When Nigel woke the next morning he was alone. In those few seconds between sleeping and being totally awake, his brain blessedly withheld the memories of the night before and then reality kicked in and his eyes snapped open.
"Oh God!" he groaned mentally. "Sydney's going to kill me when she finds out how long this has been going on. I wonder if I've got enough time to pack and get out of here before she comes back and tears me limb from limb." The ridiculousness of the last thought finally made him smile and he shook his head in disbelief at his own stupidity. "Of course she's not going to kill me," he said aloud. "She said herself that these things occasionally happen. We're both adults, I'm sure we can handle this in a mature fashion."
Feeling slightly better, Nigel got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to take a shower before Sydney got back. It wasn't that he minded showering while Sydney was in the other room; it was just that, no matter how many times he asked her not to, she had a habit of walking in without knocking.
When he came out 20 minutes later, Sydney was sitting at the table on the small balcony and reading the paper. She had obviously been out because the tabletop was covered with take out bags and cups of coffee. She looked up when she heard the bathroom door close and smiled. "Morning Nigel," she said cheerily and then went right back to reading her paper.
Nigel just looked at her for a few seconds, totally confused by her behaviour. He had expected her to get right into the discussion about what had happened the night before and he couldn't understand why she was putting it off. "Oh well," he thought with a mental laugh. "Anything that keeps me alive for a little bit longer is a good thing."
He strolled over and pulled out the remaining chair at the table. "So," he said calmly. "What's for breakfast?"
Sydney looked over the top of her paper and smiled. "Take your pick. There's bagels with cream cheese, muffins and fresh fruit. To drink we have coffee and fruit juice." She bent down to the bag propped up against her chair and pulled out another paper. "Oh," she said as threw it at him. "I picked up your paper while I was out as well."
"Thanks," Nigel said, slightly surprised by her obvious good mood but not saying anything. He sat himself down at the table and started on the breakfast that Sydney had bought. The next hour passed pleasantly. The only conversation was occasional remark about something in one of the papers and comments about the weather and the food. It suddenly occurred to Nigel that he had seen couples have less congenial breakfasts and he couldn't help smiling ruefully. The idea of someone like Sydney being married to someone like him was ludicrous; they were polar opposites, totally different in every way.
"What's the smile for?" Sydney asked and Nigel blinked and shook himself out of his thoughts.
"What?" he said and then realised what she had said. "Oh. Nothing, just thinking."
"Care to share with the rest of the class?" Sydney asked with a smile.
"Not especially," Nigel said with a shrug and went back to reading his paper. When he looked up again ten minutes later, Sydney had folded her own paper and was watching him over the top of the cup of coffee that she was drinking. "We're going to have that conversation now, aren't we?" he asked and sighed when Sydney nodded in response. "Anyway I can get out of it?" he couldn't resist asking and Sydney smiled.
"Nope!" she declared and Nigel folded up his paper with another sigh.
"Okay," he said. "But can I go first?"
Sydney smiled. "I yield the floor," she said and Nigel couldn't help a small smile at her behaviour. It didn't look like she was particularly upset, but you never knew with Sydney.
"First of all," Nigel said. "I'm sorry. I never meant for you to find out about this. You have to know that I would never deliberately take advantage of you like that. I mean, it was a total accident. Nothing happened."
"Why wouldn't you take advantage of me?" Sydney demanded. "What's the matter? Am I not pretty enough for you?"
Nigel gaped at her in shock and started to stammer a reply when Sydney burst out laughing. "Oh God!" she gasped between giggles. "If you could see the look on your face right now." She reached out and covered his hand with her own. "Relax, Nigel," she said with a gentle smile. "I'm just teasing, I know you would never take advantage of me like that, but the fact remains that we may have a problem."
"I know," he agreed. "But short of me quitting, I don't know what to do about it."
Sydney scowled at the idea. "That is NOT going to happen," she promised. "If you think I'm letting the best assistant I ever had leave over something like this, you're wrong."
"So what do we do?" Nigel asked. "Just ignore it and hope it goes away? We're both adults, I'm sure that's not going to be a problem."
Sydney was silent for a while and Nigel stared into his coffee, desperately praying that this wasn't the end of the best relationship he had ever had in his life. Sydney was not only his boss, she was also his best friend and he didn't know what he would do if he didn't have her around anymore.
"I did a lot of thinking this morning," Sydney suddenly said quietly and Nigel looked up from his coffee mug, waiting for her to continue. "And I came to a conclusion. I don't want to ignore this, Nigel. This has been going on too long now. I think we need to face the fact that something may be going on here."
"Like what?" Nigel asked. He thought he had a pretty good idea of what she was trying to say, but he needed to hear her say it.
Sydney got out of her chair and paced restlessly to the edge of the balcony. She gazed out at the city below for a moment, just collecting her thoughts, and then turned back to Nigel. "I don't know," she said truthfully. "All I know is that I like waking up in your arms. I like the fact that the smell of the soap you use lingers on my skin for hours after we share a bed. I like feeling your breath on the back of my neck when you wrap yourself around me and I like hearing your heart beat when I cuddle up to you. But there's one thing I really hate. I hate the way I feel empty on those mornings when I wake up and you're on the other side of the bed, that's even worse than the way I feel when I wake up alone."
Nigel walked across to join her at the rail. He took her hand in his, holding tighter when she tried to pull it away. He could see in her eyes that she was suddenly unsure of his reaction and he almost smiled. The Sydney he knew was never afraid of anything and he felt a sudden rush of love for her. "What are you trying to say, Syd?" he asked quietly and she shrugged.
"I'm saying that maybe our unconscious minds are trying to tell us something. That maybe we shouldn't fight this, that we should go with it and see where it takes us."
"Take it slowly, you mean?" Nigel asked. "See if there's anything more between us than friendship?"
Sydney nodded. "Exactly," she said. "You know, have long talks, see movies, go to dinner, that sort of thing."
"Date in other words?" Nigel said and Sydney nodded again. Nigel frowned. "There's just on problem with that, Syd. I don't want to do any of that." He saw the tears that suddenly came to her eyes as she tried once to pull her hand from his and he cursed himself for putting it so clumsily.
"It's okay, Nigel," Sydney said, trying desperately not to give in to the tears that were threatening to fall. "I understand, we're just good friends and that's it." She felt the first tear trickle down her cheek and she looked away from him.
Nigel reached and gently turned her to face him; he leant forward and lightly brushed his lips over hers. "You didn't let me finish," he said with a small smile as he wiped away the tear with his thumb. "What I was going to say before I was so rudely interrupted was that I don't want to take it slow. Everything you've just said about the long talks and the dinners and the movies, we've been doing for the last 4 years. You know things about me that I have never told another soul."
"What do you want, Nigel?" Sydney asked and Nigel grinned.
"I want you," he said. "I want everything you have to give me. I want your mind, your heart, your body and your soul and I want it all now. But I'm willing to go slowly if that's what you want."
Sydney looked at him for a moment and then burst into tears. Nigel gently gathered her into his arms and stroked her hair while she cried. "I never thought I would see the day when the great Sydney Fox would cry over any man," he teased when she finally lifted her head from his shoulder.
"Only over you, Nigel," she promised. "You're the only one that has ever been worth the tears."
He smiled. "You know," he said conversationally. "If you didn't look so terrible right now, I'd kiss you."
"I do not look terrible!" Sydney stated indignantly.
"Yes you do," Nigel teased. "Your nose is all runny and your eyes are all red and swollen. You're really not looking at your most attractive right now, Sydney." She raised her hand to slap him on the shoulder but Nigel grabbed it and kissed the palm. "Sydney," he said quietly as he slowly kissed his way up her arm to the point where her shoulder met her neck. "Just how slowly did you want to take this?"
His only response was Sydney grabbing his shirt front, pulling him tightly against her and kissing him. When she finally let him up for air, he grinned. "So we're not taking ti slowly then?" he asked.
Sydney grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the bedroom. "No we bloody well are not!" she declared as she pushed him onto the bed and almost threw herself on top of him.
Further discussions about just how fast they were going to take things could definitely wait, they both decided.
The End.