"Do you mind telling me where we're going?" Vaughn asked, as they got out of the car. They were in the middle of a packed street, surrounded by clothes shops and various other stores. Sydney smiled as she slipped her hand in his.
"Well we were gonna go shopping, but there's been a change of plans." He looked at her cautiously, wondering where she was taking him.
"We are not shopping, for at least another ten years. My credit card is still recovering from our wedding!" He joked, although he was telling the truth. Sydney laughed at him, and held his hand tighter.
Flashback
"There's some mail for you." Sydney handed him a bunch of letters as she walked into the kitchen, placing a light kiss on his cheek as she walked past.
"Thanks!" He sifted through the mail, placing the junk mail on the counter infront of him. He was left holding the letter that he had been dreading receiving.
"You want some coffee?" Sydney offered, totally oblivious to what he held in his hand.
"Er…sure." He opened that envelope and took out the bank statement. It had been 5 weeks since the wedding, and he had dreaded his statement coming. He looked at the letter, his eyes immediately falling on the figure at the bottom of the page. "Oh God!"
Sydney spun around, two cups of hot coffee in her hand. "What?"
"Oh, it's just my bank statement…"
She nodded and walked towards him, placing on cup on the counter beside him. Sitting down at the kitchen table, she opened up the morning paper and started reading. She read the first two lines of an article and then looked back up at him, realising what he meant by 'bank statement.'
"The wedding." She stated, her voice barely above a whisper. She got up and walked to stand infront of him. "How much is it?" She wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to know just how much he'd spent on their wedding.
"Well let's just say I'm gonna have an over-draft for the next 50-60 years." He glanced up from the letter and looked at her.
She took the piece of paper off him. "I'll help you pay…" She stopped speaking as she saw just how much money he owed. "Wow! You spent this much?" She asked in disbelief.
He smiled sheepishly at her. "Well yeah. The dress alone cost like a third of that." He shrugged and took the letter back off her, folding it up and putting it back in the envelope.
Sydney wrapped her arms around his waist; her eyes focused on his. "We could always take the dress back!" She suggested. "It'll help to pay some of that off."
Vaughn shook his head and leaned down to kiss her. "I bought the dress for you…it'd be wrong for somebody else to wear it." He put his arms around her, pulling her into his embrace. "Don't worry about the money. I wanted to give you the perfect wedding, the amount of money doesn't even come into it." He reassured her, lightly kissing the top of her head.
"I love you." She hugged him tighter, her head resting on his chest.
"I know you do. I love you too."
End Flashback
"We could have just window shopped!"
Michael looked at her, his left eyebrow raised slightly. "Sydney Vaughn does not do window shopping. Window shopping to you, is standing outside the shop for twenty minutes. Then you go inside to not only buy the thing you've been staring at, but you somehow manage to find other things that you have to buy!"
Sydney's cheeks blushed as he finished talking. She knew what he was saying was true, but she wasn't about to admit that to him. "Shut up!" She playfully pushed him, and stopped walking. Vaughn carried on walking, totally oblivious to the fact that she was no longer by his side. He eventually turned around to look at her.
"You've stopped walking why?"
"Because we're here!" She replied, glancing at her chosen location. He followed her gaze and laughed.
"Starbucks? You're taking me to Starbucks?" He raised his eyebrows at her, hoping that she was joking.
She smiled sweetly at him and nodded. "Yep!"
He looked between her and the shop, trying to figure out why they were there. "Ok, so help me out a little…"
"Well," she took a step towards him, her arm wrapping around his shoulder. "You said today was about doing things that we both like…" He nodded, still unsure about where she was going with this. "You like coffee, and I like coffee! So stop complaining, I'm buying." She ushered him into the coffee shop.
"I will never understand just how your mind works!"
"You're not supposed to!" She laughed, leaning forward to kiss him. "Go sit down, I'll get the drinks."
A couple of minutes later, she joined him at the table and handed him his coffee. They sat talking and laughing together, both happy being in each other's company.
"Vaughn…" Sydney said, laughter now gone from her face. He knew that it was something serious, ever since they got married she had tried her best to only call him Michael, but whenever it was something serious she used his last name. There had been times when she would call him Vaughn, as a slip of the tongue, but judging by her face he knew she was serious.
"What's wrong."
"There's something I've been wanting to tell you. I've been keeping it a secret for the past year, but I can't keep it to myself anymore." She put her coffee down on the table and looked at him.
"Ok…"
"My mom was at our wedding."
"What?"
"You know how I was a little late coming to the wedding?" Vaughn nodded. "Well it wasn't because I was getting cold feet. When Carrie and me were on the beach, I thought I spotted my mom, but it was only a quick glance so I wasn't too sure. I looked back and it was her, I couldn't believe it. So I got Carrie to stall for me while I went to see her. You know the necklace I wear everyday, she gave it to me. My father gave it to her, and she wanted me to have it."
Vaughn looked down at the table as he thought about everything that she'd just told him. "How come I never saw her?"
"I asked her to stay for the wedding, but out of courtesy to you and your mom, she refused." She reached across the table and took his hand in hers. "I'm sorry that I never told you before…"
"It's ok." He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. "Every girl deserves to have her mom at her wedding!"
Sydney nodded. "I know." She watched as he took another sip of his drink, as she debated with herself about whether or not she should tell him the whole truth. His eyes met hers and she knew that she had to tell him. She couldn't keep it from him for much longer. "That's not the only time I've saw my mother, Vaughn."
Flashback
Sydney got out of the shower and put on her bathrobe. Vaughn was out playing hockey with Weiss as he did every Tuesday, so she had a big night infront of the T.V planned. She quickly combed her hair and tied it back. The house that she shared with Vaughn was silent, except for the sound of Sydney humming one of the songs that she'd heard on the radio the previous morning. She tied her hair back, and walked into the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of wine and sat down on the couch, a book open on her lap. The room was darkened, the only light coming from the lit fireplace and the small lamp that was next to the couch.
Sydney began reading when she heard a noise behind her. She quickly snapped the book shut and turned around to come face to face with her mother. "Mom?"
Irina stepped further into the room and smiled at her daughter. "Hi."
Sydney stood up and walked towards her. "How did you get in?" She knew that she had locked the door as soon as Vaughn had left, so she had no idea how Irina had found a way in.
Irina wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Sydney, did you really think I would have used the doorbell?" She joked. "Besides, you may want to rethink the security in this place!" Although it was said with a light tone, Sydney knew that her mother meant every word.
"What are you doing here?"
"Can I mother not stop by to visit her daughter every once in a while?" Sydney smiled. She poured her mom a drink and they both sat down on the couch.
"So, I hear you're leaving the Agency?"
Sydney looked away from the fire, and stared at her mother. "How did you know?"
"I have my contacts!" She stated, taking a sip of her drink.
Sydney sighed. She knew that she would never know everything about her mother, and that scared her a little bit. "I working out my notice. I only have a couple of more weeks to go and then I'm out."
"Any particular reason that you're leaving?"
"I just didn't want that life anymore. So many bad things have happened to me because of it; I lost Danny, Francie, Will, two years of my life, even Vaughn at one point. I want a normal life for Vaughn and me, and now we can have that." Sydney wiped away a tear that was rolling down her cheek. The room grew silent, as both women stared intently at the fire. After a couple of minutes Irina spoke, although her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I never wanted this life for you Sydney. When I found out I was pregnant with you, I panicked. There was no way that I could raise a child and still do the job that I had. But somehow I found a way. And I tried to convince myself that things would be different for you; that you'd find your own path in life that didn't involve espionage. I wanted you to be safe, and not have to worry about whether you were endangering you're life by going to work each morning. When I found about that you were with the Agency, I was furious. Me and your father argued a lot about it, but there was nothing we could do about it; you'd already become too involved with it all." Irina paused, and looked over at her daughter. "Once you're out Sydney, never, ever, go back to that life. It takes too much away from you, and it just isn't worth it." Sydney could hear the sadness and regret in her mother's voice, but she didn't push the subject any further. Although she didn't know an awful lot about her mother, she knew that this conversation had just brought them a little bit closer.
End Flashback