A/N: Okay, before I say anything, this chapter is 3426 words and six pages in 7 pt. Verdana- Not including the notes, just the story itself! Before you decide to throw darts at my picture, please hear me out.. =( I sure you guys remember my note a couple chapters ago saying that I would end the story soon because of my tests. I really didn't feel like giving up this fic and letting my un-used fic ideas go to waste so I held this fic off for that unfair time period. All my tests ended this week with only finals to worry about, I can finally concentrate on this fic meant to please my wonderful, understanding readers. =D (Is my flattery working?) On to the unbelievably cheesy fluff! Also a note, italic scenes are flashbacks. ;)
Archive: COVERme, FF.net and Allies. Others, please e-mail me cause I lurve sharing. =)
Dedication: I should re-name this reviewer-love cause I seriously do not deserve all your praise. I want to thank all of you guys that wished me a happy birthday and those of you still reading despite my lack of updates. I'm not playing favorites, but those of you that remembered the you-know-what, just keep it in mind.. Also did you guys know that Alias, cookies and a doughnut from you guys for my birthday? LoL.. There are really no words to describe how much I heart all you guys.
Disclaimer: Property of JJ and his homies as usual. I would be far more richer if I did.
Chapter 10 - Hit and Miss
When I wake up hours later, I can't help but smile. It only takes a moment to realize that I'm not on Eric's couch and that while it may sound cheesy, I'm not sleeping alone.
I'll never get tired of how innocent Sydney looks when she sleeps. Her breathing coming out in soft breaths as her chest rises slightly every moment or so, and despite her slumber, she has a small smile playing on her face. I pull a strand of hair from her face and take a moment to marvel at what I feel is the most beautiful woman on earth. A woman so compassionate and forgiving that even she would even put behind the fiasco that got us here in the first place.
Taking the moment in stride, I shift slightly so I can bend down and kiss her forehead. I can't resist but I almost panic when she stirs slightly but she only buries her face deeper in my chest. Another smile overcomes my face. Through this entire mess, finding that Syd sleeps the same way gives me some sort of comfort. Though I'm enjoying this moment, I know that sleeping here on the cramped couch can't be any good for her; in this condition anyway.
Slipping out from under her with the greatest of care, I'm both delighted and saddened that she didn't notice the lost of my presence. I brush it off with another grin to myself and pick her up with equal care. I find the way to her bedroom opening the door with my foot. What doesn't surprised me it that Sydney's perfectly made bed is otherwise untouched. After putting her in the bed, I give her another soft kiss on the forehead before closing the door quietly behind me.
Passing the couch, I grab my shirt and reluctantly pull it on. A quick glance at the clock tells me that it's only around 6:30. Knowing that she'll be up any time now, I head to the kitchen pulling open the refrigerator door.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"I feel hung-over.. Did you spike my tea last night-"
She has a look of surprise on her face when she comes into the kitchen. I have to say I out-did myself but I don't think that it garnered her reaction.
"Morning." I say chuckling.
Dishing up some scrambled eggs from the skillet, I put the rest of the waffles on the table. I had originally planned to bring her breakfast but it never seemed to work out the way that I wanted to. Sydney however wasn't any less surprised. She came over to me peering over my shoulder as I put the skillet in the sink.
"You made breakfast?"
I look over to her pretending to be confused. "You mean this isn't filet minion?"
It didn't work.
"Vaughn-" She said a little more serious.
"What? You sound so surprised.. I mean I can cook a couple of things; you know that."
"But you're the guest, I'm suppose to be cooking for you." she protests
"No, I'm hear to aid your speedy recuperation. But if you really want to cook, I can always throw these away" I say trailing off. To aid my threat, lift the skillet off the fire into the direction of the garbage can.
"No!" She screams. "I've missed your eggs!" She says more softly rushing over to the eggs in horror. Though it's a small thing, I find myself blushing slightly when I noticed the meaning behind what she had said.
The idea was useless but I still wanted my original plan to go through. "Why are you out of bed?"
"Cause my pounding head woke me up." She says painfully. After a moment she adds, "Along with the disorientation."
I don't turn around but instead turn back to the refrigerator, choosing between tow cartons of juice. "Apple, right?"
She nods and looks at me with another soft smile. If a simple thing like remembering she preferred apple to orange juice for breakfast was going to get me that brilliant smile of hers, I had a few more things up my sleeve.
"Syd- bed rest."
She finally looks over with a look of defeat. "You'll bring the eggs?" She says sticking out her bottom lip.
"I'll bring the eggs." I assured her.
She turns at my promise and heads back to bed triumphantly and before I can stop it, I stifled a laugh,
-=-=-=-=-
When I get back to her room ten minutes later, she's sitting up and on the phone, most likely checking her voicemail. With a smile, she ends the call when I enter the room.
"That was Mitchell, wishing me a quick recovery- Or at least that's what Marshall says he said."
I stop at the doorway. "He's so polite already, that boy." I say grinning. "Anything else?"
"We don't have to play hooky."
Her sentence catches me off guard and almost causes me to drop the tray. "What?"
"Work." she says curiously. "Dixon and my dad worked it out- we're both unofficially on vacation for three weeks."
"Oh." I said sitting on the side of her bed with the tray.
When she sees the tray in my hands, she only smiles more. "You didn't have to do this, you know."
"I wanted to." I insist.
Taking the a fork into her and she digs into the eggs first- not a surprise. "This tastes so much better than the power bars I eat everyday. God, I haven't had a home cooked breakfast since-"
She stops suddenly when I realize what she's talking about. It's her turn to blush when I find myself replaying the last time in my head.
-=-=-=-=-=-
As I flip over another egg, Syd looks over my shoulder balancing on her toes. "Syd- they're almost done. It'll only be another two minutes. You can't be that hungry."
"For Vaughn's Famous Eggs, I'm always hungry." She tries to say seriously. "I'm impatient and you know that."
I turn my head so can place a small kiss on her lips, urging her to keep the virtue. I feel her smile her smile against my lips as she captures them in hers. Not one to overlook an opportunity, I turn around completely, gathering her into my arms and placing my hands on her hips. She snakes her arms around my neck pulling me closer and deepening the kiss. For a moment I forget everything but the beautiful creature before me but almost as instantly as our kiss started, she pulls away with an audible pop.
"My eggs!" she says horrified. I groan at the sudden lost and turn around to the now slightly burned dish. I turn back to Sydney meekly. "That's it! I'm never kissing you again!" she pledges.
"So you were using me for my cooking?" I say laughing.
Still saddened she replies matter-of-factly, "It's one of your admirable qualities."
"Syd, forget the eggs." I say breathily hoping to continue our prior activity.
"How can you forget the eggs?" She says stubbornly.
With a devilish grin, I pull her towards me again and move to kiss her again. When we part, her mind is still set on the outcome of her breakfast. "This doesn't change anything." She says gravely. laughing, I lean over towards her again and into another kiss.
-=-=-=-=-=-
As I washed our breakfast dishes, I hear Sydney coming back inside her apartment with a chain jingling in her hand. She finds me in the kitchen and walks in with none other than Donnovan following her. Excited by the new territory, the little bull dog is exploring with the highest earnest.
"He remembers me!" she says triumphantly, placing the leash on the table.
My only answer is a laugh as I marvel at how happy Sydney is at this accomplishment. Drying my hands on a towel, I reach down and ruffle through Donnovan's fur. He licks my hand a moment before he darts away to bound through the apartment. Though Sydney might have met him once or twice, it doesn't surprise me that Donnovan would remember her.
"I think I want to steal your dog, Vaughn." When I look over at her horrified, she answers, "He's so cute!"
I want to tell her more than anything that I would be more than happy to share him with her, but I think better of it. As if on cue, Donnovan comes back into the room at breakneck speed running between our ankles. "Donnovan is not 'cute.' He's... he's a very masculine dog." I say defensively.
It's her turn to laugh as she bends down and picks the dog up. "Tell Vaughn you want to live with me, Donny." she prompts him.
"This is so ridiculous." I say exasperated. Suddenly, I get an idea in my head. "You can own him for the rest of the day- in return for a favor."
She cocks her head to me. "Are you serious? You would sell your dog for favors?" I give her a look and she just keeps grinning failing on getting a straight face on. "It depends on what it is."
"You'll find out after we take him for his walk." I say. After a moment, "If you're up for it, that is."
Her smile grows wider as she sets Donnovan down. "You're going to regret this, you know?"
"I don't know about that.." I say returning her smirk.
-=-=-=-=-=-
After getting changed, Sydney and I head out to the beach- if it was any more convenient, it would be right in her backyard. When we left, our conversation was limited to banter and playful protest; otherwise, the walk proved to be too quiet for my liking. As I would expect, she has control of Donnovan's leash, going at a slower pace than I remember; most likely because of her injury, but if she doesn't say anything, neither will I.
Sydney's protests to tell her the other end of the bargain have gotten less frequent as we turn into the boardwalk. Though it isn't quite noon, the booths of the year-around carnival are up and very much alive. We past a few more booths until we past one in particular that catches my eye- a bottle shooting game that to my delight has a large selection of stuffed dogs as prizes. I stop Sydney and point to the booth with a smirk. She stops but laughs and silently gives me consent. The carnie on the other hand is more than delighted.
"How's about it tough guy? Win a prize for the pretty lady?" He says gesturing to the wall of animals.
I give a Syd a sly look before I answer. "I don't know. Sure I guess."
Beside me, Sydney is trying to stifle her laughter as I take out my wallet and pay the man. Taking the plastic gun in my hand, weighing it lightly.
"Knock down five and you're a winner." He says piling up bottles. "Knock down ten and you got yourself one of the big prizes."
I rid my role of nervous first-timer when I cock my gun and take aim. As expected, I take down all ten with two shots. The man looks at me curiously and obviously annoyed that I passed his likely-to-be-rigged game and didn't blow forty dollars trying to win a prize. He finally admits defeat and turns to Syd disgruntled. "Pick one."
She hands me Donnovan's leash as she accepts her larger than life prize. As we walk away she leans over. "I'd thank you, but what we just did has to illegal." She says laughing.
"I saw no rule in my handbook." I say innocently. "Why didn't we think of this before? We can make a fortune.."
We both double up in laughed as we continue our walk down the boardwalk. When our giggles subside, she looks over at me with the most gorgeous smile. I falter when I feel her taking me free hand. Instead of fighting this, I accept it, returning her smile with my own happy grin.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Hours pass by so easily with Sydney and it almost feels like nothing has ever changed between. We've traded possessions as she seems to be more than willing to give up her stuffed dog in return for mine. Even though I feel ridiculous holding it, her hand still in mine, makes up for it. Handholding is innocent, but I couldn't help but feel guilty in a way. Guilty because she's willing to forgive me so easily or maybe guilty because I'm enjoying this. As she tells me about a side of Jack I never knew, Donnovan gets away from her as he yanks on his leash to chase something in front of us.
Hurrying up a little to catch her, I and almost laugh at her when I notice something out of the ordinary. She's clutching her stomach grimacing and obviously in pain. I look over at her in concern as my hand grazes her shoulder.
"Syd-"
"I'm fine." she assures me.
Sighing, I put a hand on the small of her back and guide her to a bench nearby. She sits down without any more protests when I loop the leash onto the bench's arm. Looking over to her again, she seems to have regained her composure. "Syd, this was a bad idea..."
"No, we just- Can we sit for a while?"
"Of course." I say quickly.
She sits back and allows herself to rest against the back of the bench. "I probably just shifted wrong." I nod and automatically, my arm goes around her as she leans against my shoulder. The air is cooler where we are so I pull it off my jacket and put it around her shoulders. She smiles but doesn't look at me. "Sorry." she replies timidly.
I pull her closer to me as I shake my head. "Don't be. Just- just don't scare me again."
My only answer is a nod as she buries her face into my chest once again.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"So not only does he fetch, he rolls over too." I say proudly as I follow Sydney back into her apartment. The prior mishap forgotten, we head back in hours later. Still going on his excitement, Donnovan darts ahead of us into the living room. Sydney laughs at his eagerness but waits for me to continue. "Who knew we had Eric so well-trained?"
My reward is a beautiful laugh that is music to my ears. How could I have gone so long without it? She sets her keys down and flops down onto the couch with the stuffed dog with the most utmost grace. She mutters something I can't hear but that smile doesn't leave her face. Donnovan leaps into her lap as I sit down and she looks over at me in surprise.
"Donnovan likes me!" she says happily.
"If he remembers who feeds him and bathes him, he likes me more;" I protest. After a moment, I add, "but I can't see anyone not liking you."
I deserve an award because I've managed to make Sydney Bristow blush. She tries to brush it off, but I know that juvenile comment actually got to her.
"He shouldn't be in your lap though," I say picking up the dog and placing him on the floor.
She looks at me slightly hurt. "You're no fun."
"I shared my dog and I got you your own- I'm loads of fun." I manage to say with a straight face.
She burst into laughter at my seriousness. "Well, can we trade?"
"Donnovan for the that stuffed gerbil?"
"I'll even throw in my jacket." she says taking it off.
"That's my jacket." I point out as she hands it to me.
"And this too." she adds handing me a receipt. My eyes widen as I see the object and my mind quickly tells me what the receipt was for. Unfortunately, my expression isn't subtle. Sydney catches my face and glances over at the piece of paper again with raised eyebrow. "Hmm.. What exactly is this paper, Vaughn?"
"Nothing." I say snatching the paper from her outstretched hand.
She had a curious smile on her face and there are doubts about whether I can keep it a secret. "Buying more mature items?"
"No! I wouldn't buy my mom a-"
"You bought your mom something?" she says her eyes lighting up.
"Yes.." I mumble. "Which is what I wanted to ask you.."
Her smile gets even brighter. "Wow.. Donnovan and the other part of the bargain. Is it my birthday?"
I look at her seriously. "I actually bought a gift for my mom. It's her- uh birthday. My aunt- she and my mom are really close and she's throwing her a party this year. I was wondering if..."
Her face is grave and she's suddenly silent. I have to say I definitely wasn't anticipating this. "Does she know about..?
"Yeah. I told her two weeks ago- just not with so much context." I say quickly. "But she's known about you for awhile." I add with a soft smile.
Her lips quiver with an oncoming smile. "I really don't know about this, Vaughn."
"I understand-"
"I'll make you a deal: you show me that receipt, and I'll happily go." She says, the smile returning to her face.
A rush of relief overtakes me and I silently agree to play her little game as I get off the couch and go around the other side, far away from her grasp. "Not a chance, Syd." I say a menacing smirk on my face.
"Vaughn-" she says sternly getting up and heading over to me.
"Bristow?" I say matching her tone.
I start to move away with every step she takes towards me. She laughs but only increases her pace and it's only a matter of time before we make several runs around the couch. Getting tired, I stop at the arm of the couch and hold the receipt above me head and just out of her grasp. My height advantage isn't helping her as she tries to inch closer. I suddenly notice our position. Her body pressed against me sends my memory sensors into high gear. I have no time to revel in the moment because Sydney's latest attempt makes me loose my balance and sends us both tumbling backwards onto the couch.
My first thought is that this might have hurt her but her vibrant laughter assures me otherwise. If our first position was bad, this one is terrible. I can feel her laughter vibrate against my own chest and it brings me to my own smile as I pull one of my hands around to steady her, making sure she doesn't fall. I pull another hand through her hair as I pledge to myself that Syd is the most beautiful as she is when she's laughing. When I do it though, her laughter subsides slowly.
"You're so damn stubborn." she says her smile now more shy.
I look at her again seeing something in her eyes that I never saw with Lauren. Love and pure adoration is reflected in those beautiful chocolate eyes. "God, you're so beautiful, Syd." I say breathlessly. She blushes again under my scrutiny and it only widens my own smile.
As if time is on pause, she leans towards me so slowly. She's inches away from my face and we're breathing the same air. I move to close the distance when-
"I cannot believe you guys.. both.. left-"
His words break off as Weiss stops at the door way, his mouth slightly open and his apparent anger replaced with shock and confusion. Almost instantly, Syd leaps up and off me as I quickly sit up. Her face is red with embarrassment as I'm sure mine is. The moment feels strangely familiar and doesn't fail to make me feel like a teenager that just got caught making out with his girlfriend while his parents were out; only this time it's much more different.
Eric is my best friend and he has been ever since college but at the moment? Not so much.
"Um.. I'm really sor-"
"Hey Eric.. Have you eaten yet?" Syd says her voice wavering. Without waiting for an answer, she hurries into the kitchen and not very discreetly.
"Mike- I.. uh.." He says looking over at me. "Not a great time?" he tries meekly. I don't answer him as I breath a sigh of frustration. Pulling the jacket over my face, I fall back into the couch.
-=-=-=-=-=-
TBC
A/N: Muah ha ha ha.. I'm eeevviill... I hoped you guys like this longer than usual chapter and the cheesy fluff. I've done my job, so now it's your turn which is decide to make my day by leaving me a nice review or even if you feel like it, constructive criticism... I lurve it all. Toodles until next time, my lovely readers!
