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Even though Sydney and Vaughn had finally set a date, the wedding plans were the last thing on their minds during the days following their anniversary. Danielle was arriving on Wednesday and there was plenty to do before then.

Clean the house, set up the spare room, make sure there was food in the fridge that she liked…by the time Wednesday morning swung around Sydney and Vaughn were both tired and apprehensive. They still had no idea what to expect from Danielle.

"I called Francie," Sydney said that morning. "She said that Danielle was more than welcome at the Halloween party."

Vaughn nodded. "Thanks," he replied, giving her a quick kiss. "I'll see you tonight." He went to head out the door, but Sydney stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Wait."

"What is it?" Vaughn abruptly stopped speaking when Sydney threw her arms around him and planted a hard, long kiss on his lips.

"I just thought that we should make the most of our last moments of privacy." Sydney smiled. "Who knows what it will be like around here after today."

Vaughn grinned. "Nice idea, Bristow. Now come here." In one fluid movement, he dipped Sydney and then leant down to kiss her.

"Whoa!" Sydney laughed as Vaughn helped her straighten up. "We should let a cousin of yours move in every month."

"Ok guys. Pipe down for just a second." Sydney waited patiently as the class in front of her quietened down. "Thank you. Now your text response questions are due Friday." She paused, smiling, as the students unanimously groaned. "Come on guys, you've had two weeks and they're not the most taxing of questions." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "OK, the bell will be going in a few minutes, but I'll let you go now. I'll see you Friday- with your responses!"

As the last of the students filed out the door, Sydney spotted Carrie Bowman hovering around the door. "Hey Carrie, what can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering if you could come to rehearsals tonight. Charlie is sick and I just need an extra pair of eyes.:

"Um, ok." Sydney replied. "But I'll have to leave early. Vaughn's cousin is arriving this afternoon and I want to be home when they get back from the airport."

"Sure, that's fine." Carrie smiled. "Thanks so much, Sydney."

"So this is it?" Danielle stared out of the passenger window as Vaughn pulled into the driveway.

"Yup, home sweet home." Vaughn replied getting out of the car. He caught sight of Danielle rolling her eyes and had to laugh. "Not one for cheesy cliché's hey?"

Danielle just smiled as she headed towards the front door. Just like Sydney and Vaughn she had been a little apprehensive about this arrangement She didn't know her cousin all that well and had only met Sydney briefly. And now they were going to be living with each other.

"Syd!" Vaughn called out as he let himself and Danielle into the house. "We're here." There was no reply. Shrugging his shoulders at Danielle he led her to the spare room off the lounge area. "This will be your room. Syd and I weren't sure what you liked, so we left it bare. You can decorate it however you like."

"Thank you." Danielle stood, almost awkwardly.

"So…umm," Vaughn paused. "I'll just go see where Sydney is."

Before he had a chance to move they heard the front door open and Sydney's voice call out. "Vaughn?"

"In here." Seconds later Sydney's smiling face appeared in the doorway. "Hey, where were you?"

"Next door. Marshall had some new computer gadget thingy that he wanted to show me."

"Oh." Vaughn grinned. He'd had plenty of run-ins with Marshall's work of the past years. "What does this one do?"

"I have no idea. He showed me it and explained it and I am still totally baffled." Sydney laughed as she threw up her hands.

"Uh, who is Marshall?" Danielle piped up, confusion written all over her face.

"Oh, sorry!" Sydney exclaimed. "Marshall is our next door neighbour. We'll introduce you tomorrow after you've had some sleep." She paused. "So, how was your flight?"

"Ugh." Danielle shuddered. "I hate planes and I hate flying. I am just glad to be back on solid ground." She spoke good English, but with a very heavy accent. Vaughn had no trouble understanding, yet Sydney was forced to listen twice as hard.

"Ok then, what about some dinner?" Vaughn proposed. "I'll cook. Does anybody feel like anything specific?"

"Hey, as long as you're cooking, I'm happy." Sydney smiled heading out into the lounge room. "So, did Vaughn tell you about the Halloween party?"

Danielle glanced at Vaughn. "No, he did not."

"Well, it's Saturday night." Vaughn piped up from the kitchen. "We thought you might like to come. It'll give you a chance to meet some people."

"But won't these people be all your friends, you know old and stuff?"

Vaughn let out a small cough as Sydney turned to him; her incredulous expression asking 'Is this girl for real?'

"Oh no." Danielle brought a hand to mouth. "Is old the right word? I didn't mean like maman or Grandmère. I meant that you've all finished school and have jobs. I would feel…how do you say it? Fish out of water?"

Vaughn let out a small chuckle. "Don't worry too much," he said. "The sad thing, while we and our friends are supposed to be mature adults, most of us still have the mentality of an eighteen year old."

"Except for Weiss." Sydney put in.

"Yeah, except for Weiss." Vaughn agreed. "He has the mentality of a fifteen year old."

"I thought we were supposed to wear costumes for Halloween?" Danielle inquired as Vaughn and Sydney led her up to Francie's door. By the music and laughter coming from inside, it sounded as if the party was already in full swing.

"Yes, but another friend had a costume party for her birthday last month, so Francie decided to forgo the whole making us dress up thing." Vaughn explained.

"Who did you go as?" Danielle asked.

"Baby and Johnny." Sydney grinned as she looked down at her ring finger. Glancing at Vaughn she saw that he was doing the same thing.

"Who?"

Sydney, who was about to open the front door, stopped and stared at Danielle, agape. "You know, Baby and Johnny from Dirty Dancing?"

Danielle stared blankly at her. "No."

Sydney's eyes widened with disbelief. "Are you telling me that you've never seen Dirty Dancing?"

"No, I have not." She looked warily at Sydney. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Oh Danielle, you have no idea. "Sydney smiled as she placed a hand around her shoulders. "Tomorrow, I am going to sit you in front of the television and change your life forever."

"Oops!" Will jumped back as he slammed into someone solid. Unfortunately the cup of drink he had been holding ended up all over their front. "Oh no! I am so sorry." Looking around, he saw a roll of paper towel sitting on Francie's sink. "Here." He grabbed it and handed it over.

"Thanks."

"I am so sorry. I really should look where I'm going."

"Please, do not worry." She smiled at him. "It's ok."

Will's head cocked slightly. "You're Danielle?"

Danielle's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How do you know my name?"

"Um, your accent." Will explained. "I knew Vaughn's cousin was coming over, and well you sound French."

"Oh." She looked a little relieved after hearing this.

"I'm Will," he said, offering his hand which Danielle accepted. "I'm a good friend of Sydney's…and Mike's."

Danielle let a small laugh. "Michael, Mike, Vaughn- how many name does my cousin have?"

With a grin Will shrugged. "So, do you like it over here?"

"It's ok." Danielle's face screwed up slightly. "I have not seen a lot. Michael and Sydney have been busy with school and stuff. They haven't had much time to show me around."

"That sucks."

"I know. So far I have seen the airport and…" Danielle paused, looking around. "Francie's place."

Will smiled. There was something about this girl that intrigued him. "Well, if you'd like, I could show you around some time?"

A look of surprise crossed Danielle's face. "But don't you have to work?"

"Yeah, but I'm a journalist. My hours are more flexible than Syd and Mike's."

"Oh," Danielle paused, as she absentmindedly twirled a blonde curl around her finger. "Well, in that case then, ok."

"Well, well, well, would you look at that." Francie announced. She was standing with Sydney and Vaughn on the other side of her lounge room.

"What?" Sydney asked.

Francie pointed to where Will and Danielle were standing by the kitchen. "Your cousin is barely in the country and already Will is making a move."

"He better not be." Vaughn said, his tone serious.

Sydney and Francie shot a glance at each other, eyebrows raised. "And why not?" Sydney inquired.

"Because she is only nineteen years old." Vaughn replied. "And I promised Felise I would look after her."

"Well, look who's gone and turned protective daddy on us." Francie laughed. But seeing the look on Vaughn's face, she quickly stopped. "Sorry."

"Vaughn." Sydney put a hand on his arm. "Don't stress- they're only talking, and Danielle is a big girl and Will would never do anything stupid." She took a mouthful of drink and continued. "Cos he knows that is he did, Francie and I would kick his ass."

"Too right." Francie agreed, taking in Vaughn's unchanged expression. "Come on Syd. It looks as if Daddy-O here needs a drink."