Sydney had beaten him to the bathroom for once. He couldn't fathom how she did it either. He knew she had gone for a run (she always did) and thinking that the he had a little extra time to sleep, he'd stayed in bed.
The next thing he knew, the shower was running. When he went to investigate, he found the door locked. When he tried to open the door, she started yelling at him for being a pervert. When he asked when she got back, she just said recently and then ignored him.
He must have been rather out of it to not hear her come back to the room. Not that he could really blame himself. After battling a headache and a pissy 'wife' and in front of two people he really didn't like no less, he wasn't all that surprised that he'd been deeply asleep.
No, he was more shocked that he was so asleep that his spy skills for lack of a better term were so out of whack now.
It he'd been up to his normal par, then her being in the room would have woken him instantly. He'd always been a light sleeper and had depended on that little skill when he was staying overnight after a mission. But now it wasn't working and he was sleeping properly.
He didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit.
Sydney shut off the shower just then, snapping him out of his thoughts. "How much longer are you going to be in there?"
To her credit, Sydney didn't answer with a snippy tone. "About another fifteen minutes." That would give her time to get dressed and do her make up. She wasn't one of those girls that took hours on their makeup. Just some cover up, blush, and a little mascara and she was good to go. She'd have to do her hair later.
True to her word, Sydney opened the bathroom door almost exactly fifteen minutes later. "All yours."
Vaughn just sat there and stared at her. He understood that she was subject to mood changes but just last night she acted as though his entire presence made her want to swallow a glass of poison and now… well, now she was being incredibly nice.
He didn't like that either.
"Hello? Vaughn? Michael? James?" Sydney waved her hand in front of his face. While she liked the silence, his staring was starting to unnerve her.
"Huh?"
Sydney rolled her eyes and huffed impatiently. "You were staring," She informed him. "Don't do it again. I don't like it."
"I wasn't staring at you," Vaughn countered.
"Uh, yes you were," Sydney said sarcasm lacing her voice.
"I wasn't staring at you," Vaughn repeated. "Well, I was but not like you're thinking."
Sydney raised an eyebrow at him. "You can read my mind now?"
"No," Vaughn sighed in frustration. "It's pretty obvious what you thought I was staring at."
"And that is…?"
"You. Because I was attracted to you."
"What?" Sydney squeaked, just barely resisting the urge to slap him. "No! No, no, no, you pervert." Alright, there was a small possibility that she had been thinking that he was staring because of that, but she wasn't going to tell him that.
"Sorry, I must've misinterpreted the look on your face," Vaughn murmured. His skills weren't all out of whack, he had the sinking feeling that she was lying to him. And if she was lying to him… oh Lord.
"You must've," Sydney agreed, avoiding his gaze by staring at her feet. She hesitated before adding, "Why were you staring to begin with?"
"Oh, um…" Vaughn shifted his weight. "It's nothing."
"It had to have been something," Sydney pointed out looking up at him. "Otherwise you wouldn't have stared."
God, this was awkward. "Well… you were being nice," He explained.
"And so you decided to stare at me?"
"After the way you were acting towards me last night, yes, I decided that staring was the best option," Vaughn snapped.
Sydney dropped her gaze again. "Uhh, yeah… sorry about that."
"I'd rather have an explanation instead."
Sydney looked up at him with defiant eyes. "I'm sure you'll get by on just an apology."
Vaughn opened his mouth to protest but changed his mind. "Right. I'm sure that I will."
"Good."
Vaughn paused again, glancing at her and looking away instantly when he noticed that she was looking at him. "I'm going to go take that shower now."
Sydney looked away when she saw him look at her. "Good." She repeated.
"See you in a bit," Vaughn looked at her again, before heading for the bathroom.
"Alright," Sydney answered, pointedly staring at the ground near her feet.
"Kay." He had no idea why he said it, but he knew that he was extremely thankful when the door closed behind him.
Sydney let out the breath she hadn't realized that she was holding when the door closed. That had been one of the most awkward conversations she had ever had. And life with her father was full of awkward conversations.
It didn't mean anything that it was awkward… right?
-break-
Sydney wasn't entirely sure what she had done while he was in the shower. She vaguely remembered the television on, and she might have gone over her notes for the past couple of days. She couldn't remember exactly though.
One minute he had just shut the door behind him and then the next he was back out in the room, fully dressed and ready to go out and do their job.
She was still trying to figure out why their conversation had been so awkward.
"Sydney?" Vaughn asked, approaching as though she were a deer he was scared would run off at the slightest movement. "Hello? Are you alright?"
"Huh?" Sydney blinked shaking her head a little. "Oh, I'm fine."
"You're sure?"
"Of course I'm sure." She snapped.
He almost smiled. If she was snapping at him, then she was definitely back to normal. "Good. We're having breakfast with the Sarks today."
"I know that," Sydney answered in an irritable tone. "I was there last night when they invited us."
"Okay, sorry," Vaughn said holding up his hands in mock defeat. "I didn't mean you make you mad."
"Funny how these things happen anyway, isn't it?"
"Do you think you could be a little less sarcastic and a little more loving?"
"I'll love the food," Sydney said stubbornly.
"That's not what I meant."
"I know what you meant," She responded.
"Then what was with the sarcasm?"
"It wasn't sarcasm."
"Then what the hell was it?"
"None of your business."
"Oh that was mature," Vaughn sneered.
"Glad you liked it."
"Why are you like this?"
"Like what?" She asked, her voice dangerously low.
Vaughn paused for a moment, considering what he wanted to say. "Like an immature brat who needs to be sent to her corner every five minutes because she can't play nicely with the other children."
"So you admit that you're a child," Sydney deduced, ignoring the barb.
"No!" He sighed in frustration. "You're the child."
"Doesn't sound like it right now."
Vaughn made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. "Let's… just go to breakfast."
"I'm not going to breakfast with you," Sydney announced crossing her arms over her chest. She gave him a disgusted look. "I'd rather not sit through you insulting me every two seconds, kthnks."
Vaughn stared at her. "Oh you have got to be kidding me."
"I'm not."
"What about our job?" He hissed. "We're supposed to be following these people. Getting close to them. You know this."
"So?"
"So, do you want to lose that job of yours?" He snapped. "Would you like to be fired?"
Sydney stayed silent, for once.
Vaughn would've continued even if she had been talking. "Because I for one don't want to be fired and I will be damned if you are the reason that I lose my job. I like my job. Go screw up a different mission if you want to be fired so badly, but stay the hell away from me when you're trying to do it.
"Or better yet, just put in your resignation if you're so intent on being out of work."
Sydney still stayed speechless.
"What? Have you gone deaf now?" He quipped. He was so irritated with her immature antics that he didn't care what he had to say to make her stop it.
Unexpectedly, she uncrossed her arms and stood up. With one glance in his direction, she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?"
"To breakfast," Sydney answered calmly. "Coming?"
Vaughn was so surprised by this new change in her attitude that all he could do was stand there and stare at her.
She turned around when she felt the back of her neck burn from the effect of his staring. "I thought I told you to stop doing that." When he didn't answer, she added, "Stop staring. Please."
"Alright, you need to stop doing this." He told her.
Sydney shook her head in confusion. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Stop."
"Stop what?"
"Doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Stop repeating what I'm saying."
"Stop avoiding my questions." Sydney shot back. "What am I doing that's so annoying now?"
He couldn't very well blurt out that she was being nice and agreeable and that was what was annoying him. "Just stop changing your mood so often."
She rolled her eyes at him. "You really know nothing about women if you just told me to stop changing my mood," She commented, gripping the door handle. "Let's go to breakfast."
When he didn't move, she added in a commanding tone, "Now."
"Coming," Vaughn sighed in resignation.
-break-
Sydney groaned when Vaughn nudged her. "We've been at this table for two hours." He told her.
"I don't care," She answered, refusing to pick her head off of said table.
"The staff cares," He said. After being asked twice to leave the table so the hotel staff could clean it off and set up for lunch, he figured that it would be a good time to at least attempt to get her to move.
"Tell them to wait."
"I did." He answered patiently. "An hour and a half ago."
Sydney made another groaning noise, hitting her head against the table. "I have a headache," She complained.
"Hitting your head against that table isn't helping any," He pointed out sardonically.
Sydney shot out a blind hand, attempting to smack him. She missed by about six inches. "You're not helping either."
Vaughn smirked slightly. "As I've been told."
She tried again and this time her fist collided painfully with his shoulder.
"Shit woman," He hissed, massaging his injured shoulder. "You don't have to hit me."
"You deserved it," She remarked simply, finally picking her head up. "I can't believe it." She whispered, resting her chin in her hand.
Vaughn knew exactly what she was talking about because he couldn't believe it either. The Sarks had been one step ahead of them during the entire breakfast. Every single question had a plausible and grudgingly, a good reason to it. They had gotten no where. In fact, he was half convinced that they had somehow come out on the bottom under a big pile of crap.
So much for either one of them being super spies.
"We've still got a week and a half," He commented, trying to look on the bright side of things.
Sydney looked at him sharply.
"What?" Vaughn asked exasperated.
"That was incredibly…" She trailed off, trying to think of a word. "…mature."
Through no fault of his own, his eyebrow arched slightly at her. "I could make it less so, if you'd like."
Sydney smiled unexpectedly, shaking her head at him. "No, just leave it." She answered softly.
"Okay," Vaughn agreed finding himself smiling back at her.
"We've got a week and a half," She repeated a muscle in her jaw working as she thought. "That doesn't leave us a lot of time."
"I, for one, am going to need that time just to sort out what the hell just happened here today at breakfast," Vaughn said.
Instead of rebuking him for using humor at a time like this, she just smiled again and rolled her eyes. "Come on," She said, standing up and reaching for his hand. He took it and she helped him to his feet. "We have to at least do something today to make up for our inadequacy."
Vaughn laughed, his arm moving around her shoulder. "I concur." He murmured.
Sydney looked up at him and smiled softly. It wasn't fair that he was being so nice suddenly. She didn't feel like she was going to hit something every time she was around him. Not to mention it helped their image of a newly married couple. That was a good thing. She already heard one of the maids talking about her and Vaughn.
"Melissa! James!"
Both looked up instantly at the sound of their aliases. At least they had that down. There coming towards them were the Sarks dressed in swimsuits, complete with towels slung over their shoulders.
"You're still here?" Lauren asked sounding surprised.
"More like came back," Sydney answered just as Vaughn opened his mouth to say 'yes'. "We went for a walk, and then I realized that I'd left my purse at the table."
"You didn't have a purse this morning," Lauren said shrewdly.
Sydney didn't flinch. "I know, silly me. I thought I had, so I freaked when I realized I didn't have one with me." She smiled. "You know how distracting a husband can be."
The Sarks exchanged a look, obviously trying to decide if they believed the story or not. If they didn't, they didn't say anything. "Look, we decided to go take a dip, care to join us?"
Sydney glanced over at Vaughn, catching his small nod. "We'd love to."
"Great," Lauren smiled widely. "We'll see you there."
"No more than fifteen minutes," Sydney promised.
With another smile, the Sarks headed towards the doors.
"That was weird," Vaughn remarked.
Sydney nodded, her eyes on the Sarks. "They're definitely up to something," She observed.
Little did she know, Lauren was just saying the same thing to her own husband.
-break-
Sydney bit her lip, and stared at her own reflection. She'd 'called' the bathroom when they got back to the room, and teasingly, Vaughn had let her change into her suit in there.
She knew she was fit, and she knew that most everyone she met thought she looked amazing in a swim suit. And that was usually a good thing, especially in her line of work. Never before had she had a problem with putting on the less than decent suit and flaunting what she had.
But now she was staring at her reflection, and examining every bit about her.
Her hips for starters, were too big. They just did not match with the rest of her. It was hard to explain, just that they didn't go with the rest of her frame.
And then there were the scars all over her body. Not all of them were from her work as a spy. Like the one on her right shoulder blade was from when she had fallen off the swings as a six year old and she had another on the sole of her foot from when she'd stepped on a rusty nail when she was fifteen.
But all of the other scars… one from when she got in a knife fight in a German bar two years ago. Another from when a bullet grazed her arm in Bangladesh. Then there was a burn scar on her upper thigh. Not to mention the mark on the side of her neck from when she had been involuntarily drugged with a very large needle.
To be honest, her job came with scars, and lots of them and she bore the mark of every single one.
And hated it.
What she couldn't understand was why she hated it. Just last week, she had been out on the beach in Los Angeles, taking the afternoon off from work and Francie and the wedding and her then boyfriend, just lounging out on the beach, in her bikini. She hadn't felt self conscious about her scars then. Not one bit. In fact, she had shown them off proudly. When one surfer asked about the burn on her leg, she made up an elaborate story about a pot of boiling water, all the while leading him on. It had been fun that afternoon, not that she had told anyone about it least of all Danny.
Like that did her any good now.
She was better than this. She was better than secluding herself in a bathroom, fretting about scars when she had a mission and an alias waiting for her outside of that bathroom. But she couldn't bring herself to move.
"Sydney?" Vaughn knocked on the door, startling her. "You've been in there for about thirteen minutes."
"So?"
"Are you stuck or something?"
She gave a humorless laugh, rolling her eyes. "No. I'm not stuck."
"Then what's taking you so damn long?"
"I'm a girl."
"That's not an excuse."
"Then you've never lived with women."
"I have two sisters and my dad died when I was eight," Vaughn answered.
"Oh," Sydney said. "Then you should know that women take longer in the bathroom."
"You're just putting on a bloody suit, woman!"
"Bloody?" She repeated, avoiding the issue.
"I spent part of my childhood in England." He explained. "Now what's taking you so long?"
"I didn't know that," Sydney commented, ignoring his question.
"You never asked."
"It's not in your file either."
"Because I only spent the summers there."
"Oh."
"Care to explain what's taking you so long now?"
"No, not really."
"Care to come out of there then?"
Sydney glanced at herself in the mirror again, biting her lip. There wasn't a solid reason for her to continue hiding away in the bathroom. "Oh alright fine," She said, opening the door. "Happy now?"
Vaughn nodded, his eyes involuntarily wandering over the rest of her. If she had been in there worrying about she looked, then he'd have to smack her because, grudgingly, she looked amazing. "Mildly."
"I'm so glad then," Sydney answered scathingly.
"Where are the towels?"
Sydney made an exasperated noise. She turned, muttering something like "nutcase" under her breath as she went for the towels. "Here," She threw a towel at him, slinging one over her own shoulder. "Anything else master needs?"
Vaughn rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. "Master is fine for now, thanks for asking."
"It is what Sydney does."
Vaughn paused before laughing. "Don't ever say that again."
Sydney laughed also. "Gladly." She said. "Shall we go?"
Vaughn nodded, and without waiting for her, he started towards the door, giving her a plain view of his back. His very muscley back.
"Oh boy…" She said to herself. She could not be thinking anything along those lines about him, or his back. "Snap out of it."
"Are you going to stand there and talk to yourself or what?" Vaughn asked from the door.
"Coming," Sydney answered, shaking her head. She just had to keep her eyes away from him, and then no traitorous thoughts would occur in her mind. That was simple enough.
The walk down to the pool was virtually silent except for a couple 'excuse me's and a 'thank you'.
When they got outside, Sydney cast one look around, and frowned, "Where are they?"
Vaughn looked around before answering. "I think we've been duped again."
SBB's note: On the subject of Sydney's out of character behavior in the last chapter, she hada good reason for being a mood, not to mention the fact that she really does not like Vaughn, and she's at least seven years younger in this storythan she is when the show starts so she's bound to be a little less mature than she is in the show. And I never said this was a canon story anyway, obviously. -is fuming-
I shall do review responses next time. I'm sick as a dog right now, and cranky, so yeah. Next time. Promise.
Next Chapter: Of Fathers and Ski Lifts
