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Sydney was walking up to the front door Friday afternoon when her phone rang. Waving to Marshall, who was walking out of his own house, Sydney pawed through her bag until she finally found her phone.
"Hello."
"Hey, it's me."
Sydney couldn't help but smile at the sound of Vaughn's voice. "Hey you."
"I'm just calling to let you know that I'm going to late tonight."
"Again?" Vaughn had been late all week.
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry." He did sound truly apologetic.
"Hey, it's fine." Sydney replied. "I'll see you when you get home."
"Ok. I'll bring something home for tea."
"Love you."
"Love you too."
"Hey." Sydney called out to Will as she approached the basketball court. "How you doing, Uncle Will?"
Will grinned as he greeted Sydney with a hug. "I'm doing great. You?"
"Not bad."
Will reached across and took the basketball out of Sydney's hands. "So what was with the last minute phone call?"
Sydney shrugged. "Just felt like a bit of an unwind. What better way than to shoot a few hoops?"
"Ok." Will dribbled a few times before putting up a shot. "How's Mike?"
"Ok. I guess." Will looked at her questioningly. "He's had to stay back at school every afternoon this week. Needless to say, we haven't been seeing a lot of each other."
"That's gotta suck."
"Yeah." Sydney grabbed the ball and put up a jump shot. "So, what else is going on in the world of Will at the moment? How is your spunky little nephew?"
"My spunky little nephew who cries continuously." Will replied.
"Oh please. You can't wait until Amy starts asking you to baby-sit."
"I'm not holding my breath. I have a feeling Amy will be fighting you and Francie off with a stick."
Sydney laughed and passed Will the ball. "Come on. You up for some one-on-one?"
Sydney woke up late Sunday morning, alone. Putting on herdressing gownshe padded barefoot out to the kitchen, where Vaughn was standing over the stove.
"Morning," she smiled languidly as Vaughn wrapped his arms around her. He tilted her chin with a finger, bringing their lips together in a soft slow kiss.
"Morning," he replied when they broke apart. Sydney stepped back to allow Vaughn to tend to the pancakes that were cooking on the stove. As she did, she noticed his outfit.
"Have you been for a run?"
"Not yet. I was about to head out when I thought that I would surprise you with breakfast." He turned to look at her. "Call it my attempt to make up for being so absent this week."
"Vaughn, it was work, out of your control. You don't have to make up for anything."
"But I wanted to, cause I think this week is going to be pretty much the same." Vaughn didn't think- he knew. The dance lessons with Ainsley this past week had not been all that successful, and time was running out- fast.
"Are you serious?" Sydney asked. "What is going on at that school?"
"They're looking at changing the French curriculum, and there has also been some interest in establishing tutoring sessions after school, so we've been analysing the pros and cons of that. And I've been asked to coach one of the basketball team, so I've been trying to organize that, too."
The basketball coach bit was the only truthful part of that spiel. Vaughn felt guilty about lying to Sydney, but he figured when she found out the real truth, she would forgive him for it.
"Well, ok." Sydney smiled at him. "Just as long as you're not busy Saturday night."
"Syd, I promise you now. There is no way I'm missing out on Saturday night."
After they had finished breakfast Vaughn left on what Sydney thought was his run. He did run- but it was straight to Jack Bristow's house.
He stood on the doorstep, contemplating whether he should ring the doorbell. Maybe Weiss was right. Perhaps he shouldn't be doing this. What if Jack wasn't home? 'Well then that would be a sign,' he told himself. 'A sign that he wasn't supposed to be doing this.'
And so Vaughn rang the doorbell, with a desperate hope that it would remain unanswered.
But, as usual, things did go exactly as hoped for and the door was opened to reveal Jack, his expression characteristically passive.
"Michael." While Jack was surprised to see Vaughn, alone, on his doorstep he didn't let on.
"Hello Mr Bristow. May I come in?"
Jack nodded and stepped aside, letting Vaughn enter the house. He waited until they were seated in the living room before he started to question the surprise visit.
"What are you doing here, Michael? Is Sydney ok?"
"Yeah, she's fine. She's at home, out in her garden." Vaughn paused, wiping his sweaty palms on his trackies. "I just came by because I wanted to speak to you about something."
"Well, make it quick. I have a plane to catch."
"Another business trip? But Syd was telling me that you had just been on one recently."
"My work can be very demanding." Jack replied. "Now what did you want to discuss?"
"It's about Sydney."
"That I had already figured out. Would you care to elaborate on that point?"
"Ok." Vaughn cleared his throat. Here goes. "Mr Bristow, I'm planning on asking Sydney to marry me, and I would like to get your blessing before I do that."
Jack's eyebrows rose slightly. "May I ask you a question, Michael?"
"Uh, ok."
"What if I refused? Would you still go ahead with the proposal?"
Vaughn thought frantically for a second. He knew the answer to that question- but did Jack want to hear it? Deciding that, maybe, the truth was the best option right now, Vaughn answered.
"Yes."
Jack was a little shocked. So the guy actually did have a spine. He never would have thought.
"Why?"
"Because, Mr Bristow, I love your daughter more than anything else, and I will not let anything or anyone stop me from spending the rest of my life with her."
"Ok then." Jack leaned forward slightly. "I'm going to say to you what I said a couple of years ago, Michael. That, as Sydney's father I will never be completely happy with whom she chooses to spend her life with. The simple fact is I think so highly of her and do not believe that any man will be totally worthy of her.
That being said, it looks as if you are going to be that person and well, as I told you previously, I will be the closest happy that I will ever be."
Vaughn nodded, taking in Jack's words and feeling a massive relief at the same time. However, Jack wasn't finished.
"But also keep in mind this. I've told you before and I'm sure you remember, but I'm going to say it again for reiteration's sake. If you do anything to hurt my daughter, I promise to you now, that your life will not be worth living."
"I know that." Vaughn replied. "But you should also know that there is no way I could ever do anything to hurt Sydney."
Jack nodded curtly. "Now, is that all you wanted to discuss?"
"Uh yeah." Vaughn took that as Jack's signal that he wanted him to leave. Both men stood up and headed towards the front door. However, before Vaughn could exit, Jack spoke up.
"When do you plan on asking her?"
"Saturday night." Vaughn replied, and then couldn't help adding, "Are you going to wish me luck?"
"No." Jack answered bluntly. "You won't need it." And that he was sure of. After all he'd been expecting a conversation along these same lines with Vaughn for the past two years.
Sydney ran with determination, her feet pounding the pavement and music blaring in her ears. Usually she ran to escape from her thoughts, to enjoy the feel of the wind on her face and being free of whatever was bugging her at the time.
Not this time though. For some reason Sydney just couldn't ignore the small niggly feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her that something just wasn't quite right.
It was late Tuesday afternoon and Vaughn was staying back as school, again. It seemed really odd to her. His work at Abrams had never been this consuming before. What was really going on? She certainly had no idea.
And so Sydney continued to run, trying desperately to shove that feeling aside.