Chapter 9

The past week had been a blur for all of them. Chris could barely keep his excitement in during class, causing his teacher to threaten him with lunch detention if he wasn't quiet while class was in session. It was now Friday and they were leaving for Disney Land the following morning. Because it was the last day before spring break, all the students had an early release day, but the teachers had to work until the end of the normal school day. Vaughn had promised Sydney that he would pick up Chris for her and bring him straight to her house so that they could pack.

The school bell rung and Chris was out of his seat faster than any of the other students.

"Christopher, don't forget your backpack," his teacher called out from behind him. Grumbling about the fact that she called him Christopher, he made his way to her, grabbed his backpack and mumbled a thanks.

Before he knew it, he was out the front door and bounding down the stairs with his short legs. "Michael!" he yelled out.

Vaughn had parked his car, a 61' corvette, in front of the school and was now leaning up against it, talking to Francie. All of the other moms in their cars were green with envy at the fact that Francie was talking to this gorgeous guy, who everyone was drooling over.

"Well, I guess I'll talk to you later Fran. Chris looks like he's going to explode if we don't leave soon," Vaughn chuckled.

"I'll talk to you guys when you all get back. Have fun."

Before Vaughn could say bye, he was toppled over by Chris who had been running real fast towards Vaughn.

"Michael, Michael, Michael," he babbled real fast. "Can we go now? Can we go now? Can we go now? Please, Please, Please?"

"Whoa, calm down kiddo. What are they feeding you kids now a days, anyways?" he laughed. "I was thinking, before I take you home, how about we go over to your mom's school and surprise her with some lunch?"

Chris' eyes lit up at the mention of Sydney. "Yeah! That's a great idea Michael… Can I get something to eat too? I kinda didn't eat my lunch because I was too excited about you coming to pick me up and about Disney and… and… just everything!"

Sydney's School

Sydney was sitting at her desk, grading the final tests of her students, when someone knocked on her door. Not expecting anyone to come by, she looked up to see who it was. The person that she saw at the door made her groan inwardly.

It was Mr. Lafferty, another English teacher that had been asking her out ever since she started teaching at the school.

"Hey Nate," she said, "Before you can even ask, I'm going to say no right now."

"Aww… come on Syd, you don't even know what I'm going to ask. And besides, how come I can never come up to any single female teachers without them thinking that I'm going to ask them out?"

"First of all, don't call me Syd, it's Sydney to you. And secondly, don't even pretend that you didn't come in here to ask me what I was doing during spring break and to ask me out," she glared playfully at him.

"So what? So, do you have any plans for spring break then? Wait, let me take back that question, because I know what you're plans for spring break are. You're going to spend it with me," he said arrogantly.

"This is the last time I'm going to tell you to stop asking me out Nate," she threatened, "If you don't stop, I will be forced to call security or use bodily harm on you."

"Yeah right, Syd-ney," he emphasized, "You're just a dainty little woman that's probably never thrown a punch her entire life. I'm telling you, what you need is a guy like me."

"Sorry, but I already have the perfect man for me," she retorted.

"Sorry to tell you, but your son doesn't count as the perfect man for you."

Just then, there was a knock at the door and before Sydney could call out for them to come in, the door swung open. Vaughn and Chris stepped into the classroom with a bag of Chinese take-out.

"Hey Syd," Vaughn started, "Oh, sorry to interrupt your meeting, Chris and I will come back in a couple of minutes then…"

"No!" she yelped a little too loudly. "What I meant to say is, is that this meeting is over anyways, so you guys can stay. Mr. Lafferty was just on his way out."

"I was?" he asked incredulously. "And who might you be?" he inquired while trying to size up Vaughn.

"Hi, Michael Vaughn," he said as he stuck out his hand. "I'm Sydney's boyfriend."

From behind Vaughn, a tiny voice that was trying to sound all mighty was heard, "I'm Jonathan Christopher Bristow." He stuck his head out from behind Vaughn and waved to Sydney, "Hi Mommy."

"That's right Nate," satisfied that his mouth was hanging wide open.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to my classroom now. Nice to meet you, Michael, Chris," he said hurriedly as he sped out the door, seeing that Sydney's boyfriend could easily take him.

Vaughn just chuckled as soon as he was out the door. "Who was that guy? Oh well, it doesn't matter."

Sydney went up to Vaughn and Chris and gave then a proper hello by giving them a hug and kiss. "Don't worry about him, he's just some random teacher that doesn't seem to get a clue… until you showed up, that is," she grinned widely. "By the way, what are you guys doing here? Aren't you guys supposed to be at home packing?" she asked, doing the one eyebrow raise at them.

"Mommy, we brought you lunch!" Chris smiled triumphantly as he held up a bag of takeout.

"Oh my gosh, thank you guys so much! You guys just saved me the trouble of having to go down to the cafeteria and trying to find out the mystery behind the mystery meat."

"Blech…" Chris commented.

"Well, I guess we have to be going now. Chris and I have some guy stuff we have to do," Vaughn teased.

"Guy stuff?" she replied very slowly. "Uh...yeah… I'll see you guys at home later. Have fun doing your guy stuff," she kidded.

As Chris and Vaughn were headed out the door, a couple of Sydney's teacher friends walked in. On his way out, it was a clear as crystal that all of them were checking him out. As soon as they thought that he had rounded the corner, they immediately attacked Sydney, asking questions and laughing very loudly.

Out of sight and out of hearing distance, Vaughn rolled his eyes and muttered, "Women…"

Chris saw and heard him do this, and did the same. Vaughn looked down at Chris, tousled his hair. "Hey champ, how about we go see Grandpa Jack this afternoon before we start packing? What do you say?"

Chris eyes sparkled up like the fourth of July. "Grandpa Jack! Grandpa Jack!"

Jack's house

The doorbell rung and a very well dressed Jack answered the door. "Grandpa Jack!" exclaimed Chris as soon as the door opened. He ran straight to Jack and toppled him to the floor.

"Chris, what a pleasant surprise," he replied in a delight. He looked over Chris' shoulder and saw that Vaughn was standing there shyly, like a young teenager waiting for his date. "Mr. Vaughn, pleasure to see you as well," Jack said as he nodded his head towards Vaughn.

"Jack," he responded while Jack stood up to shake his hand.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"I came here because I needed to discuss something with you… in private if possible. Syd asked me to pick Chris up from school, so that's why he's here with me."

"Ok then, Mr. Vaughn. Chris, how would like some desert while Michael and I talk about some grown-up stuff?"

"Chocolate ice cream with syrup and sprinkles?" he asked like a kid on Christmas morning.

Jack chuckled, "Sure, you can even watch one of those movies that you left behind here. I think it was Finding Nemo or something like that."

Vaughn snickered from behind, "I don't think that's Chris' copy of Finding Nemo. Chris and I just watched it this weekend over at his house."

"Well then, Sydney probably bought Chris two copies of the same movie, Mr. Vaughn," he emphasized, calling him by his last name.

"Ok, now that that's settled, follow me so we can get Chris his desert."

As Jack was moving around in his kitchen, fixing Chris his ice cream sundae, Vaughn couldn't help, but be amazed at how much Chris had softened Jack up. Any traces of the cold hearted Jack that he once knew a decade ago was now gone whenever he was around Chris.

Once Jack was done making the sundae and Chris was on the couch watching his movie, Jack directed Vaughn to follow him into his office.

Jack's home office

"So… what's up, Mr. Vaughn?"

"Umm…" he started. "Well, first of all, can you just call me Michael, instead of Mr. Vaughn? It just makes me feel weird, since I call you Jack. I feel like I should be the one calling you Mr. Bristow or something like that."

"Well, that's fine and dandy, Michael, but I know you didn't come here to discuss with me on what to call you. Just tell me what you wanted to talk about."

"Ok, Sydney probably already told you how Chris and I won the father/son competition at his school and how the three of us won a trip to Disney Land."

"Yes, she did…" Jack commented.

Vaughn continued, "Well sir, Jack, I want you to know that I love both your daughter very much and I love Chris as if he were my own son."

"Continue," Jack said while motioning with his hands and leaning back in his office chair.

"And I know that Sydney feels the same way about me. So, with your permission I would like to ask you for your blessing for Sydney and me to get married. I was thinking about proposing to her during this little vacation."

Jack sat up in his chair slowly, folding his hands and bringing them to his face. He pretended to be in a deep concentration, when if fact, he couldn't think of a better person than Vaughn to marry Sydney.

"Hmm…" Jack sighed once more. Just to tease Vaughn, he waited another extra ten seconds before finally saying, "Welcome to the family son."

Vaughn broke out into a huge smile and stuck his hand out for Jack to shake. But Jack surprised him instead by declining the handshake and giving him a hug.

so... good, bad? what do you guys think? well, since i've had a four-day weekend (woo hoo!), the next chapter is also up!