
An hour later, Sydney took one last bite of birthday cake and set her plate on the nightstand next to the bed before turning her attention back to Vaughn, her eyes twinkling. "So weren't you saying something earlier about gifts?"
"I believe I already gave you your gifts," he said with a raised eyebrow as he licked the last bit of frosting off of his fork.
"Vaughn, *those* don't count as gifts," she laughed. She took his plate from his hands and impatiently set it aside. "I want actual presents right now. I know you have them stashed somewhere around here," she said, craning her neck to look around the bedroom.
He couldn't help but laugh at her childlike enthusiasm. "When I asked you if you wanted your gifts, you said no," he teased.
"I didn't say no, I said *later*, and it's officially later now," she grinned. "C'mon, Vaughn. I want my gifts. Don't make me beg," she pleaded.
"Fine. We'll save the begging for later," he said huskily as he gave her a quick kiss on the nose. As he got up from the bed and walked over to the closet, she admired the way he looked, clad in only navy blue pajama bottoms. She had to admit that she'd already gotten the best birthday gift she could have asked for -- a surprise visit from him. But a girl could never receive too many gifts and when he came back to the bed holding a rectangular box in one hand and a square one in the other, her face lit up.
"God, you should see the look on your face right now, Syd," he laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen you look so excited."
"I know," she smiled. "It's just that you always give me the most amazing gifts and I can't wait to see what's in these."
"Well, have at it," he said as he held them out to her. She took the rectangular one first and eagerly tore open the wrapping paper as he sat back down on the bed facing her. He swept her hair off of one shoulder and softly kissed it as she opened the gift and shook her head firmly.
"You're not gonna distract me, so you can stop trying," she laughed. She tossed the wrapping paper aside, opened the box and smirked when she saw what was inside. She shot him a curious look as she lifted a black lace teddy from the box. Actually, it was so small that she wasn't even sure it could be called a teddy; it looked more like a handkerchief. "This is a gift for me? Because it seems more like a gift for you."
"What?" he asked innocently. "Don't I deserve a gift on your birthday, too?"
She laughed at the pouty look on his face. "I hadn't thought of it that way, but yeah, I guess you do. Happy Birthday, Vaughn," she smirked.
"It will be once I see you in that," he smiled. "Although, to be honest, I kind of like the way you look right now." She was wearing the top to his pajamas and he didn't think she had ever looked sexier.
She leaned forward to kiss him before putting the teddy back in the box and setting it aside. "If you're a good boy, you might get to see me in that before you leave."
"Then I'm going to be on my best behavior, for sure." He watched in amazement as she opened the other box even faster than she'd opened the first one and wrinkled her nose at him. "A desk calendar? How, um, thoughtful of you."
"Gee, don't sound so excited, Syd," he teased. "Maybe you should flip through it."
She quickly flipped through the calendar but stopped when she got to May 23rd, which was circled with a red marker.
"What's happening on May 23rd?"
He leaned forward and touched his forehead to hers. "I'm coming home," he whispered.
"Really? You're coming back for Memorial Day weekend?" she asked excitedly.
"No," he smiled. "I'm coming home. For good."
"Vaughn, no way," she murmured in disbelief. "I thought you weren't supposed to come back until the last week of June."
"I wasn't supposed to, but I worked really hard so I could come back earlier. I didn't want to have to spend a moment longer away from you than absolutely necessary."
"Vaughn," she said, shaking her head in surprise and wonder.
"I'll probably have to fly back to Langley a few times, but it'll just be for a couple of days at a time. Other than that, I'm all yours -- at least in the warehouse," he added, reminding himself that they'd still have to hide their relationship for a while after he returned.
"This is the best news ever," she exclaimed as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "God, I can't wait until you're back. Who would have thought that a desk calendar would be the best gift I've ever gotten?" she grinned.
"The best gift you've ever gotten? The night's still young, Syd."
She leaned back slightly and looked into his eyes. "You have an awfully high opinion of yourself, Mr. Vaughn."
"I prefer to think of it as being confident in my abilities," he smiled.
"Well, far be it from me to mess with your self-esteem." She smiled back at him and they simply stared at each other for a while in comfortable silence. She couldn't believe that she only had to wait one more month to have him back with her where he belonged.
"What are you thinking about?"
"All the things that I'm going to do to you in the warehouse when you come back," she laughed.
He grinned at her. "You know what I love the most about you, Syd? Your incredibly dirty mind. Marry me?"
"Sure, okay," she giggled. "Do you have a limo standing by to whisk us to Vegas?"
"No, there's no limo," he shook his head.
"A plane? Because I wouldn't put it past you to have a jet waiting at the airport," she teased.
"No, there's no plane either, but that would have been pretty cool, huh?"
"Yeah, that would have been cool," she agreed as he pulled her closer to him.
"So hypothetically, if there had been a limo or a plane, and I *had* taken you to Vegas, would you really have married me?"
"Vaughn!" she laughed.
"What?" he asked innocently. "I'm just asking for research purposes."
She leaned back again and sat on her heels. "Are you sure that you want to be asking me this? 'Cause seriously, after some of the things we've spent the last hour doing, I can hardly think straight, and there's no telling what I might say. So, you'd better be careful about how far you want to take this, because it might be a dangerous conversation to have right now."
"We're CIA agents; we live for danger. I can handle it if you can," he said challengingly.
"Really?" she asked skeptically. "So if I said yes, it wouldn't scare the hell out of you?"
"Yes, as in in, yes, you would have married me?" he smiled.
"I might have," she shrugged, "if you had asked me nicely enough."
He laughed and leaned forward to kiss her softly. "Marry me, Sydney," he whispered. He leaned back and smiled at her again. "Was that nice enough?"
"Nope," she grinned.
He gently pushed her onto her back and pinned her arms above her head, slipping his fingers through hers as he hovered above her and lowered his lips to her neck. She sighed involuntary as he began to cover her neck with soft, wet kisses. "Syd," he murmured.
"Mmm?" she asked, trying not to let him know how crazy he was making her.
"Will you marry me?" He raised himself slightly and smiled back down at her. "Like that?"
She laughed softly and kissed his shoulder. "Yeah, something like -- " she stopped abruptly when she looked up at him, completely taken aback by the intense, serious expression on his face. She gently pushed him off of her and struggled to raise herself onto her elbows. "Okay, we have to stop this now," she said, uncomfortably.
"Syd, what's wrong?" he asked, his eyes filling with concern as he rolled onto his side and leaned on one elbow.
She took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "I can't joke with you about this anymore, Vaughn. I don't want to joke with you about this, and you shouldn't want to either." She sat up straighter and ran her fingers through his hair. "One day, I'm going to want you to mean those words, and one day you actually might mean them and I won't even be able to tell that you're being serious," she smiled.
He tilted his head up to her and gave her a gentle kiss. "Sydney, trust me, when I mean it, you'll be able to tell."
"How?" she asked with amusement. "Are you gonna write it across the sky? Send me a message in Morse code? Put it on the jumbotron at a King's game?" she giggled.
"How did I not think of that one?" he smiled. "Come on, Syd. I'm not going to tell you how I'm going to propose to you. That would ruin the surprise, and when the time comes, you're definitely going to be surprised."
"Am I?"
"Definitely."
"How surprised could I possibly be if you're telling me right now that it's going to happen one day?"
"Really surprised," he smiled.
"Okay, whatever, Vaughn," she said dismissively. "Like I said, when the time comes, I'm probably not going to take you seriously."
He took a long look at her and smiled before flopping onto his back. He reached over the side of the bed and pulled something out from underneath it, then took her hand, turning it over until her palm faced upwards. She looked at him in bewilderment until he placed a small black box in her hand.
"Seriously," he said quietly.
"Vaughn, what is this?" she asked as both her voice and her hand began to tremble slightly.
"Open it," he said, nodding toward the box as he drew himself onto his knees and faced her.
"Vaughn," she said, her voice barely a whisper. She looked at him questioningly, not believing that this could actually happening.
"Open it," he said firmly.
She could barely keep her fingers steady as she slowly opened the box. She was holding her breath and her heart was beating wildly, and when she finally saw what was inside, her jaw dropped. Inside the box was a glittering princess cut diamond in a platinum setting.
"Surprised?" Vaughn asked, his eyes twinkling.
A quick laugh escaped her lips as she nodded. "Stunned speechless. Oh my god, Vaughn," she murmured.
He took a deep breath and took the box from her, holding it in his hands and fiddling with it nervously. "I wasn't originally planning to do this. I mean, I was, just not now, not here. I was going to wait until we were in the Maldives and the takedown was behind us and we were finally free. I even had this big, elaborate plan for how I was going to surprise you," he said, looking down at the box.
She raised her hand to her mouth as she struggled to fight back tears.
"But this has been sitting on my dresser for the past few weeks and as I was leaving this morning, I realized that I didn't want to get back and see it still sitting there. I didn't want to go back to Virginia without knowing . . . " he shook his head and smiled at her, "without knowing for sure that one day you're going to be my wife."
"And before you say it, I know that there are so many reasons why I should have waited to ask you. But I can't wait, Syd. I don't want to," he said, shaking his head firmly. "If there's anything I learned from my parents, it's that tomorrow isn't promised, even to people who are crazy about each other. Things happen and circumstances change, especially in our line of work. I know that we've both accepted those risks, but if anything ever happened to me, I wouldn't want to die regretting anything that I did or didn't do in my life, and I realized that if I didn't ask you to marry me tonight, I would regret that forever. Even if I asked you later, I'd regret not asking you sooner.
"So that's what this all comes down to. There are reasons to wait, but I won't. I love you more than I ever knew it was possible to love someone and I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, making you happy.
"So," he said, as he finally let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, "will you marry me, Sydney Bristow?"
She looked at him, at the adorable nervous look on his face, and she suddenly felt as if her entire life had been leading up to this moment. She thought her face might crack from the huge smile spreading across it. "Yes," she whispered.
"Yes?" he asked in quiet amazement.
"Yes!" she laughed. "Yes, of course, I'll marry you." She took his face in her hands and looked at him disbelievingly. "Were you honestly afraid that I might say no?"
"A little," he admitted, "but only because I was so desperate for you to say yes -- and you did," he said in a soft voice filled with awe.
"Yeah, I did," she nodded. "Oh my god! Vaughn, we're getting married," she breathed, grinning deliriously as the realization struck her.
"I can't wait." He smiled and shook his head slowly as he removed the ring from the box and held it between his fingers for a moment. "I know that you're not going to be able to wear this once we leave this room on Saturday morning," he said as he took her left hand and slowly slipped it on her ring finger. "But on the day that SD-6 goes down, I'm going to put it back on your finger and then it's never coming off again."
She nodded silently and caressed the side of his face as he finished slipping it on. When he was done, she looked down at her hand, in awe of the gorgeous diamond now shining on her fourth finger.
"Sydney," he said as he placed a finger under her chin and tilted her face up to his, "I love you with all my heart and all my soul. I always will, I promise you that."
"I know," she said softly. "Do you have any idea how much I love you, how much I absolutely adore you? Because if you don't, I'm going to spend the rest of my life showing you, proving it to you."
*****
A half hour later, Sydney stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a fluffy hotel bathrobe. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and could hardly believe the huge grin on her face. She tried to remember a single moment in her life when she had ever felt this happy, but she couldn't.
"Mr. and Mrs. Michael Vaughn," she whispered as she quickly ran a comb through her wet hair. She absolutely loved how that sounded and she shook her head and laughed at her own giddy excitement.
When she was done combing her hair, she stepped out of the bathroom and walked out to the front room of the suite where Vaughn had just opened the door for the room service waiter. Just before their shower, they both realized that they were starving. They'd been so wrapped up in each other ever since her arrival that they hadn't had anything to eat other than birthday cake, and they laughed together as they ordered seemingly everything on the menu.
"Wow. Whose birthday is it?" the waiter asked when he noticed the balloons and birthday cake sitting on the table.
"My fiance's," Vaughn replied. He looked over at Sydney and they both smiled at how easily the word rolled off of his tongue.
"Well Happy Birthday. Thank you," the waiter said as Vaughn tipped him and he left the room. Vaughn closed the door behind him and walked back over to Sydney who was eagerly lifting the metal tops from all of the plates spread across the table. She smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and lowered his chin onto her shoulder.
"You're my fiance," he laughed, as if the enormity of the word just struck him.
"Damn straight, buddy," she nodded. "Do you have any idea what you've gotten yourself into?"
"Just everything that I've ever wanted," he replied confidently. He sat in a chair and pulled her down onto his lap as she popped a strawberry into his mouth.
"God, I can't believe this night," she murmured as she picked up a fork and twirled angel hair pasta around it. "I have to say that this birthday has totally kicked the ass of every other one that came before it."
"Yeah?" he asked as she fed him the pasta.
"Definitely. First the surprise of you being here, then the surprise of finding out that you're coming home sooner than expected, then the *huge*, shocking surprise of you asking me to marry you, and now eating room service at midnight in our bathrobes. What's better than that?" she smiled.
"What we did a little while ago was pretty amazing," he said as he nuzzled her neck.
"Oh yeah, that too," she grinned. "When we're an old married couple, do you think that we'll still be going at it like bunnies all the time?"
"Definitely. I believe in doing everything in moderation except when it comes to you, Syd. I'll never be able to get enough of you," he smiled. "Did you know that during mating season, lions can have sex up to three hundred times in a day?"
She giggled. "I don't even want to know why that completely random bit of information just popped into your head, but we are not lions, Vaughn."
"Yeah, I'm aware of that," he said with mock exasperation. "I just remembered seeing that on one of those nature specials once and it blew my mind. Luckily for them, the mating season only lasts for four days at a time. If it lasted any longer, they wouldn't have the energy to do anything else. What?" he smiled when he noticed her staring at him.
"Nothing. I just love you," she shook her head. "I love it that you know all these random, useless facts about nothing, and I love it that you're always making all of these grand romantic gestures, and I love that when you look at me, I feel like the only woman in the world. I love everything about you, Vaughn, and I love knowing that I'm going to be your wife one day."
"Speaking of which . . . how long do you want to wait before that day comes?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "I haven't had a lot of time to think about it yet. Obviously it's going to have to be some time after July."
"Or it could be *in* July," he said slowly.
"It can't be in July, Vaughn. We're going on vacation," she reminded him.
"I know," he said with a meaningful look.
"You want to get married in the Maldives?" she asked with surprise.
"It's a thought," he shrugged. "We couldn't ask for a more romantic setting, and the resort performs weddings all the time."
"Yeah, but we can't get married there," she shook her head.
"Why? Is it too soon?" he asked, hoping that she didn't think he was rushing her.
"No, it's not too soon," she said quickly, trying to reassure him. "Vaughn, it's not a matter of timing. I mean, I would marry you right now if that were my only concern. It's just that we can't ask everyone to fly off to the Maldives with us. It's kind of impractical," she smiled.
"So?"
"So?" she laughed as she mimicked him. "Don't you want your mom to be there? Because I do. Not to mention my dad and Will and Francie and Weiss. Seriously, we can't get married without them being there. And actually," she said as she took a breath, "I think that I might want a lot more people to be there, like your family and your hockey buddies and my friends from school. Even Kendall."
"Kendall?" Vaughn laughed disbelievingly. "I'm sorry, I have to draw the line with Kendall," he joked.
"Yes, I even want Kendall to be there."
"Fine, but only because I love you so much," he relented. "I never really imagined you as the big wedding type, Syd."
"Neither did I," she admitted. "It's just that the entire existence of our relationship has been a secret. There are only five people in the world who know that I love you, and that's not nearly enough. I want everyone to know," she smiled. "So after keeping this big, classified secret for so long, it would just be really nice to be surrounded by all the people that we care about on the day that we get married."
"You're right," he smiled. "That day should definitely be a big deal."
"The biggest," she agreed as she leaned in to kiss him. She already couldn't wait.
TBC . . .
Chapter 23: "Hypothetical Questions"
"I still can't believe you flew all the way across the country just to spend 36 hours with me," Sydney sighed as Vaughn kissed her neck. His kisses were gentle but insistent and she cocked her head to the side to give him better access.
"I would have flown all the way across the country just to spend 15 minutes with you, Syd."
"How did you know that I wouldn't have plans?" she wondered as he returned his attention to her neck.
"I didn't," he admitted a few moments later when he came up for air. "I just prayed that if you did have plans, you'd ditch them for me," he laughed.
"I totally would have, too," she grinned as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap.
"I know you would have, because I would have made it worth your while," he said with a seductive grin.
He pulled her into another kiss as his thumbs softly grazed the bare skin just above the waist of her jeans. They'd spent the past hour on the couch drinking champagne and making out like teenagers and between the slight buzz from the champagne and the feel of her mouth and body pressed against his, he felt as if he was in heaven. He slid his hands down and began to caress the back of her thighs as she straddled, then moved his hands around to stroke her along the inside of her thighs. As she pulled him deeper into their kiss, he stealthily moved one hand upward until it brushed against her crotch and she moaned into his mouth. The sound was music to his ears after such a long separation from her, and he wanted to hear it again and again. He brushed his hand against her again, applying slightly more pressure, and heard her breath catch in her throat as she pulled away from their kiss and looked him in the eye. She held his gaze as she leaned back slightly, unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, then took his left hand in hers. She softly kissed his palm before lowering his hand and slipping it inside her jeans. "Touch me," she whispered.
"Don't you want your gifts first?" he breathed, knowing full well that gifts were the furthest things from either of their minds.
"Later. Right now, all I want is you. I *need* you, Vaughn. I've missed you so much," she murmured as she stroked the side of his face. "So start touching me," she ordered with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Okay, but I'm warning you that once I start touching you, I might not be able to stop."
"I'll take that risk," she smiled.
*****
An hour later, Sydney took one last bite of birthday cake and set her plate on the nightstand next to the bed before turning her attention back to Vaughn, her eyes twinkling. "So weren't you saying something earlier about gifts?"
"I believe I already gave you your gifts," he said with a raised eyebrow as he licked the last bit of frosting off of his fork.
"Vaughn, *those* don't count as gifts," she laughed. She took his plate from his hands and impatiently set it aside. "I want actual presents right now. I know you have them stashed somewhere around here," she said, craning her neck to look around the bedroom.
He couldn't help but laugh at her childlike enthusiasm. "When I asked you if you wanted your gifts, you said no," he teased.
"I didn't say no, I said *later*, and it's officially later now," she grinned. "C'mon, Vaughn. I want my gifts. Don't make me beg," she pleaded.
"Fine. We'll save the begging for later," he said huskily as he gave her a quick kiss on the nose. As he got up from the bed and walked over to the closet, she admired the way he looked, clad in only navy blue pajama bottoms. She had to admit that she'd already gotten the best birthday gift she could have asked for -- a surprise visit from him. But a girl could never receive too many gifts and when he came back to the bed holding a rectangular box in one hand and a square one in the other, her face lit up.
"God, you should see the look on your face right now, Syd," he laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen you look so excited."
"I know," she smiled. "It's just that you always give me the most amazing gifts and I can't wait to see what's in these."
"Well, have at it," he said as he held them out to her. She took the rectangular one first and eagerly tore open the wrapping paper as he sat back down on the bed facing her. He swept her hair off of one shoulder and softly kissed it as she opened the gift and shook her head firmly.
"You're not gonna distract me, so you can stop trying," she laughed. She tossed the wrapping paper aside, opened the box and smirked when she saw what was inside. She shot him a curious look as she lifted a black lace teddy from the box. Actually, it was so small that she wasn't even sure it could be called a teddy; it looked more like a handkerchief. "This is a gift for me? Because it seems more like a gift for you."
"What?" he asked innocently. "Don't I deserve a gift on your birthday, too?"
She laughed at the pouty look on his face. "I hadn't thought of it that way, but yeah, I guess you do. Happy Birthday, Vaughn," she smirked.
"It will be once I see you in that," he smiled. "Although, to be honest, I kind of like the way you look right now." She was wearing the top to his pajamas and he didn't think she had ever looked sexier.
She leaned forward to kiss him before putting the teddy back in the box and setting it aside. "If you're a good boy, you might get to see me in that before you leave."
"Then I'm going to be on my best behavior, for sure." He watched in amazement as she opened the other box even faster than she'd opened the first one and wrinkled her nose at him. "A desk calendar? How, um, thoughtful of you."
"Gee, don't sound so excited, Syd," he teased. "Maybe you should flip through it."
She quickly flipped through the calendar but stopped when she got to May 23rd, which was circled with a red marker.
"What's happening on May 23rd?"
He leaned forward and touched his forehead to hers. "I'm coming home," he whispered.
"Really? You're coming back for Memorial Day weekend?" she asked excitedly.
"No," he smiled. "I'm coming home. For good."
"Vaughn, no way," she murmured in disbelief. "I thought you weren't supposed to come back until the last week of June."
"I wasn't supposed to, but I worked really hard so I could come back earlier. I didn't want to have to spend a moment longer away from you than absolutely necessary."
"Vaughn," she said, shaking her head in surprise and wonder.
"I'll probably have to fly back to Langley a few times, but it'll just be for a couple of days at a time. Other than that, I'm all yours -- at least in the warehouse," he added, reminding himself that they'd still have to hide their relationship for a while after he returned.
"This is the best news ever," she exclaimed as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "God, I can't wait until you're back. Who would have thought that a desk calendar would be the best gift I've ever gotten?" she grinned.
"The best gift you've ever gotten? The night's still young, Syd."
She leaned back slightly and looked into his eyes. "You have an awfully high opinion of yourself, Mr. Vaughn."
"I prefer to think of it as being confident in my abilities," he smiled.
"Well, far be it from me to mess with your self-esteem." She smiled back at him and they simply stared at each other for a while in comfortable silence. She couldn't believe that she only had to wait one more month to have him back with her where he belonged.
"What are you thinking about?"
"All the things that I'm going to do to you in the warehouse when you come back," she laughed.
He grinned at her. "You know what I love the most about you, Syd? Your incredibly dirty mind. Marry me?"
"Sure, okay," she giggled. "Do you have a limo standing by to whisk us to Vegas?"
"No, there's no limo," he shook his head.
"A plane? Because I wouldn't put it past you to have a jet waiting at the airport," she teased.
"No, there's no plane either, but that would have been pretty cool, huh?"
"Yeah, that would have been cool," she agreed as he pulled her closer to him.
"So hypothetically, if there had been a limo or a plane, and I *had* taken you to Vegas, would you really have married me?"
"Vaughn!" she laughed.
"What?" he asked innocently. "I'm just asking for research purposes."
She leaned back again and sat on her heels. "Are you sure that you want to be asking me this? 'Cause seriously, after some of the things we've spent the last hour doing, I can hardly think straight, and there's no telling what I might say. So, you'd better be careful about how far you want to take this, because it might be a dangerous conversation to have right now."
"We're CIA agents; we live for danger. I can handle it if you can," he said challengingly.
"Really?" she asked skeptically. "So if I said yes, it wouldn't scare the hell out of you?"
"Yes, as in in, yes, you would have married me?" he smiled.
"I might have," she shrugged, "if you had asked me nicely enough."
He laughed and leaned forward to kiss her softly. "Marry me, Sydney," he whispered. He leaned back and smiled at her again. "Was that nice enough?"
"Nope," she grinned.
He gently pushed her onto her back and pinned her arms above her head, slipping his fingers through hers as he hovered above her and lowered his lips to her neck. She sighed involuntary as he began to cover her neck with soft, wet kisses. "Syd," he murmured.
"Mmm?" she asked, trying not to let him know how crazy he was making her.
"Will you marry me?" He raised himself slightly and smiled back down at her. "Like that?"
She laughed softly and kissed his shoulder. "Yeah, something like -- " she stopped abruptly when she looked up at him, completely taken aback by the intense, serious expression on his face. She gently pushed him off of her and struggled to raise herself onto her elbows. "Okay, we have to stop this now," she said, uncomfortably.
"Syd, what's wrong?" he asked, his eyes filling with concern as he rolled onto his side and leaned on one elbow.
She took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "I can't joke with you about this anymore, Vaughn. I don't want to joke with you about this, and you shouldn't want to either." She sat up straighter and ran her fingers through his hair. "One day, I'm going to want you to mean those words, and one day you actually might mean them and I won't even be able to tell that you're being serious," she smiled.
He tilted his head up to her and gave her a gentle kiss. "Sydney, trust me, when I mean it, you'll be able to tell."
"How?" she asked with amusement. "Are you gonna write it across the sky? Send me a message in Morse code? Put it on the jumbotron at a King's game?" she giggled.
"How did I not think of that one?" he smiled. "Come on, Syd. I'm not going to tell you how I'm going to propose to you. That would ruin the surprise, and when the time comes, you're definitely going to be surprised."
"Am I?"
"Definitely."
"How surprised could I possibly be if you're telling me right now that it's going to happen one day?"
"Really surprised," he smiled.
"Okay, whatever, Vaughn," she said dismissively. "Like I said, when the time comes, I'm probably not going to take you seriously."
He took a long look at her and smiled before flopping onto his back. He reached over the side of the bed and pulled something out from underneath it, then took her hand, turning it over until her palm faced upwards. She looked at him in bewilderment until he placed a small black box in her hand.
"Seriously," he said quietly.
"Vaughn, what is this?" she asked as both her voice and her hand began to tremble slightly.
"Open it," he said, nodding toward the box as he drew himself onto his knees and faced her.
"Vaughn," she said, her voice barely a whisper. She looked at him questioningly, not believing that this could actually happening.
"Open it," he said firmly.
She could barely keep her fingers steady as she slowly opened the box. She was holding her breath and her heart was beating wildly, and when she finally saw what was inside, her jaw dropped. Inside the box was a glittering princess cut diamond in a platinum setting.
"Surprised?" Vaughn asked, his eyes twinkling.
A quick laugh escaped her lips as she nodded. "Stunned speechless. Oh my god, Vaughn," she murmured.
He took a deep breath and took the box from her, holding it in his hands and fiddling with it nervously. "I wasn't originally planning to do this. I mean, I was, just not now, not here. I was going to wait until we were in the Maldives and the takedown was behind us and we were finally free. I even had this big, elaborate plan for how I was going to surprise you," he said, looking down at the box.
She raised her hand to her mouth as she struggled to fight back tears.
"But this has been sitting on my dresser for the past few weeks and as I was leaving this morning, I realized that I didn't want to get back and see it still sitting there. I didn't want to go back to Virginia without knowing . . . " he shook his head and smiled at her, "without knowing for sure that one day you're going to be my wife."
"And before you say it, I know that there are so many reasons why I should have waited to ask you. But I can't wait, Syd. I don't want to," he said, shaking his head firmly. "If there's anything I learned from my parents, it's that tomorrow isn't promised, even to people who are crazy about each other. Things happen and circumstances change, especially in our line of work. I know that we've both accepted those risks, but if anything ever happened to me, I wouldn't want to die regretting anything that I did or didn't do in my life, and I realized that if I didn't ask you to marry me tonight, I would regret that forever. Even if I asked you later, I'd regret not asking you sooner.
"So that's what this all comes down to. There are reasons to wait, but I won't. I love you more than I ever knew it was possible to love someone and I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, making you happy.
"So," he said, as he finally let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, "will you marry me, Sydney Bristow?"
She looked at him, at the adorable nervous look on his face, and she suddenly felt as if her entire life had been leading up to this moment. She thought her face might crack from the huge smile spreading across it. "Yes," she whispered.
"Yes?" he asked in quiet amazement.
"Yes!" she laughed. "Yes, of course, I'll marry you." She took his face in her hands and looked at him disbelievingly. "Were you honestly afraid that I might say no?"
"A little," he admitted, "but only because I was so desperate for you to say yes -- and you did," he said in a soft voice filled with awe.
"Yeah, I did," she nodded. "Oh my god! Vaughn, we're getting married," she breathed, grinning deliriously as the realization struck her.
"I can't wait." He smiled and shook his head slowly as he removed the ring from the box and held it between his fingers for a moment. "I know that you're not going to be able to wear this once we leave this room on Saturday morning," he said as he took her left hand and slowly slipped it on her ring finger. "But on the day that SD-6 goes down, I'm going to put it back on your finger and then it's never coming off again."
She nodded silently and caressed the side of his face as he finished slipping it on. When he was done, she looked down at her hand, in awe of the gorgeous diamond now shining on her fourth finger.
"Sydney," he said as he placed a finger under her chin and tilted her face up to his, "I love you with all my heart and all my soul. I always will, I promise you that."
"I know," she said softly. "Do you have any idea how much I love you, how much I absolutely adore you? Because if you don't, I'm going to spend the rest of my life showing you, proving it to you."
*****
A half hour later, Sydney stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a fluffy hotel bathrobe. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and could hardly believe the huge grin on her face. She tried to remember a single moment in her life when she had ever felt this happy, but she couldn't.
"Mr. and Mrs. Michael Vaughn," she whispered as she quickly ran a comb through her wet hair. She absolutely loved how that sounded and she shook her head and laughed at her own giddy excitement.
When she was done combing her hair, she stepped out of the bathroom and walked out to the front room of the suite where Vaughn had just opened the door for the room service waiter. Just before their shower, they both realized that they were starving. They'd been so wrapped up in each other ever since her arrival that they hadn't had anything to eat other than birthday cake, and they laughed together as they ordered seemingly everything on the menu.
"Wow. Whose birthday is it?" the waiter asked when he noticed the balloons and birthday cake sitting on the table.
"My fiance's," Vaughn replied. He looked over at Sydney and they both smiled at how easily the word rolled off of his tongue.
"Well Happy Birthday. Thank you," the waiter said as Vaughn tipped him and he left the room. Vaughn closed the door behind him and walked back over to Sydney who was eagerly lifting the metal tops from all of the plates spread across the table. She smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and lowered his chin onto her shoulder.
"You're my fiance," he laughed, as if the enormity of the word just struck him.
"Damn straight, buddy," she nodded. "Do you have any idea what you've gotten yourself into?"
"Just everything that I've ever wanted," he replied confidently. He sat in a chair and pulled her down onto his lap as she popped a strawberry into his mouth.
"God, I can't believe this night," she murmured as she picked up a fork and twirled angel hair pasta around it. "I have to say that this birthday has totally kicked the ass of every other one that came before it."
"Yeah?" he asked as she fed him the pasta.
"Definitely. First the surprise of you being here, then the surprise of finding out that you're coming home sooner than expected, then the *huge*, shocking surprise of you asking me to marry you, and now eating room service at midnight in our bathrobes. What's better than that?" she smiled.
"What we did a little while ago was pretty amazing," he said as he nuzzled her neck.
"Oh yeah, that too," she grinned. "When we're an old married couple, do you think that we'll still be going at it like bunnies all the time?"
"Definitely. I believe in doing everything in moderation except when it comes to you, Syd. I'll never be able to get enough of you," he smiled. "Did you know that during mating season, lions can have sex up to three hundred times in a day?"
She giggled. "I don't even want to know why that completely random bit of information just popped into your head, but we are not lions, Vaughn."
"Yeah, I'm aware of that," he said with mock exasperation. "I just remembered seeing that on one of those nature specials once and it blew my mind. Luckily for them, the mating season only lasts for four days at a time. If it lasted any longer, they wouldn't have the energy to do anything else. What?" he smiled when he noticed her staring at him.
"Nothing. I just love you," she shook her head. "I love it that you know all these random, useless facts about nothing, and I love it that you're always making all of these grand romantic gestures, and I love that when you look at me, I feel like the only woman in the world. I love everything about you, Vaughn, and I love knowing that I'm going to be your wife one day."
"Speaking of which . . . how long do you want to wait before that day comes?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "I haven't had a lot of time to think about it yet. Obviously it's going to have to be some time after July."
"Or it could be *in* July," he said slowly.
"It can't be in July, Vaughn. We're going on vacation," she reminded him.
"I know," he said with a meaningful look.
"You want to get married in the Maldives?" she asked with surprise.
"It's a thought," he shrugged. "We couldn't ask for a more romantic setting, and the resort performs weddings all the time."
"Yeah, but we can't get married there," she shook her head.
"Why? Is it too soon?" he asked, hoping that she didn't think he was rushing her.
"No, it's not too soon," she said quickly, trying to reassure him. "Vaughn, it's not a matter of timing. I mean, I would marry you right now if that were my only concern. It's just that we can't ask everyone to fly off to the Maldives with us. It's kind of impractical," she smiled.
"So?"
"So?" she laughed as she mimicked him. "Don't you want your mom to be there? Because I do. Not to mention my dad and Will and Francie and Weiss. Seriously, we can't get married without them being there. And actually," she said as she took a breath, "I think that I might want a lot more people to be there, like your family and your hockey buddies and my friends from school. Even Kendall."
"Kendall?" Vaughn laughed disbelievingly. "I'm sorry, I have to draw the line with Kendall," he joked.
"Yes, I even want Kendall to be there."
"Fine, but only because I love you so much," he relented. "I never really imagined you as the big wedding type, Syd."
"Neither did I," she admitted. "It's just that the entire existence of our relationship has been a secret. There are only five people in the world who know that I love you, and that's not nearly enough. I want everyone to know," she smiled. "So after keeping this big, classified secret for so long, it would just be really nice to be surrounded by all the people that we care about on the day that we get married."
"You're right," he smiled. "That day should definitely be a big deal."
"The biggest," she agreed as she leaned in to kiss him. She already couldn't wait.
TBC . . .