Again thank-you to all for your reviews
Scary-Girly: In the tv show Sydney wasn't aware of her mother being Russian. However as this is my own little alternate universe, I decided that where her mother was from would be public knowledge.
smilez4eva: Thank- you for that information on getting Alias episodes. However our computer can get pretty slow so I'm not sure it could hack playing the episodes. I'll try, but I may have to wait until our network decides to screen them- I guess the long wait will just make them all that sweeter!
"This one on the right" Sydney directed as Vaughn pulled up in front of her and Francie's apartment. Once again he picked her up, carried her inside and placed her gently on the couch.
"Do you have any ice packs?" he asked.
"Yeah, there's one in the freezer," Sydney said, pointing him to the kitchen that was directly off the living room. "Could you please grab me a can of drink while you're there. Help yourself to one too." Sheoffered, desperately hoping that he would, she didn't want him to leave just yet.
Her hopes were answered when Vaughn came back into the living room with two cans of drink and an ice pack.
"Here" he siad, putting some cushions under her knee to support it and then placing an ice pack on it. He sat down on the oppsite end of the couch, facing her.
"So?" he said, grinning.
"So what?" Sydney was confused.
"So, are you going to tell me what the deal is with that abnormally large amount of ice cream in your freezer?"
"It's the reason I live here with Francie."
"Francie?"
"Another best friend. She, Will and I have known each other since high school." Sydney paused for a second. "And before you get the wrong idea again, we are not in a realtionship."
"Ha ha Bristow. Why is ice cream the reason you live with her?"
"Well up until abou ten months ago we both lived with our boyfriends, in seperate apartments.Then within the space of a few weeks they both proved themselves to be cheating pig scum."
"Cheating pig scum...I take it they're not your boyfriends anymore."
"Uh, no! Before, when you suggested that I had a boyfriend and was playing around I felt so...I mean I could never do that. After what Noah did to me, there is no way I would inflict those feelings onto a person."
"Well, I don't really know you. What else was I supposed to think?"
"I don't know- but you could have at least asked me before resigning me to a bitch. Why didn't you just speak to me?" Vaughn didn't answer, he just sat fiddling with the pull ring on his can. Suddenly Sydney recalled what he said at the court.
"Vaughn." He looked up." The sore spot you mentioned earlier...you had your own cheating pig scum, didn't you?"
"I refer to her as 'The Bitch.'"
"Nice. It's simple and gets your point across." Vaughn laughed slightly at this comment. "How long ago?"
"Four months. We'd been together three years, since we were 18."
"How did you find out?" Sydney inquired.
"I walked in on them. Apparently it had been going on for a few months and he wasn't the only one. Lauren took great pleasure in informing me of her many conquests."
"Man, that sucks."
"Yeah, just a bit."
"So, what was your revenge?"
"Revenge?"
"Everybody does some sort of payback."
"What was yours?" he asked and Sydney all of a sudden looked very proud of herself. "Come on, tell me."
"Well I discovered that Noah was cheating on me when I found some, well let's just say 'compromising' photographs."
"How did you find them?"
"Well, spying is another one of my talents, but I only use it when totally necessary. I don't want to be known as a snoop."
"Of course."
"Anyway, after I confronted him and he confessed, I emailed the photos to the girls father."
"Her father? Good one."
"It gets better. Not only is he the girls father, but he is also an ex-marine, who is now a cop." Vaughn's eyes widened as he burst into laughter.
"That, Miss Bristow, is genius. Mine can't compare to that."
"What was it?"
"Weiss and I went down to the beach and played Frisbee with Lauren's shit CD collection."
"That's brilliant!"
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's so personal. People identify themselves with their music. By destroying her CD's, you were in a way destroying her! Talk about awesome therapy."
"Interesting perspective. I like it."
"So does she know where the CD's are?"
Vaughn went to answer, but was distracted by a loud bang outside. The two of them looked up to see Francie come crashing through the front door, carrying an armful of plastic pumpkins.
"Syd, HELP!" Sydney, who was incapable of moving had no choice but to watch as Francie stumbled on the mat at the door and drop all the pumpkins. "Damn! Sydney, why did you help me?"
"I couldn't." Francie looked up and noticed the ice pack.
"Oh sweetie, what happened? Are you-" She stopped abruptly noticing that Sydney wasn't alone.
"Hello." Francie smiled at Vaughn, holding out her hand. "Francie Calfo."
"Michael Vaughn," he answered, shaking her hand.
"So how do you two know each other?" Francie asked.
"Mutual friend," Sydney replied. "Will and I ran into him and Weiss at the basketball court."
"Where is Will?"
"He and Weiss couldn't hack our gameplay,"-Vaughn grinned at Sydney's choice of word-"so they piked it. We have no idea where they went."
"So what happened to your knee?"
"She knew she was beat so she faked an injury." Vaughn said, winking at Francie. Both of them knew how she'd react to a comment like that.
"Excuse me!" Sydney cried with indignation. "I was going to beat you today, just as I did at pool Friday night.
"Pool?" Francie said, raising her eyebrows at Sydney. She'd suddenly put two and two together and realized that this was Sydney's hypothetical gay guy with a girlfriend.
"I went easy on her" Vaughn objected.
"I'd like to believe you Michael, but I don't think so." Francie retorted. "She has destroyed many male egos at the pool table."
"Good times," Sydney smiled, and then turned to Francie."My knee collapsed when I was taking a shot and since had Will abandoned me, Vaughn gave me a lift home."
"Well aren't you the gentleman" Francie commented, and then sighed looking at the pile of pumkins at the door.
"What is with those anyway?" Sydney asked.
"Oh, I picked them up cheap at this store downtown. Thought they would be a good start for decorations for the party."
"Party?" Vaughn inquired.
"Yeah, me and Syd are throwing the Halloween bash of the year."
"I thought it was the century, Francie," Sydney teased.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever...hey is Michael on the list?"
"Yeah, is Michael on the list?" Vaughn chimed in, knowing perfectly well what the answer would be.
"No he isn't." Sydney said bluntly. "Because when the list was complied, and up until about an hour ago, I thought Vaughn was the world's biggest arsehole."
"You get straight to the point. No messing around, hey Bristow."
"Try living with it." Francie said. "Now Michael, why don't you make yourself useful and help move these pumpkins."
"If I do will I get on the list?"
"Oh, I reckon we can wrangle that, hey Syd?"
"We can put him on, but that doesn't mean he'll stay on it." Sydney answered, smiling cheekily at him.
Grinning back, Vaughn got up and began hauling pumpkins. He knew damned well he'd stay on that list.