Thank you all for your feedback.
Em-958: I'm sorry, but I have to tell you that Irina Derevko will not be making an appearance in this fic. Even though I love her and think that she is fantastic, this a completely AU fic, totally spearated from the spy world, so no Irina :( Also with the wedding song, it won't be Time Of Your Life, or Emotional Rescue (that was actually used in Meeting Their Match).
"Hey, where'd Donovan get to?" Sydney asked.
"I don't know." Vaughn took a few steps towards the kitchen. "He was just…" he trailed off when something caught his eye. "Great, the door's open. I bet you he's next door terrorizing Marshall."
He made to head outside, bit before he could something made him stop short. From outside came the squeal of tyres, followed by a dog's yelp that made both his and Sydney's blood run cold.
Without a word, Vaughn dashed outside, Sydney following behind.
By the time Sydney got out there, Vaughn was already crouching over Donovan. He was alive, but appeared to be in a huge amount of pain.
"Hey Donny. Hey boy." Vaughn spoke in a soothing tone, while stroking the top of Donovan's head. Sydney could tell that he was fighting back tears.
"Oh my god!" The driver of the car, a woman who looked to be about Sydney's age, was repeating. "I am so sorry. He just came out of nowhere! I tried to stop. I really did."
Sydney walked up to her. The poor woman looked as if she was bordering on the edge of hysteria. "It's ok. It's not your fault."
"Sydney." It was Vaughn, his voice cracking. "We need to get him to a vet. Now."
"Oh god." The woman was close to tears as she reached into her car. "Here's my card." She handed it to Sydney. "Please call me. I'll cover any costs."
Sydney nodded and then dashed inside for a blanket and the car keys. Handing the blanket to Vaughn, she then pulled the car into the street. After Vaughn carefully placed Donovan in the back, he climbed in. Vaughn's soothing comments towards Donovan were the only words spoken during the trip to the vet's.
Vaughn sat, his elbows resting on his knees and his head in his hands. Sydney's comforting hand running up and down his back did little to ease the nauseating lump that had formed in his throat. If anything happened to Donovan, he would never forgive himself.
"I shouldn't have left the door open," he muttered.
"Vaughn, this isn't your fault." Sydney said, gently.
"Well, I can't blame Donovan. Who else is there to blame?"
"Nobody." Sydney said firmly.
Vaughn leaned back in the chair, rubbing his eyes. "When I saw him lying on that road…"
"Ssh." Sydney grabbed one of his hands. "Let's just wait to see what the vet has to say before you start thinking that way." But seeing the expression on Vaughn's face, Sydney knew that nothing she said could make Vaughn feel any better, and instead just wrapped him in her arms.
About half an hour later, the vet walked out.
"Michael?" he asked, glancing at the chart he was holding.
Vaughn stood up. "Yes?"
"Hi, I'm Nicholas," he said, holding out his hand, which Vaughn shook. "Now, I have good news for you. Donovan is going to be fine."
Vaughn's body visibly sagged with relief as the vet continued to speak..
"Now quite surprisingly there were no broken bones, but there was quite a deep laceration on his stomach which I had to stitch up. So when he gets home you'll have to make sure that he stays away from them."
"But other than that, he's ok?" Vaughn pressed.
"As far as I can see." Nicholas replied. "However, I do want to keep him here overnight, just to make sure."
"Yeah, that's fine." Vaughn ran a hand through his hair. "He's really ok?"
Nicholas let out a small laugh. "Yes, I'll give you a call tomorrow morning when Donovan is ready to come home."
"Thank you." Vaughn said, gratefully. Nicholas nodded and walked off. Vaughn turned to Sydney, a huge grin on his face. "He's ok!"
Sydney returned the smile as she stepped forward and embraced him in a hug.
"Yes, well I just wanted to let you know that Donovan was ok." Sydney said over the phone the next day. She examined the business card in her hand as she spoke. Keira MacLaine: Caterer. "No, no. We can't accept any money. Seriously, it is fine…ok, bye."
Sydney hung up the phone and turned to Dixon, who was correcting a pile of Year 11 essays.
"How is Donovan doing?" he asked, looking up.
"Fine. Absolutely relishing in the attention that Vaughn is giving him." She let out a small laugh. "Vaughn wanted to take the day off school to look after him."
"I'm sure Abrams College would have loved that." Dixon smirked.
"Yeah. It took a lot of fast talking to convince Vaughn that Donovan would be fine under Danielle's care."
Dixon let out a small chuckle. "Oh, Diane asked me to double check what time Saturday starts."
"Doors open at 8.00pm." Sydney replied. "If Francie is still functioning at that point."
"What's it called again?"
"She called it Deep Inside." Sydney answered and Dixon looked at her quizzically. "Don't ask me. She refuses to explain the significance to anybody."
Dixon just raised his eyebrows and turned back to his corrections.
"Oh, Sydney!" Carries exclaimed Friday afternoon. "Thank god I caught you."
"Hey Carrie." Sydney could feel her stomach sinking. She knew what was coming.
"Now, I know this is late notice, but we have weekend rehearsals tomorrow and Sunday. It would be great if you could come."
"Um." Sydney paused. "I'll try and drop by, but my weekend is already kind of busy."
"Oh. Ok. Well," Carrie handed her a piece of paper, "we only have a month until the production and these are all the rehearsals scheduled up until opening night. I really need you to be at as many as possible."
"Ok." Sydney smiled as Carrie walked off and then looked down at the calendar in her hands. Her stomach continued to sink. There, right in front of her, was her life disappearing.
"Can we please go now?" Danielle begged. Sydney and Vaughn, who had barely finished getting ready, looked at each other and laughed. After dozens of times that they had to sit around waiting for Francie to get ready, this was quite a different experience.
"What's the big rush?" Sydney asked, trying to do up one of her heels.
"I want to go out and have some fun. To use what I got, to meet new people," Danielle grinned. Sydney hid a smile. Will 'breaking up' with her had done wonders for Vaughn's cousin. Sydney found herself warming to her more and more each day.
"Use what you got?" Vaughn repeated, picking his keys up from the kitchen bench. "What are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about?" Danielle winked at Sydney. "I'm French. All we French have to do is open our mouths and we have the opposite sex going weak at the knees," she said with a little shimmy. "It's the accent."
"What?" Vaughn couldn't stifle his laughter.
"She's right you know." Sydney put in as they headed out the front door. "It was only after I heard you speaking your natural tongue that I decided to consider going out with you."
"Oh really?" Vaughn looked into her smiling face and just shook his head. "You two," he wagged a finger between Sydney and Danielle, "are trouble."
The restaurant was starting to fill up when Sydney, Vaughn and Danielle arrived. It looked fantastic.
"Hey, you made it!" A surprisingly calm Francie made her way over.
"Francie, this place is amazing." Sydney said in awe, pulling her in for a hug. "I am so proud of you."
"Well, do me a favour and tell your dad I said thanks." Francie replied. "The colour scheme turned out better than I expected."
"Who are all these people?" Vaughn asked, gazing around.
Francie shrugged. "I sent out 100 invites, thinking that maybe 70 will show. Then I find out that you guys have told half the staff at your schools, Ainsley has been spreading the word around Phase One, Will has told just about every reporter in the city and Eric has even been plugging Deep Inside in his show!" Francie grinned. "But I'm not complaining. The more people who know about this place, the better." She turned when somebody called her name. "I gotta go. You guys go mingle and have fun. And don't forget to tell everybody how wonderful the owner is!"
Sydney and Vaughn stared after her.
"That was Francie we were just speaking to, right?" Sydney said. "One of the biggest nights of her life and she is as cool as ice."
"Yeah," Vaughn wrapped an arm around her, placing a kiss on her cheek.
"Ok, I am getting a drink." Danielle announced. "Can I get you anything?"
Both Sydney and Vaughn declined her offer, but watched as Danielle walked away. They knew that they would be seeing very little of her that evening.
After all the guests had left, Francie, Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss, Will, Craig and Danielle stayed back for a few drinks.
"All I meant," Weiss was saying, "is that we need to make the most of moments like these now."
"And why is that?" Craig asked. He looked as baffled as everyone else.
"Because, in two months, these two," Weiss pointed at Sydney and Vaughn, "are going to become a boring, old married couple and we'll lose them forever to a life of early bedtimes and trips to the hardware store."
"Yeah!" Francie laughed. "I can see it now. Syd and Michael in matching tracksuits going for their early morning stroll."
"And," Craig put in, "then coming home to His and Her towels."
"Then, top it off with a weekly Sunday roast at Jack's house." Will finished.
"Thanks guys.' Sydney said, indignantly. Vaughn's expression mirrored hers. "It really is enlightening to hear what you really think of us."
"Hey, we'll still love you." Francie joked. "Even when you start passing up a night on the town so you can defrost the freezer."
"You know what Syd?" Vaughn turned to her. "Since we're so 'boring' as our 'friends' have so politely put it, then maybe we should just call off Christmas Eve. It wouldn't be any fun if we were hosting it."
Sydney smiled at him, as protests and apologies rang out around them.
"We take it back." Will said. "You two will still be the life of the party- even when you're 90 years old and living at a retirement home."
"Thank you." Sydney said graciously as Weiss stood up.
"I gotta go. Ainsley needs picking up at the club." He gave Francie a quick hug. "Congrats. You did awesome, Francie."
Franice beamed proudly at all of her friends. "I did, didn't I?"