Last of the "small" chapters. Most of the next chapters are much longer. I hope you're enjoying it. I had so much fun writing this story. Originally, I wrote it because I couldn't find a SWeiss story I liked. It was either too much of this or too little of that. But never quite what I imagined. I wanted these two to come together in a believable way.

And I wanted to do justice to Eric, because I love the character and I thought he was too often used only as a foil for Vaughn. That annoyed me. Weiss had a lot of potential that was never explored. So that's what I set out to do.

The trigger for a Syd/Eric pairing was S3-ep3, when Weiss and Syd drown their sorrows in tequila, then later, Weiss gives Syd a copy of Alice in Wonderland. I wish the series had used the seed they planted there. But sadly, like most of S3, this was never developped. So again, I developed it "my way". :-D I'd love to hear what you think of it. Press the little Review button when you're done! Enjoy! :-)

Part 5: The Bewitching Hour

.

Around midnight, a movement roused him from his light sleep. Sydney was already sitting up, wide awake.

Immediately, he brought his hand to her forehead. Even in the muted light coming from the small bedside lamp he had put on the floor earlier, Weiss could make out the red flush coloring her cheeks. She was burning up. "You're feverish. Do you have some Tylenol around?"

"In the medicine cabinet behind the bathroom mirror." Her voice was slightly hoarse.

He was gone and back in a minute, handing her three pills and the mug he'd rinsed out and filled with tap water.

"Isn't that too much? I don't feel that sick." Her voice was loud to her ears, but barely audible to Weiss'.

"…says the expert with the delirious fever. It's not that much. You only had the PM kind. It'll give you a good night sleep… Come on, Bristow, just swallow up. Don't make me make you…"

At the sound of his serious voice, Sydney looked up from the blue pills in her hand. She wasn't used to this side of Weiss' personality. Her brow furrowed as she tried to find a hint of humor on his face. But there wasn't any. He had that intense look she'd seen a few times when things got rough on a mission… Better surrender. She didn't have the energy to fight him anyway.

"Yes, sir…" She quipped.

He snickered, relieved he wouldn't have to live up to his threat, since he had no idea how to get Sydney Bristow to do something she didn't want to. "Attitude. It's the middle of the night, and she's giving me attitude. I can't believe this girl…"

"…'m not a 'girl'…!" She pointed out between sips of the cool water.

"You learn something new every day…" He deadpanned as he put the mug back on the nightstand.

Sydney gave a short giggle. She did feel a little strange, like her body was here but her mind was floating. A shiver ran along her spine, probably from the exertion of sitting up. She barely felt it, but she saw her hands and arms tremble from it. She wasn't sure if she was hot or cold anymore. Maybe Weiss was right and she was delirious after all. Ugh... Being sick always made her cranky… She just couldn't bear being so powerless over her body. And right now, after all that happened, it was like adding insult to injury.

Something wet was rolling down her cheeks. Swiftly, she tried to wipe the tears out without Weiss noticing, but it was too late. Already, he was pushing her back on the bed and trapping her hands under the huge comforter. Then he did something that made her heart ache with sweetness. Delicately, almost with reverence, his thumbs wiped away the remainder of the wet paths on her cheeks. She saw him struggle to talk, as if the words refused to get past his throat.

"Hey…" His voice faltered. He flashed a sheepish smile. "Uh, you ok?"

"Yeah." She sighed. "Just… empty…" She lowered her eyes to hide the fresh tears that were pooling there. She didn't want to ask him for more help when he'd already gone above and beyond the call of friendship. But she wasn't sure she could manage on her own right now. "Weiss… Eric, could you… Would you hold me? Please? At least until I fall back to sleep?"

The corner of his mouth moved up in understanding and he blinked his approval. Without a word, he walked to the other side of the bed, took his shoes off and scooted next to her form. Half sitting, half laying down, he opened his right arm and Sydney closed the distance between them. She laid her head on his shoulder, her right hand resting on his chest. "Thank you", she murmured.

Within minutes, she had drifted into a dreamless sleep.

.*.*.

.*.*.

.*.*.

Weiss slowly released a deep breath.

When Sydney asked if he could hold her, he hadn't thought twice. She needed closeness and help, and he was here to give just that.

But he was beginning to regret his lack of forethought. Because now, he was suddenly in a position he never thought he'd be in.

In her bed, in her arms, and much, much more intimate with her than he'd ever been before. Ok, technically, she was in his arms. But that didn't really help the situation now, did it?

As the minutes slowly passed, Weiss was getting more and more uncomfortable. Not because of his position, though that would have been greatly improved if he'd laid down entirely next to her instead of trying to keep some semblance of propriety by half-sitting up.

No. What was uncomfortable was the fact that having Sydney's body chastely flushed against his felt very right.

Which was terribly wrong.

He shifted a little, sliding down so that his head would rest on the top pillow and not on the hard headboard. As he moved, Sydney sighed in her sleep, molding her arm and hand around his torso, effectively preventing him from leaving without waking her up. "Great…" He murmured.

It wasn't so bad, really. She was pretty much unconscious, delirious with fever. She probably wouldn't remember a thing tomorrow.

… And that was beginning to bother him as well.

With nothing else to do and sleep remaining elusive, Weiss was suddenly faced with ideas he'd considered long buried. Thoughts that he'd happily lived in denial of when Sydney and he had renewed and deepened their friendship.

He still wouldn't put a name on any of it. Why would he do this to himself? What would be the point? If there had been a pool going on at work, he would have put a bet on Sydney still being in love with Mike, and the both of them eventually getting back together. And if not, well, with the insane break-up they had, she'd probably never truly get over him. With that kind of history, whoever came next to harbor feelings for her would be in for the biggest, most predictable emotional disaster ever.

That was all nice and rational, but it didn't change anything to the fact that he seemed to "care" for Sydney a lot more than he reasonably should. Try as he may, in the end, he had to recognize that there were "aspects" of his relationship with her that didn't fit well into the friendship category.

He closed his eyes and drew a long breath to help clear his usually pretty sound judgment. Insidiously, the faint scent of Sydney's hair traveled up from her cozy spot on his chest. It wasn't the first time he'd noticed the subtle hint of citrus whenever he was around her. It reminded him of the heady, sweet smell in the orange grove where he'd worked weekends when he was a teenager. Lately though, he'd noticed the old memory was fading, and it was Syd he now thought of whenever the zesty scent reached him. Nothing like it to drive him to distraction...

Soon though, his attention reverted to introspection as anger at himself needled his thoughts. This was not good at all. He could tell he was already a prisoner of his fondness for her. With any other woman, he was would have shrugged it all off as a passing crush, a momentary infatuation. He'd had plenty of experience with that. Normally, he would just forget about it and, in time, move on.

But this wasn't "normal." He already knew Sydney well enough to be beyond the stage of simple curiosity. She was daring and sweet, abnormally talented and so damn lovable, so beautiful… She even intimidated him a little! He let out a low chuckle. He'd been very careful over time not to let her know how easily her dimpled smile could reduce him to putty in her hands. How was that for supreme denial…

God, those dimples… He just itched to run a finger along them sometimes. Any folly was worth it to bring out that smile. He couldn't remember being happier than the day he'd squandered away a ludicrous amount of money to replace her lost edition of Alice in Wonderland. Her reaction when she got it… The painful, then radiant smile and the tears, and the feel of her in his arms… Nothing compared to seeing her happy because of something he'd done for her.

It was somewhere in the middle these reflexions that sleep finally caught up with him, but not before he'd had time to sigh again at the world of trouble he'd already crossed into.

.

tbc

.

Next time, in Part 6: Hello-Goodbye

When she woke up, Sydney felt better than she had in weeks...

Feed the feedback, pretty please :-)