Thank you once again to Edy for the beta. J

Chapter 3

Michael couldn't help wondering what the hell he thought he was doing. He was sitting in a corner booth of House Blend, a small, cozy coffee shop near the UCLA campus, waiting for Sydney.

He was meeting his sister's best friend for coffee.

In his head he kept up a mantra of 'this is not a date, this is not a date, thisisnotadate, thisisnotadate…'

But a part of him just didn't want to believe it. He sipped his latte and refrained from looking at his watch. It wasn't like she was late or anything, they had agreed to meet at 4 and he had gotten there ten minutes early.

The tinkle of the bell sounded. Michael looked up towards the door and literally felt his heart skip a beat. Sydney was walking towards him with a beautiful smile on her face.

"Hey." She sat down across from him and checked her watch. "Have you been waiting long?"

"No, just a couple of minutes," Michael tried to sound nonchalant. "I got here early."

A waitress came over and Sydney ordered a cappuccino. "So, the past five years you've been in Paris, did you check out any of the bookstores I recommended?"

Trust Sydney to open up a conversation by talking about books.

"Actually, I did spend quite a bit of time at Gilbert Joseph."

Sydney's eyes lit up. "Gilbert Joseph? Did you see…" She trailed off and frowned slightly.

Michael hid his smile behind his coffee cup.

Gilbert Joseph was both a bookstore and a music store. "Hey—which section did you actually spend time in?" Sydney rolled her eyes as she realized that she already knew the answer to her question.

"I've been pestering you to go to the J. Paul Getty Museum for years," Michael reminded her.

"I prefer words to pictures," Sydney said.

"And I prefer pictures to words," Michael countered. "I think it's time we finally call a truce and agree to disagree on the matter. You like books and I like paintings, let's leave it at that."

"Fine," Sydney agreed.

One of the things Michael had always liked about Sydney was how easy it was to talk to her. It amazed him how easily they fell back into their old banter.

Michael noticed that Sydney was studying him carefully, the shadow of a smirk playing upon her lips.

"What?" Michael asked. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling self-conscious from her scrutiny.

"Ella told me about that French model you were dating," Sydney said.

Michael felt his face go warm. He had a hunch that he knew where this was going and he did not like it one bit.

"Oh, yeah? Well, that was over a long time ago," he played with the edges of a napkin, trying to look unconcerned. "It didn't even last long. Four months at the most."

"Ella actually told me an interesting story," Sydney continued. "Her name was Isabelle, right? She was a ramp model?"

"Yeah," Michael stared at his coffee, wishing he could drown in it.

"So, it's true that you attended one of her fashion shows and when one of the male models got sick, they made you take his place?"

Michael was going to kill Ella, he really was. She had promised not to tell anyone about that. He had paid her just to keep her mouth shut. This is the last time he let himself get blackmailed by his Ella Vaughn. He made a mental note to figure out a way to get revenge on his dear sister.

Sydney took his lack of a response as a yes and laughed. She laughed so hard she cried.

"I'm glad you find my public humiliation so amusing," Michael said dryly.

"Oh my God," Sydney wiped her eyes as her laughter subsided. "I would have paid money to see you model."

"Yeah well, I paid money so that Ella would keep her mouth shut about that."

"Oh relax, it's not like she's told Eric or Craig or any of the other guys. Yet."

Michael grumbled about stupid sisters under his breath, which only made Sydney laugh more.

"How did it feel walking down the catwalk, Mr. Vaughn?" Sydney imitated a reporter and pretended to hold a microphone up to his mouth.

Michael looked pained. "I'm never going to live this down, am I?"

Sydney grinned. "No, you're not. I'm having way too much fun with this. You should see your face, Michael; you're as red as a tomato."

He looked at her and couldn't help but think that public humiliation was a small price to pay just to see her beautiful, dimpled smile.

Sydney signaled for the waitress and they both had their coffees refilled.

"Would you really have paid money just to see me embarrass myself?" Michael asked her.

"Embarrass yourself? Michael, come on, have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? I think you'd be a great model."

Michael smiled, surprised. Sydney seemed to realize what she just said because her cheeks turned the prettiest shade of pink, which she tried and failed to hide behind her coffee cup.

Michael inwardly cheered at this but wisely decided to change the subject. "How's college life treating you so far, Syd?"

Sydney launched into a story about a Professor who failed nearly half the class last semester and Michael listened to her attentively, fascinated by the parts of her life he had missed. Michael told her about a kid he saw in Paris teaching unsuspecting and gullible tourists to say swear words, and Sydney described the frat parties that Ella has managed to drag her to.

Neither one of them seemed to notice the time going by until a man Michael didn't know came up to their table.

"Sydney," he said. "I didn't know you'd be here."

Sydney looked up in surprise. "Danny! This is Michael Vaughn, Ella's brother. He just got back from France. Michael, this is Danny Hecht my, uh, boyfriend."

Danny held out his hand and Michael shook it, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. Which really wasn't fair because Danny seemed like a nice enough guy. But he was dating Sydney.

"It's nice to meet you," Danny said. He had a British accent, which Michael found irritating.

"Are you done here, love?" Danny asked Sydney. "Maybe we can catch a movie or something."

Sydney looked at Michael. He sensed her hesitation and hastened to reassure her. "It's okay, I need to be getting home anyway."

"Are you sure?" Sydney asked.

"Positive."

Sydney reached into her purse but Michael stopped her. "Syd, it's my treat."

"Thank you," she said.

Danny tugged at her hand a little as she got up. "Let's go."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked through the coffee shop. Sydney turned her head just as they reached the door and waved goodbye to Michael.

Michael felt like he'd been punched in the gut. Of course she had a boyfriend. Just look at her, how could he have been naïve enough to think that she was actually single. Or that he even stood a chance of being with her. He was just her best friend's older brother, after all. She probably just saw him as a brother too.

But in a tiny corner of Michael's heart, there was still a spark of hope. Even if it was just a small one. Because when Sydney had waved to him, there was no mistaking the look of regret he saw in her eyes.

A/N: I should have made this clear from the very beginning and I'm sorry I didn't, but this story is very AU, so no, Sydney is not involved with SD-6 and neither she or Vaughn are with the CIA.

I know a lot of you saw the whole boyfriend thing coming from a mile away but I had it planned from the very beginning so I just followed through with it.

Thank you all for reading and for your wonderful comments! J