Chapter 106: Leisure

"It is in his pleasure that a man really lives; it is from his leisure that he constructs the true fabric of self." – Agnes Repplier

"Leisure is the mother of philosophy." – Thomas Hobbes

"The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good company, good conversation, are the happiest people in the world. And they are not only happy in themselves, they are the cause of happiness in others." – William Lyon Phelps


Vaughn was still sleeping soundly when Sydney woke on Tuesday morning. Soft sunlight was spilling into the room, signaling the inception of day. She looked over at the clock; it was almost 10:00. She almost giggled when she thought about having to actually get up and go to work again; it was going to be hell for both of them. They had been so spoiled with sleeping late, but that was what Vaughn needed, and she had no complaints to spending large amounts of time in bed with him.

She turned her head, which was resting on his chest, upward to watch him sleep. Her head was rising and falling with the intake and outtake of his breath, and she sighed in contentment.

She couldn't suppress the giggle that erupted when he twitched softly in his sleep. It set off a series of giggles and he was roused in no time. He opened his eyes slowly, yawning, and looking down at Sydney with a mix of confusion and laughter.

"What?" he asked sleepily.

"Nothing..." she got out before she giggled helplessly again.

"What!" he asked again.

"You just...twitched, it was cute...and I couldn't help myself..."

"I twitched?"

"Yeah...your face did this little muscle twitch..."

He laughed with her until he pulled her up to kiss him, "Sydney," he began after, getting her attention.

"Yeah?"

"Last night...was...thank you."

"You're welcome," she said happily, "You ok? It didn't hurt you did it?"

"No...just gave me the twitches..."

She laughed, snuggling into his chest more, "Yeah...well, I'll take that as a compliment."

They spent several minutes in silence, Vaughn running his hand up and down Sydney's back in broad strokes.

"What do you want to do today?" she asked.

"Don't know...what do you want to do?"

"We could do some work...and we should do your exercises too..."

"Ok...sounds like a plan. Do you think we can fill a whole day with that?"

"We might be able to work something else in..."

"That's my girl..."

She smiled and sat up, "Breakfast?"

"Yeah...I'm hungry..."

"I'll surprise you..."

"Sounds like a plan."

She padded out to the kitchen to look for something for breakfast and found another note on the counter.

Scrawled again in Will's handwriting, "Syd, We got in really late last night, hope you didn't have any trouble moving Vaughn and stuff. We'll be home earlier tonight, how about dinner? Call me at work and let me know. Have a good day. Love ya, Will."

She smiled; she loved how her friends seemed to be taking to Vaughn, worrying about him almost as much as she did.

"Vaughn?" she called.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"You wanna have dinner tonight with Will and Francie?"

"Sure."

"Ok," she said grabbing the phone as she took out breakfast makings.

She dialed the all too familiar number and the answering service picked up, "Dispatch."

"This is officer 2300844, may I speak with Will Tippin please?"

Music started playing and after a few seconds there was a soft click and then, "Will Tippin..."

"Hey Will."

"Hi Syd!" Will said happily.

"How're you doing?"

"I'm good...you? Mike?"

"We're good...I got your note..."

"Yeah, I'm sorry we were so late..."

"No, Will, it's fine. Vaughn and I are perfectly fine alone..." she left the next part of the sentence up to him to figure out.

"Oh yeah...I know...I just...well, we thought we'd be home earlier than we were, and we were concerned that you'd have problems moving Mike...ya know..." he said somewhat sheepishly.

"Actually, Vaughn and I have been doing a really good job moving him. I think he's getting better...it seems easier for him. I mean, he still is out of breath and stuff, tired, but it's better...I mean we can move...that's a vast improvement."

"That's great Syd...can you hang on a second?"

"Sure," she said.

She heard Will saying something muffled and then he was back, "Ok, sorry about that..."

"Not a problem."

"That was Kendall..."

"Oh yay..."

"Yeah, he...well...he knew I was talking to you...he wanted to know if you've been making any progress on the files...stupid ass..." he said softly, "He can't even leave you alone when you're on a leave of absence?"

Sydney chuckled, "Well...you can tell him we started on them yesterday, but we haven't had a lot of time yet. We'll probably do some more today though."

"Ok, I'll feed that to him, maybe that'll keep him off your case for awhile."

"Thanks Will..."

"Sure, so...we'll see you about 5:30ish?"

"That sounds great..."

"Why don't we pick something up on the way, that way we won't have to wait to eat..."

"Equally great..."

"Ok Syd...yeah, ok I have to go, I'm getting evil eye from bullet head. I'll call you later when we know where we're gonna pick up the food."

Sydney laughed, "Ok Will...I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Syd."

She hung up with a smile and went back to breakfast. Several minutes later she came back to the bedroom with a tray.

"Will's gonna call later to let us know where they're gonna stop – take orders..."

"Ok, sounds good..."

They had a playful breakfast, feeding each other and touching lightly. It seemed that neither wanted to be away from the other. There was rarely a moment when some part of one wasn't touching the other.

Sydney had to admit, besides being spoiled with sleeping in, she was getting far too spoiled with time alone with Vaughn. That too would be hell once they had to go back to work. Thank god they worked in the same place, so that if they weren't sharing the same floor square they could still be happy with the knowledge that the other was in the building somewhere.

Vaughn noticed she seemed to be lost in thought, "What'cha thinking?" he asked in the same playful tone that their morning had been started on.

She smiled, "I was just thinking that it's a really good thing that we work at the same place, because when we go back to work, I'm gonna miss all of this terribly."

Vaughn smiled back, "Yeah...I know...we can probably find some private nooks in the building somewhere though..."

She smiled evilly, "You promise?"

"Scout's honor."

That sent her off into a fit of giggles and the playful breakfast continued.

Sydney took the dishes out into the kitchen after the breakfast and then came back to Vaughn.
"So...what should we do?" she asked while plopping next to him on the bed. "Bath? Exercise? Work?"

"Let's exercise first...then we can take a bath."

"Sounds like a plan...deep breathing first," she said as she moved to take the wrap off.

He smiled when she placed her hand on his chest, not having to tell her to breathe with him anymore.

She put the wrap back on and then moved back to sit on his legs for the exercises. She assumed the usual position, and he did twelve crunches with her help.

"You know...I think the sheet said I was supposed to start sitting up by myself too..."

"Yeah...you think you're up to that?"

"I want to try..."

"Ok," she said, moving off of him, but staying close.

He did four fairly easily and then managed to work out a fifth, but with a wince. He landed back against the pillow heavily, causing another wince from his back.

"Ok, ow," he said.

"You ok?" she asked moving to sit next to him.

He sighed, "Yeah, I'm ok...I should have stopped at four."

"You sure you're ok?"

"Yeah..."

"Why don't you rest a while before we do the standing..."

"No, let's just do it now..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah...rather get it over with."

"Ok," she said helping him sit and then stand.

"Should we just walk to the bathroom while I'm up?"

"Sure," Sydney said starting to slowly walk backwards.

They made their way to the bathroom where Sydney stripped and did the same for Vaughn, started the water and went to remove his bandages as he sat on the chair next to the tub.

"God, I can't wait until I can take a shower..." he said quietly.

She smiled as she stood behind him, "Why? Don't you like my baths?"

"Oh, honey...I love your baths...but I want to play with you in the shower..."

She moved around to stand in front of him and started to remove the bandages there, "You will..."

He smiled softly and accepted her hand as she finished and helped him into the tub.

She sat down in the tub in back of him and pulled him back until he was pressed to her, his head dropping back to rest on her shoulder.

She enveloped him in her arms, bringing her hands to rest on his abs. She massaged gently, careful not to hurt his ribs. He moaned as he relaxed even more in her arms as she kneaded the tension out of his muscles.

His eyes closed as he hummed under her hands. She smiled, pressing a soft kiss to his temple and then another on his cheek.

He opened his eyes, smiling, looking over at her, "Thanks," he said appreciatively.

"You're welcome...you did enough to warrant it."

He sighed as she began to wash him, the tension slowly ebbing away, being cleansed with warm water and soap and Sydney's soft caresses.

She washed herself quickly after finishing with him and helped him out of the tub again. She redressed his wounds, checked the infected one, and then wrapped his ribs.

"I don't know Vaughn...I mean the wound is getting better I think, but it still looks bad..."
She moved to stand in front of him, "What do you think?"

"I don't know...ask Tom next time you call...or he does..."

"Ok," she said moving out to get them clothing. She returned and dressed both of them and smiled as she looked at him, reaching out a hand to scratch across the stubble covering his face.
"Shave?" she asked.

"Yeah, that'd be nice," he said as he scratched a spot on his chin, "gets kinda itchy."

She smiled as she lathered him up and started to shave him, starting with his neck first and working her way around the rest of his face. Once she finished, she rinsed his face and splashed some aftershave on his cheeks too.

She stepped back, admiring her work, and then ran a hand through his hair, "You're hair is getting long..."

He smiled, "Yeah..."

"I could cut it for you..."

"You cut hair too?" he asked amused.

She smiled bashfully, "Well...I can..."

"Well, you do a great job here," he said running his hand over his newly shaven cheek, "So, I don't see why it would be any different here," he said as he pointed to his hair.

"I'll get the scissors," Sydney said almost giddily.

She ran off and returned in record time, scissors in hand.

"I hope you didn't run with those," Vaughn quipped.

She smiled, "No, just a fast walk, I was careful...Are you gonna be able to sit up for a while yet?"

"If I lean back I'll be ok."

"Ok," Sydney said, easing him back and grabbing a comb. She combed through his damp hair and started clipping, starting at the top and working her way down the sides and then the back. Once she started cutting, she was amazed at how long his hair had actually gotten. Looking at him everyday, she hadn't really noticed.

He watched her through the reflection of themselves in the mirror, smiling at the look of concentration while trying to stay as still as possible.

When she was done, she ran her hand through it, getting all the loose hairs out and mussing up what was left, "There...just like you like it..." she said smiling.

He smirked, "Are you telling me my hair is messy?"

"Always honey...eternal bed-head, and I wouldn't have it any other way, because it's so adorable and every time I look at it, all I think about is being back in bed with you."

"I'll never change it now!" he said pulling her to sit in his lap.

She obliged happily and kissed him, smiling at the new Michael Vaughn in front of her. He looked healthier and she was elated with the simple change.