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mila-uri113: Yes, this fic will continue up to the wedding.

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."

Vaughn let out a huge sigh as he threw his arms around Sydney and kissed her long and hard. When they pulled apart, Vaughn gently took Sydney's left hand and with his own shaking hand, slid the ring onto her finger.

Sydney looked at Vaughn. 'That was incredible. You are incredible." She pressed her lips into his. "I love you so much."

"I know Syd, but…"

"What?"

"Do you think we could stand up? My knee is getting kinda sore."

Not for the first time that evening Sydney let out a peal of laughter. She stood and then reached out to help Vaughn up. For a second they just grinned at each other, like a pair of lovesick teenagers. Vaughn was struggling to believe that he had actually managed to pull it off, and Sydney was struggling to believe the events of the night full stop.

"Uh Syd."

"Yeah?"

"We need to call the party. I have a feeling that Ainsley and Francie will be just about sitting on the phone by now."

Sydney's eyebrows peaked. "They knew about this?"

"Yeah," Vaughn replied, somewhat sheepishly. "I asked them if they could teach me how to dance and Francie guessed what was going on."

"And they kept quiet. Unbelievable."

"No, what is unbelievable was Weiss keeping mum about the whole situation."

"Weiss knew too!" Sydney exclaimed.

"Well, he knew that I had gotten my Grandmère's ring when we were in France and that I was planning to propose, but he didn't know when or how."

"Did anybody else know?" Sydney asked, flabbergasted. She couldn't believe that she had been kept out of the loop so well.

"Maman knew, and your dad."

"My dad!" Sydney was taken aback. "My dad?"

"Yeah, I though it would be the right thing to do, to speak to him before tonight. Get his blessing, or whatever."

"You went and spoke to my dad?" Sydney repeated. "You spoke to my dad and dressed up as Johnny and danced…and spoke to my dad."

Vaughn let out a chuckle. "Yes, Syd." He kissed the top of her head. "Now let's make that phone call before Francie and Ainsley knock down our front door."

When Sydney woke up the next morning, her eyes automatically went to her left hand. Seeing the ring on her finger, her face broke into an elated grin. It hadn't been a dream. Everything that happened the night before was real and now, she, Sydney Bristow, was getting married.

"Good morning," Vaughn whispered into her ear, pulling her tightly into his. "How you doing?"

"Oh, I think that I'm going to be pinching myself continuously for the next week or so." Sydney joked. "You?"

"I'm great, apart from the fact that my ear is still ringing from Francie and Ainsley's screams last night."

Sydney laughed. "How long before they come knocking on the door, do you think?"

"I told Weiss to try and keep Ainsley contained until after 9.00. But given that it's both Ainsley and Francie, I don't like his chances."

"Oh." Sydney smiled and stretched out her legs. "Well, then I guess we should get up."

"Do we have to?" Vaughn pouted.

Sydney cupped his face in her hands and kissed him softly. "Yeah, we do. Because I have a feeling that you mum would appreciate a visit, and I want to let my dad know that you actually went through with it."

Vaughn, for some reason unknown to Sydney, started chuckling.

"What?" she asked.

"This is so weird. Yesterday, we were just any old couple, and today there's engagement announcements and celebrations," he replied, smiling. "It's great, but still kinda weird."

"I know what you mean." Sydney agreed. The whole situation was a little surreal. She still couldn't fathom that she was going to get married. To Vaughn. "Come on, let's get up." She sat up. "And I think that after your little display last night, I owe you breakfast."

"Show me!" Sydney had barely opened the front door before Francie and Ainsley barrelled in and grabbed her left hand. Weiss walked in after them, staring at then as if they were women possessed. Sure, he thought that it was fantastic that Vaughn had finally popped the question, but they were screaming over that ring as if the King's had just won the Stanley Cup.

"Oh Syd." Ainsley was in raptures. "It beautiful."

Francie was nodding, and she sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I can't believe it. You're getting married."

Sydney beamed. "I know."

Francie threw her arms around her and then quickly pulled back, grabbing Sydney's hand. "I wanna see it again."

Weiss had just about had enough of this. "Excuse me ladies, hot stuff coming through." He squeezed past Ainsley and Francie and stopped in front of Sydney. "Congratulations," he said, opening some arms. "Come on, Miss Fiancée, give us some sugar."

Sydney wrapped her own arms around him. "Thanks Houdini." She stepped back and looked over at Vaughn, who was standing the in kitchen. "You know, after that radio show of yours, I actually thought it was you who was planning to propose to Ainsley."

"What?" Both Ainsley and Weiss exclaimed.

"Syd," Weiss continued. "If I were going to propose, there is no way I would do that. Ainsley might have suspected something."

"But it was alright for you to almost destroy my plans?" Vaughn retorted.

"Hey, if you had informed me on all your plans, I never would have done the show." Weiss held up his hands in defence. "And that reminds me- Ainz told me what you did."

Vaughn grinned. "And?"

"And it is so going to come back and haunt you."

"Eric," Ainsley started, her tone serious. "If I ever find that you have been giving Mike a hard time about the proposal, I will confiscate your Ariel Barbie doll."

There was a few seconds silence, before Vaughn cleared his throat and spoke. "Uh, do you still have that?"

"Yes." Weiss replied, defensively. "It was a gift from Ainz- I'll never get rid of it."

Ainsley grinned and put her arm around his waist. "Isn't he sweet?"

Juliette was about to start preparing herself some dinner when she heard the doorbell. When she looked through the peephole and saw Vaughn and Sydney, she knew.

Throwing open the door, Juliette was unable to contain the smile on her face. Seeing her expression, both Sydney and Vaughn laughed. Without a word, Sydney held up her left hand.

"Oh!" Juliette exclaimed, pulling them both into a hug. "Congratulations!"

She stepped aside to allow them to enter the house and then headed back to the kitchen, with Sydney and Vaughn following. "I was just about to start dinner. You two are going to stay and tell me all the details. When, where, how?"

"I asked her last night, maman." Vaughn replied. "At home."

"At home?" Juliette couldn't help but feel a little surprised. She's always thought of her son as the romantic type- much like his father. She couldn't picture him asking Sydney to marry him in their house. It just didn't seem special enough.

"At home." Sydney repeated, knowing exactly what Juliette was thinking. "And you are not going to believe what your son did."

After dinner, Vaughn disappeared, giving Sydney and Juliette a chance to catch up.

"Did my son really do that?" Juliette asked as the two of them stood in the kitchen, wine glasses in hand. "Agreed to dress up as Johnny Castle and danced you around 'Time of My Life'?"

Sydney nodded. "I was completely blown away. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I couldn't help but laugh- I thought he had lost his mind."

Juliette chuckled. "It sounds wonderful, and the two of you look completely over the moon." She took a mouthful of wine. "Have you thought about when you want to get married?"

Sydney shook her head. "No. We want to enjoy the engagement a little bit longer before trying to plan a wedding. But it should be sometime next year."

"Good idea." Juliette nodded in agreement. She glanced around the kitchen. "Where did Michael get to?"

Sydney shrugged as she took a mouthful of wine.

Vaughn had found his way to his old bedroom. It was pretty bare- he'd taken most of his belongings when he'd moved out. But there were still a few bits and pieces hanging around that gave him a nostalgic feeling. A few posters of his favourite bands during high school, the odd trophy, and most of all the only photo of his father that he had left behind, so that it would be there whenever he came back to stay the night.

Stretching out on his bed, his hands behind his head, Vaughn felt an overwhelming need to speak to his father. Never before had he experienced this before. He had always heard stories of people who spoke to loved ones who had died, but he had never done it.

"Hey dad." Vaughn couldn't believe it. It didn't feel weird at all. "I just wanted to say thank you. If it weren't for you and your watch, who knows where I would be today. I owe it all to you. Because of what you told me, I have the most incredible woman, no, person, in my life. I asked her to marry me, dad. She said yes. It's still sinking in, the fact that she agreed to marry me.

"I can't help but think that you had something more to do with it, apart from the watch. I don't really see that I could be that lucky to have a person like Sydney enter my life. I must have had a helping hand from somewhere. And, well, if it was you, once again, thank you so much, dad."

Juliette stood silently outside Vaughn's room. She had been about to enter when she heard her son's voice, and while she knew it was an invasion of privacy, she had stayed to listen to what he had to say.

Hearing him talk to Bill, she had never felt such a close affinity to her son. How many time had she had conversations like this? Too many to count.

With a smile, and her own silent thank-you, Juliette turned and walked away. Vaughn would never know that she had been there.