Later that night, Francie and Will went out, leaving Sydney alone in the apartment. She made a bowl of popcorn and settled herself on the couch and began to watch a made for TV movie. A couple of minutes into the film, the phone rang distracting her from what she was watching. She sighed and reached over for the phone, her eyes never once leaving the screen.
"Hello?" She put another piece of popcorn in her mouth and sat back on the couch.
"Hi Sydney. It's Michael." She smiled and found herself no longer paying attention to the film. She couldn't believe that he had actually called; when Eric had told her that Michael would call her, she didn't actually think that he was telling the truth. She thought he was just trying to make up for the mistake that he had made.
"Oh hey."
"I wanted to apologise about Weiss and the phone call earlier on today…" Vaughn started to apologise but Sydney cut him off.
"It's ok. It was really sweet of him to call and apologise."
"The reason I called was to see if you had any plans for tomorrow afternoon…" Before Vaughn had left the office, Weiss had given him strict instructions that he was to ask Sydney out again, and surprisingly Vaughn found himself taking Weiss's advice.
"No I'm free."
"Great. Meet me at the gates of the park around about 2?"
Sydney's smile grew even more at the thought of another date with him. "Sure. I'll see you then."
The following day, Sydney parked her car across the road from the park. She got out and quickly checked her reflection in the car window before crossing the street. She had been excited about the date all night, and the minute Francie got home Sydney had to tell her about it, and she was equally as excited.
She got to the gates to find that Vaughn was already there. She flashed him a smile, which he returned.
"Hey, sorry I'm late."
"You're not. I just got here." He reassured her with another smile. They walked through the gates and into the park. The park was quite packed with it being Sunday, as everyone was trying to spend a relaxing day under the Californian sun before work started the next day.
"So I thought that since our last date didn't quite go as planned…" They both laughed as Vaughn started talking. "That we could just take a walk in the park, and I'll even buy you some ice cream if you're lucky," he teased.
"Oh, only if I'm lucky hey?" She looked at him and shook her head. "You should have told me, I would have brought my lucky charm!" She joked back, enjoying the playfulness between them.
He laughed and then his face turned serious again. "But at least nothing can go wrong with a walk in the park."
Sydney thought for a minute and shrugged. "It could rain!" She turned to face him and burst out laughing. He just rolled her eyes at her and mumbled something about jinxing things.
They continued to walk through the park, idly talking, until Sydney spotted an ice cream vendor. She stopped walking and innocently looked at him. "So, what are my chances of getting that ice cream?"
He looked between her and the ice cream truck. "I'd say they were pretty good. Come on." He placed his hand on her back and led her towards the vendor.
Sydney looked at the menu trying to decide which flavour she wanted. She liked the majority of flavours on the list, so picking one of them was difficult. After a couple of minutes, the vendor looked at Vaughn, nodding his head towards Sydney, silently asking him what she was doing. Vaughn simply shrugged and roll his eyes.
A young couple cut infront of them and ordered their ice cream, and Sydney was still staring intently at the menu by the time they left. "Er…Syd?"
Realising that she had been taking her time, she quickly picked one of the flavours. "Sorry, I'll have strawberry." She smiled at the vendor and noticed Vaughn shaking his head at her. "What?"
"All of that for strawberry? You could have at least picked something a little more challenging, like raspberry ripple."
"Yeah because raspberry ripple is such a challenge." She replied sarcastically, and playfully punched his arm.
"Make that a strawberry cone and a raspberry ripple." He glanced at her and smiled as he made his order.
They finally got their ice creams and continued walking. Sydney spotted a huge oak tree and suggested that they should sit down for a little while. They took a seat under the tree; Vaughn leaning against the trunk while Sydney sat beside him.
"How's the raspberry ice cream?" Sydney asked.
"It's great. So much better than strawberry…" He took another bite of the ice cream and Sydney quickly knocked his arm, causing the ice cream to go onto his nose. She immediately burst out laughing, as he sat there with it on his nose.
"I can't believe you just did that." He found himself laughing along, despite the cold sensation on his face.
"I'm sorry." She managed to calm her laughter down as she handed him a napkin. "But let this be a lesson to you, never make fun of strawberry ice cream. Or me for that matter." She smiled triumphantly and ate some more ice cream.
"I'd never make fun of you…" He held her gaze for a couple of seconds before looking away. Sydney stared down at the grass as silence came over them.
After finishing their ice creams, they stood up and decided to keep walking. They walked around the lake that was in the centre of the park and spent a couple of minutes watching the ducks in the water. As they started walking again, Sydney slipped her hand in Michael's, and was relieved when he gave her hand a comforting squeeze and then linked their fingers together. They continued to walk hand in hand until they heard someone behind them shouting Michael.
They stopped walking and turned to see a woman who appeared to be in her sixties walking towards them. She smiled at them both as she approached.
"Dr Vaughn, what a nice surprise."
"Mrs Davies. It's good to see you again." Mrs Davies had been one of Michael's patients ever since he moved to LA.
She turned her attention to Sydney. "Hello dear." She looked down at their joined hands and then back up at Michael. "You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend."
Michael looked at Sydney and then tried to explain. "Oh no, she's not my gir…" He stopped himself, realising that it was none of her business. Sydney had to stifle her laugh; the poor woman looked so confused. "So how have you been Mrs Davies?" He quickly changed the subject.
"I've been great. I'm here with the grandkids." She motioned over to two young toddlers who were a couple of feet behind her, as her husband tried to control them. Seeing that he needed her help, she quickly excused herself, walking back to her family and leaving Sydney and Vaughn to continue with their walk.
"I'm sorry about back there..." He wasn't entirely sure what he was apologising for. Sydney wasn't his girlfriend; after all they had only been on two dates. But he knew that it had been awkward situation for both of them.
"Don't be." She squeezed his hand and smiled. "So she thought I was your girlfriend!" She shrugged. "I should take that as a compliment." She joked, although she was happy that she was mistaken as his girlfriend.
"No I'd be the lucky one…"
"Hey, but I thought I was the lucky one…I'm the one that got the challenging ice cream." She started laughed and Michael joined in. He noticed how she had one of the infectious laughs, and every time that she laughed he couldn't help but laugh along to.
He stopped laughing and looked at her, his eyes roaming all over her face. She blushed but before she could say anything his lips were on hers. He cupped her face with his hands while she held on to his waist as the kiss deepened.
They pulled apart and Sydney smiled. "I'm definitely the lucky one…" She stroked his face before reaching up to kiss him again.
