Vaughn combed through his hair one more time and looked in the mirror to make sure his light blue button down shirt was decent. He played with the tie around his neck and then took it off. It was too formal and too tight around his throat.

"Geez, you're like a girl. Let's go before we keep them waiting. That's the last thing you want her to remember." Weiss groaned playing with his car keys as he watched his friend take off the tie for the third time. "Not like it'd be on your neck for very long anyway."

"Eric, shut up." Vaughn snapped. He took a deep breath and then grabbed his jacket. "Let's go."

"Thank god!" Weiss exclaimed happily in relief as they walked to their cars parked out front.

The girls hadn't left yet. He spotted their cars still parked out front of Sydney's apartment. Relieved, he got into his car to start it up. They needed to be gone before the girls saw him. He was enough of a mess as it was and he didn't want to have to deal with explaining where he had been all afternoon.

It took around thirty minutes to get to the restaurant. By the time he got out of his car and into the restaurant, Sydney's small SUV had pulled into a parking space up front. The small elegant restaurant sat next to the pier that looked out to the pacific. It was the perfect spot to see the sunset and was right next to a soft white beach.

Fiddling with his collar again, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Weiss wasn't helping him with that stupid grin on his face. All it did was make him more nervous. Give him a choice and he would gladly shove his best friend into the ocean. Maybe he shouldn't have told Weiss his plans after all.
"Hey boys." Nadia said in greeting. Her long red dress fit snuggly around her body and he could see Weiss blushing slightly. She hugged Vaughn and gave Weiss a peck on the lips.

When Sydney entered, everything around him slowed down and he had a hard time keeping his eyebrows down from surprise and delight. She had on a dark blue dress made out of a light satin cloth. It fit around her curves in just the right way. He could barely get out a recognizable hello as she kissed him lightly on the lips. The scent of flowers and vanilla filled his nose, making him grin.

"Hey." She smiled almost bashfully.

"You look beautiful… our tables… They're, uh, outside." He sputtered as if he were on his first date with her. By no means had he ever stumbled over his words so badly, not even in high school. If anyone saw him right now, they'd never believe he was an undercover agent for a black ops CIA branch. They'd laugh in his face.

Weiss and Nadia led the way to a table out on the gazebo, just inches from the pier and the ocean. Pulling a seat out for Sydney, he watched as she sat down gracefully. The salty breeze blew a few loose strands of hair that had escaped out of her barrette and she pulled them back behind her ear with one hand.

He gazed out at the water and noticed that the sun was just beginning to fade into the surface of the ocean. Perfect timing…

"You know what? Why don't we take our wine out onto the beach before dinner arrives." Vaughn asked off handedly.

"Michael… we can't go out there. Look at what you're wearing." She grinned as if believing that he had forgotten where they were.

He shrugged as if he didn't care, which he really didn't. To show her that, he began taking off his shoes and socks. Looking up, he saw the embarrassment on her face. "What?"

"Look at where we are."

"Exactly. We're on the beach and the sun's setting. Around this time of the year, the water can't be that cold. It's perfect." He told her. "Don't you agree Weiss?"

Weiss looked slightly hesitant and began to fiddle with his tie. "Uh, Mike… I don't know..."

Vaughn glared at him and then waited patiently for Sydney to get up. "Come on Syd. This is like a once in a life time moment. Look out there. It's beautiful and we're going to miss it because we're at some extravagant restaurant on the coast and we're too afraid to get our feet wet."

Sydney sighed and looked over at Nadia and Weiss for help. They both shrugged and didn't give her any feedback. Glancing up at him, her dimples deepened as her smile grew at his ridiculous request.

"Alright, alright… You two coming?" She asked taking off her heels.

"Uhm, no. We'll leave you two crazy love birds to do your thing. I'm not getting this dress wet." Nadia replied looking slightly skeptical at the idea.

The wine came as expected and the waiter gave Vaughn a funny look when he noticed his feet were bare. Ignoring the man, he took his wine glass in one hand and grabbed Sydney's hand with the other. He dragged her out of the gazebo and onto the beach.

He felt the cooling sand go between his toes and suddenly he was ten years younger. Gazing over at her, he noticed the same reaction on her face as she let a long breath out. He began searching for seashells in the sand and found a couple of broken ones near the shoreline. Walking until his feet began to get wet with the coming tides, he began to throw them into the sea and watched as they skipped across the surface. As soon as the next wave came in, they would disappear under the current.

"You're right… This is perfect." Sydney said as she sipped from her wineglass.

A gull swooped above them and took a dive into the ocean to come up with a fish inside of its bill. Vaughn grinned and began to lead his love down the shoreline. As the sun sunk into the horizon, new colors began to burst into the sky like a painter spilling his palette.

He grabbed a piece of conk shell off the ground again and noticed an unbroken clam shell nearby. Tossing the broken shell into the ocean allowed him to go over to the full shell. "Have you ever seen the inside of a clam before?"

She glanced over at him as if he had broken her out of thought. Her eyes studied the clam shell that now was in his palm and shook her head smiling. "No, I haven't."

As if to testify to this, another gull called above them in approval. It took a nose dive just like the other one and came up with nothing. Then it skimmed the top of the ocean and came up with a beak full of fish. It again called out to them in happiness and Vaughn took that as a good sign.

He gave the clam shell to Sydney and motioned with his hands to show her how to open it. She pried it open and looked inside. Her eyes went wide and she took in a sudden breath of surprise.

Kneeling down in the sand, he looked up at her with a nervous smile. "I know you wanted us to go slow…But Sydney there are two things in my life that I am sure about. One is that I love you, I love you so much… And two, that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know our job calls us to different ends of the worlds and that it's dangerous and chaotic at times…

"This ring was given to me by my mother. She gave it to me when I went off to college. It's the same ring my father proposed to her with. She told me that I should give it to the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with… Syd, when I thought you had died… I sold it, because I knew that I would never meet another woman I wanted as much as you. I spent these last two months, with Marshall's help, relocating it…"

He swallowed and took a jagged breath in. "If you would say yes… it would mean the world to me. If…"

"Shhh." She smiled and he found both happiness mixed with a tint of sadness reflecting in her beautiful eyes. Her smile grew bigger and she bent down to look him directly in the eyes. "Yes."

"Yeah?" he asked hesitantly, not sure if he had heard her right.

Sticking her left hand in front of him, she nodded. "Yes… I do… I want to."

Putting the ring on her finger, he leaned into her body and kissed her lightly on the lips. He could feel himself relax and warmth grew throughout his body. It was over and she had said yes.

A sound of a click drew them apart and both of them looked up towards the gazebo. Weiss crouched just a few feet away with a digital camera in hand. Nadia stood just behind him, glowing at the scene before her. Bringing the lens away from his face, Weiss grinned as if satisfied.

"Eric? Nadia?" Sydney said surprised. "Did you know about this?"

"I did… she didn't." Weiss replied sheepishly. "Hey, congrats!… But our food is here… If you folks are done… I'd like to eat."

"Eric!" Nadia warned him with a glare.

"We'll be up in a minute." Sydney replied and she turned back to Vaughn. He gazed back at her lovingly. "Hey."

"Hey." He grinned. "Ready?"

"Sure." She replied.

They began walking up the dune to the gazebo. He stopped her just before they reached the entrance. Turning her around, he gave her another longer deeper kiss. He pulled back to study the woman he had just pledged his heart to.

"I love you Sydney Bristow."

She smiled and gave him a hug. Whispering into his ear, she said the sweetest thing he would ever hear. "I love you too."

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Hey folks, sorry for the massive delay on updates. Because of this, I have put up two chapters. I hope you liked them. Don't forget to comment. I'd love to hear what you think about it.