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Thursday night Weiss let himself into his and Ainsley's apartment. "Ainz?"
"In here." Her voice called out, from the direction of the bedroom. She was sitting upon the bed, with papers spread out in front of her.
"Hey." Weiss bent over to kiss her. "What are you doing?"
"Just going over some of Phase One's finances." She jotted something down. "I want to start hiring some notable bands to play and I need to see if the idea is viable."
"Oh, ok." Weiss went to leave. When Ainsley was in manager mode it was best to just leave her alone.
"Eric." Ainsley had just looked at her watch and realized what the time was. "How come you are so late?"
"I dropped by to give Sydney the tickets for Saturday night."
"Speaking of Saturday night, are you still coming to the club for that radio promotion thing?"
"Yup." Weiss grinned. "And I promise I won't embarrass you like last time."
Ainsley laughed. The last time the radio station had sent Weiss to Phase One for some promotion/ competition, he'd gotten a little carried away with the microphone, declaring his love for 'that hot red head behind the bar' and proving that love by launching into an a cappella version of 'I Would Walk 500 Miles'.
"Good." She went to write something down. "Oh, your mum called."
"Oh god. What did she want?"
"She was getting in early for Christmas. She wanted us to go around there for dinner Christmas Eve."
Weiss's eyes widened. "What did you tell her?"
"I told her that I had prior plans, but you'd love to be there."
"You didn't." Weiss's face was horrified. "Because there is no way you get to go to Christmas Eve at Syd and Vaughn's without me."
"Of course I didn't." Ainsley smirked. "You would never let me hear the end of it if you were to miss Christmas Eve and Santa on the fire truck."
Vaughn sat bolt upright as a loud shrill sound shot through his ear. "What the…" he trailed off as his eyes fell upon a smiling Sydney, sitting next to him on the bed, a party blower in hand. "So, is that going to be my alarm clock form now on?"
"Nope, just today." Sydney leant across and placed a kiss on his lips. "Happy Birthday, sweetheart."
"Thanks." Vaughn rubbed his ear. "But, I think we need to discuss my wake up call before next birthday."
Sydney just smiled smugly as she climbed out of the bed. "You know what I was thinking?"
"What?" Vaughn asked, standing up and stretching. "About how you are going to treat me like a king today?"
"No. Do realize that you turn twenty-five today?"
"Uh, yeah."
Sydney grinned. "And that is like half-way to fifty!"
Vaughn stared at her for a second. "You be careful, Bristow. You've only got a few months until your birthday!"
"Yes, but you will always be older than me."
"And you will always be ticklish!" Vaughn moved quickly towards Sydney. With a shriek she ran out to the lounge room, but was not quick enough. Lunging forward, Vaughn tackled her onto the couch, attacking her ribs.
"Vau- oh- please- stop." Sydney struggled to gasp out.
"What was that, Syd?" Vaughn asked, cheekily. "I can't quite hear you."
"Vaughn!" Sydney fought back in vain. "Stop- or- no- present."
That worked. Vaughn's hands left her ribs, but he made sure to keep her trapped underneath him. "What was that?"
"I said stop or I won't give you your present."
"Well," Vaughn sat up. "I've stopped."
Sydney sat up also. Reaching across to her bag, sitting by the couch, she pulled out an envelope. "There you go."
Vaughn ripped open the envelope, revealing two tickets. "Kings versus Islanders," he read out loud and then looked up at Sydney. "Tonight's game?"
Sydney nodded. "There's more."
"What?"
"Weiss's radio station is sponsoring the game. There's going to be some sort of a shoot-out competition at half-time and I got him to organize for you to be part of it." Sydney grinned at Vaughn's expression. "Apparently you'll be up against some of the Kings players."
Vaughn's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"
"No Vaughn, I'm playing with you. Nothing I said is true and those tickets are fake. All you are going to get to do for your birthday is spend the day with Danielle."
"What about me?" Danielle asked, walking into the lounge, yawning.
Vaughn cracked up as he grabbed Sydney, planting kisses all over her face. "I. Love. You."
"Ugh." Danielle grimaced and headed back to her room. Those two were impossible to live with sometimes.
"Hello?" Sydney answered the phone early that afternoon. She was home alone. Vaughn had dropped round to see Weiss and Craig and Danielle was off gallivanting somewhere.
"Syd, it's Will."
"Hey, how are you?"
"I'm out the front of your place actually."
"What?" Sydney asked, confused. She headed towards the front window, and sure enough, Will's Jeep was parked out there. "Then why are you ringing me and not knocking on the door?"
"I just wanted to check if Danielle was home first."
"No, she's not."
"Ok then. See you in a sec."
Sydney stood bewildered as Will hung up, and then climbed out of his car and headed to the front door and knocked.
"What is going on, Will?" she demanded throwing it open. "Why did you want to know if Danielle was home?"
"I just…I just need a bit of a breather." Will said, his tone exasperated.
"Why?" Sydney stopped short as she spotted something on Will's neck. "What is that?"
Will look down. "What?"
Sydney took a closer look and then stared incredulously at him. "Is that a hickey?"
"Wha- huh?" Will's hand flew to his neck. "Damn. I forgot about that."
"Did Danielle…" Sydney left the rest of the question remain unspoken. Will's expression said enough and she couldn't help letting out a small giggle. "So, what were you saying? About needing a breather and all that?"
"She's so full on, Syd." Will said, throwing himself on the couch. "At the Halloween party, she seemed nice and I enjoyed her company. But I never really wanted anything serious to come out of it. Now she is acting as if we're in some kind of a relationship." Will rubbed his eyes. "You know, she just assumed that because she didn't want to stay here last weekend, that she would be able to stay at my place."
Sydney's eyes widened. "Did she?" she asked, thankful that Vaughn wasn't here to hear this conversation.
"No!" Will burst out. "If I'd let her do that, then she would probably be trying to move her stuff in this weekend."
Sydney laughed lightly. "You're being a little dramatic, don't you think?"
"You live with her." Will said, pointedly. "Are you telling me that there is no way you can imagine her acting this way?"
"Ok, maybe." Sydney relented. "But have you actually spoken to Danielle about this? Told her how you were feeling about the whole…situation?"
"No."
"Well, there's your problem right there." Sydney said. "You should have made how you feel clear right from the very start."
"Now you tell me." Will grumbled.
"Will!" Sydney slapped him lightly. "This is nobody's fault but yourself. Now you need to speak to Danielle and you need to tread very carefully. Not just for her sake, but for yours also."
"Why?"
"Because, no matter how much Danielle annoys him, if you do anything to hurt his cousin, Vaughn will kill you."
Sydney loved going to hockey games with Vaughn. Loved watching how excited or worked up he got. The passion he derived, she knew, wasn't simply from his love of the game. No, it was as if going to or watching hockey was somehow a way of keeping a connection to his father.Seeing him react to the game in front of them, Sydney could easily imagine an eight-year-old Vaughn, all excited because he was going to do something with his beloved dad.
Vaughn, out of the corner of his eyes, saw Sydney watching him. It seemed to him, that when they went to the hockey, that Sydney spent more time watching him, with this small smile on her face, than the game.
"Why do you do that?" he asked, leaning back in his seat.
"Do what?"
"Smile at me like you know something I don't."
Sydney shrugged. "I don't know. I just love watching you get all excited like a little boy."
Vaughn laughed. "Like the way you get all excited by the Zambonie?"
"Well, the Zambonie is my favourite part."
"I thought coming home with me was your favourite part?" Vaughn asked, teasingly. "Remember?"
"It was. But now, since going home means going home to Danielle, Zambonie has moved up into first." She laughed softly at Vaughn's playfully wounded expression. "But I promise, it will go back to second as soon as Danielle moves out."
"Well, I guess I'll just have to…" Vaughn trailed off, his eyes back on the rink. "Oh come on, ref! Are you blind!"
Sydney smiled inwardly. No matter what the topic, conversations with Vaughn at hockey matches were never really all that successful.
"Where did you pull that from? This is hockey ref, not bloody ballet!"
Never.