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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the movies, or characters and songs associated with them, mentioned within this chapter.
The party was in full swing when Sydney and Vaughn got there. Inside they searched for Ainsley and Weiss before Vaughn spotted the two of them in the kitchen.
Weiss was dressed as Batman. On his show the day before, he'd given a long spiel about why he thought Batman was the best of all the super heroes. It was something to do with having no special powers- he was just awesome at 'kicking butt'. Sydney couldn't exactly remember.
Ainsley was decked out in a bright yellow Beatrix Kiddo jumpsuit. "I would do anything to know how to hurt people the way she does in Kill Bill," she had blurted out one night, quite possibly drunk at the time. Sydney and Vaughn had cracked up; both at Ainsley's statement and the fearful look on Weiss's face after she said it.
"Hey you guys!" Ainsley cried when she saw the two of them approaching. "You look great."
"Yeah Mikey." Weiss smirked. "You look great."
"Eric!" Ainsley elbowed him in the ribs- hard. "Why don't you go and get Syd and Mike a drink."
Weiss headed off, rubbing his side and Ainsley turned to Sydney. "Francie was looking for you."
Sydney stared at her dumbfounded. "Francie got here before us?"
"Sort of." Ainsley laughed. "She's been here since this afternoon- she was helping set up. Instead of going home and coming back, she stayed. I actually think she is still getting ready in the spare room."
"Oh ok." Sydney kissed Vaughn on the cheek and then walked off.
When Sydney was out of earshot, Ainsley grinned at Vaughn. "So is everything ready? You don't want a last minute practice?"
"No, everything is fine." Vaughn answered, unable to keep the combination of excitement and sheer terror out of his voice.
"When are you going to do it?"
"When we get home. I decided against the whole public display thing."
"Well, I will be expecting a phone call very soon after." Ainsley said, giving Vaughn a poke. "And if you chicken out, you'll have both me and Francie to contend with."
Vaughn smiled. "There is not a chance in hell that I will chicken out on this. I have never been surer about anything else before in my life."
"Sure about what?" Weiss inquired, walking up with two bottles of beer.
"Uh, that my basketball team at Abrams will make finals." Vaughn replied after a slight hesitation. "It's a really strong team, right across the board."
"Ok." Weiss accepted the answer and he handed Vaughn a bottle of beer. "Hey, you know what I was thinking?"
"What?" Vaughn asked, taking a mouthful of beer.
"That we should get together a hockey team. There's a comp that play on Tuesday nights that sounds good." Weiss said. "There's you and me, and I know Craig will want to play. I'm sure we can get Will in and there's a bunch of guys at the station who will be interested."
Vaughn's eyes lit up. "Sounds great. I'm definitely in."
"Great." Weiss looked down at the spare beer in his hand. "Hey, where did Syd go?"
"Francie, you look fine." Sydney sighed, exasperatedly. She should have known better than to approach Francie while she was getting ready.
"You don't think the jacket is too pink?"
"Francie, you are a Pink Lady! How can it be too pink?"
"Hmm, I suppose you're right." Francie suddenly whirled around from the mirror and threw her arms around Sydney. "Oh, I love you Syd!"
"Whoa!" Sydney stepped back when Francie had released her. "What was that all about?"
"Nothing in particular." Francie was looking at Sydney as if she were her mother and it was her university graduation.
"Ok, you're acting really freaky, Fran. Are you ok?"
Francie nodded as she hugged Sydney again. Inside she was laughing at herself. If she was this excited at the prospect of her friend getting engaged, what would she be like the day she was proposed to?
"Francie." Sydney's voice was muffled from the embrace.
"Yeah?"
"I think we should get out to the party."
"Ok." Francie smiled and headed towards the door.
"Hey Fran." Sydney said softly and Francie stopped and turned around.
"What?"
"Love you, too."
"You are wrong Eric. Superman is the true superhero." Will declared.
Weiss stared at him appalled. "And how did you reach that absurd conclusion?"
Will and Craig had arrived not long after Sydney and Francie had left the bedroom, dressed as Jack Sparrow and a Blues Brother, respectively. After hearing Weiss's show the previous day, Will had shown up, geared for a showdown.
"Because he was born with his powers. It wasn't some freak accident, or childhood trauma," Will gestured at Weiss's costume, "that led him to become a super hero. He was always a super hero."
"Exactly!" Weiss shot back. "He never had to work at anything. Now Batman, or should I say Bruce Wayne, on the other hand…"
Sydney rolled her eyes at Ainsley, who was trying not to laugh, and wandered to the other side of the living room, where Vaughn was standing by himself.
Coming up beside him, she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Vaughn." He jumped, startled. "Hey, are you ok?"
"I'm fine," he replied quickly.
"You sure?"
"Yes. I am fine." Vaughn stressed his final word. "Why would you think otherwise?"
"It's just that you are looking a little, well, green." Sydney said, standing back and surveying him. "Like you're going to be sick or something."
"I'm not sick; I'm just a little tired."
"Ok." Sydney ran a hand down his cheek. She knew Vaughn was lying, but there was no point in trying to call his bluff in the middle of the party. Sooner or later, he'd come clean.
A few hours later Vaughn was starting to feel extremely anxious. He wanted nothing more than to be home with Sydney, the two of them alone.
His mood was obvious to everybody and being that Ainsley and Francie were the only ones who knew what was going on, Vaughn was getting a lot of "Are you ok?" and "Hey, what's up?" His answers were always that he was fine, but when people saw him sitting on the couch and his expression, they knew that he was lying.
Most of all Sydney.
And so she pulled Ainsley aside. "Hey Ainz, I'm really sorry, but I think Vaughn and I are going to head off," she said. "I hate to do it on your birthday, but I don't think he is very well."
Ainsley tried hard to keep the excitement out of her voice. "Hey, don't worry about it, Syd. The way Mike is, you'd be better off at home." She smiled. "Besides, it's not my birthday until Monday. Get me a really good pressie and I'll forgive you entirely."
Sydney laughed. "Deal," she said, hugging Ainsley. "I'll call you tomorrow."
"Sure," Ainsley replied, knowing that she would be getting a phone call a lot earlier than that.
With that Sydney headed over to Vaughn and a minute or so later they'd headed out the front door. Francie, having seen their departing forms, rushed over to Ainsley.
"They're leaving, right? They're just not going out to the car, are they?"
Ainsley shook her head, a gleeful grin on her face. "No, they're gone!"
Weiss and Will looked over at the sound of the excited shrieks coming from Ainsley and Francie.
"What the…" Will muttered. Weiss just shrugged and went back to his beer.
"Did you just want to go straight to bed?" Sydney asked Vaughn as the two of them walked into their house. Vaughn shook his head and headed to the lounge area- specifically the stereo.
"Ok." Sydney eyed him curiously as he fiddled with the stereo. This was a completely different Vaughn to the one that had just left the party. "Do you want a coffee or something?"
Again, Vaughn shook his head, as he turned to Sydney, a big, goofy grin on his face. Seeing his expression, Sydney couldn't help but smile also.
"Vaughn, what is going on…" she trailed off as Vaughn pressed play. As the first strains of music reached her ears, Sydney's jaw dropped. "No way," she breathed.
Now I've had the time of my life
No I never felt like this before
Vaughn just nodded and stepped forward, clasping Sydney's hand and pulling her in close.
Cause I've had the time of my life
And I owe it all to you
Sydney's stunned amazement only grew as Vaughn began to move the two of them across the room. He was dancing. Sure, he was clumsy and rough, but he was dancing- to 'Time of My Life'. Vaughn, the man who hated Dirty Dancing and had Eric Weiss for a best friend, was dancing.
You're the one thing
I can't get enough of
So I tell you something
This could be love because
I've had the time of my life
No I never felt this way before
Yes I swear, it's the truth
And I owe it all to you
Sydney looked up into Vaughn's smiling face. "What…when did you…how?"
"I've been taking lessons with Ainsley."
"Lessons?" Sydney's eyes suddenly widened as realization dawned. "All those meetings after school?"
Vaughn nodded as he pulled her into a spin. As he pulled her back into his chest, Sydney couldn't help but laugh.
"Are you laughing at my dancing skills Bristow?"
"No." Sydney shook her head. "I just can't believe that you are doing this."
Sydney tried hard to contain her laughter, for Vaughn's sake. But in truth, he didn't care. It wasn't as if she was laughing at him, and to him, Sydney Bristow looked her most beautiful when laughter was etched all over her face.
Though she tried hard, giggles kept escaping. The whole situation was just so incredibly surreal. Little did she know things were about to get even better.
I've had the time of my life
No I never felt this way before
Yes I swear, it's the truth
And I owe I all to you
Cause I've had the time of my life
And I've searched through every open door
Till I found the truth
And I owe it all to you
When the song ended and Vaughn released her hands, Sydney brought them up to wipe away the tears of laughter that had formed there. When she took them away, Sydney got another shock. Vaughn was no longer standing in front of her- he was down on one knee.
Her eyebrows rose she stared into his grinning face. "Vaughn?"
"Syd." Vaughn reached up and grabbed one of her hands. "Sydney Bristow, you are the most amazing, incredible person I have ever met. You, when we first met, had the power to stop time and not a day goes by that I don't marvel at the fact that I have you by my side. Words cannot describe how much I love you. Hell, I dressed up as Johnny Castle and danced you around like Baby because I love you so much!"
Sydney let out a short laugh, her heart pounding.
"Syd, when I am with you everything feels right and I want nothing more than, for us, to spend the rest of our lives together. To live like…like…like two crazy nuts locked together forever.
Vaughn paused and as he reached into his back pocket, Sydney unconsciously held her breath. Still grinning Vaughn help up an antique looking white gold ring, with a stunning emerald adorned by smaller diamonds.
"Oh my god," she breathed. "Vaughn?"
He grinned. "Sydney Bristow, will you marry me?"
Sydney held off her answer, giving her enough time to kneel down to Vaughn's level. When she could look directly into his eyes, Sydney answered.
"Yes."