A/N: Hey Everyone! I know a lot of you didn't like that last chapter, but oh well. You'll survive. Remember, review responses are on my livejournal. I assume you know how to get there by now. Well I'm hoping you guys will like this chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Alias, or the lyrics for Could You Be Loved by Bob Marley, or Lady by Lenny Kravitz.


The blonde woman stepped forward, and extended her hand.

"I'm Alice," she said.

Sydney smile politely and shook Alice's hand

"Michael's girlfriend."


Michael got down on one knee on the ground covered in sawdust and took Sydney's hands into his, looking up at her teary eyes.

"Michael? What are you doing?" Sydney sniffled, though she knew very well what he was doing.

"Sydney, I feel like you're the one constant in my life," he continued. "And I know that we both have those days where we're at each other's throats, and the next day we're down at the pier making out. But it's those moments that I feel like I need to hold on to. Moments that I can't live without.

"You're amazing in every way possible. I mean, you're beautiful, intelligent, and so damn amusing," he said. "I meant amusing in a good way," he quickly after she gave him a quizzical look.

Both Vaughn and Sydney had taken the weekend off from their jobs at work to go to Santa Barbara. And of all the places in Santa Barbara, they spent the day at the zoo. It was something about the animals that he had just wanted her to see.

He laughed and continued. "But the times that we've shared together, and the memories. Well, I want more of those, those times and memories, for the rest of my life. A life that I want to spend the rest of with you. You're all I need to be the happiest and the luckiest man in the world," he pulled a small blue box out of his coat pocket, and opened it. "You're the only thing I want and need in my life."

He glanced up at the giraffe with the crooked neck, before saying the words that made a proposal.

"Sydney Anne Bristow, will you marry me?"

"Michael, yes, of cour-"

The sound of Sydney's alarm clock had waken her up, and her body felt hot and clamy.

She had been dreaming.

Peeking at her alarm clock, she sighed and slammed her head back into her pillow.

It had all been a dream. Santa Barbara. The zoo. The proposal. But why did it feel so real to her? Did she want it to be real?

No.

Michael Vaughn had lied to her. Well, technically he hadn't, but he didn't even tell her that he already had a girlfriend. Though she knew all too well that he did.

At this point, she didn't care about Mr. Michael Vaughn. As far as she was concerned, she despised the guy.

Flopping her body to the other side of her queen sized bed, she stared up at the ceiling. She did want the dream to be real. She wanted all of it to be real. She had wished that Vaughn had proposed to her at the zoo in Santa Barbara.

Sydney! Shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about. You barely know the guy! she thought, mentally slapping herself. It was true. Sydney barely knew anything about this Michael, and he barely knew anything about her. Then why was she dreaming things that she shouldn't have been dreaming about in the first place?

She dismissed the question without a reply to save herself some sanity.

A run. Why hadn't she thought about that earlier? A jog would certainly clear her mind. Running, being her nirvana, had the tendency to do that small pleasure for her.

After glancing at the clock on the wall, which read 7:07 a.m., Sydney pulled on her running shoes, slipped on a sports bra with matching track shorts, gathered her iPod, and was out the door before the clock had a chance to say it was 7:09.


It was an exceptionally sunny day in Redondo Beach, and Sydney thought it was perfect for a run on the beach.

Running in no direction in particular, Sydney felt the cool summer breeze brush across her make-up-free face. Her feet squishing in the sand with every stride. Sometimes the sand seeping into her shoes. But she didn't care. The point of her jogs were to release the thought of the outside world surrounding her. With her iPod clutched securely in her hand, she was literally unstoppable jogging to the beats of Bob Marley's Could You Be Loved.

Could you be loved and be loved?
Could you be loved and be loved?

Don't let them fool ya,
Or even try to school ya! oh, no!
We've got a mind of our own,
So go to hell if what you're thinking is not right!
Love would never leave us alone,
A-yin the darkness there must come out to light.

Could you be loved and be loved?
Could you be loved, wo now! - and be loved?

Sydney when she felt that someone had been following her. Spinning around. She saw none other than the man who had been on her very mind.

"Hey," Vaughn panted with a faint smile. "I've been trying to catch up with you since I saw you pass that hot dog vendor back there. You're a fast runner."

"Yeah, whatever," Sydney retorted snottily, before resuming her jog.

"Look, I know I didn't tell you everything I should have the other night," he said, running along side with her.

"Oh that's just too bad Michael," she snorted, clicking play on her iPod belting the tune of Lenny Kravitz's Lady.

I know she's a super lady
I'm weak and I've gone hazy yeah

"So you're just going to ignore me?" he asked her, wondering if she could actually hear him.

"Apparently so. Good observation Vaughn. Bravo," She could hear him. "So when did you plan on telling me about Alice?" she asked, keeping her line of view ahead of her.

Vaughn scratched his head. He knew that he would have to tell her the truth eventually. He honestly expect her to see his girlfriend when Alice had come over to the apartment the other day.

He ceased his running when she stopped to get a bottle of water at a smoothie kiosk. Sydney politely paid the man at the cash register the money for her water and walked over to a bench and sat down. The beach was practically deserted, and the sun was shining profusely. She took a nice, long swig of her icy-cool water before Vaughn gave her the answer she had been waiting for since the past three minutes.

"I wasn't going to tell you actually," he stated, finally. But it was only until a few seconds later he saw her reaction and mentally kicked himself for sounding so stupid.

Sydney laughed sardonically. "You lied to me and you cheated on your girlfriend," she said. Well technically, he hadn't lied to her. He just didn't tell her about Alice, but she had already known about her before she accepted his date. Why was she getting mad? She knew all too well that he was with Alice.

Sydney kept her eye on the surfer out in the water who had just crashed their board into a buoy.

Vaughn cleared his throat.

"I was going to break up with Alice that morning, before you met her, but," he stopped to inhale before continuing. "Her father just died a few days ago, and she had come over to the apartment to tell me. I just couldn't do that to her."

Sydney wasn't satisfied with his answer.

"Well you should have thought about your situation before asking me to dinner with you," she replied coldly, getting up from her seat on the bench to run home.

This time, he didn't bother to follow her.


Sydney knocked on the door of her new neighbor's apartment. Yani, the young woman she had helped outside the complex just the day before. The day that she met Alice...

"Oh Sydney!" the younger girl beamed when the door opened. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head, tightly secured in an elastic band. "Blimey, I wasn't expecting company this arvo," Yani said, scrambling to hide the mess inside her apartment.

Sydney smiled, not quite understanding what the former meant. She dismissed any possible translation with the mental flick of her wrist and began.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me and my friend Francie tonight back at my place," Sydney motioned to her apartment down the walkway. "Kinda like a 'Girl's Night In' type thing."

Yani's eyes glittered with excitement. She hadn't realized that she was making more friends than she originally intended, moving here to Los Angeles. Sure she had a lot of friends back home at the Gold Coast. But after moving to the States, she wasn't as at ease as she was back in Australia. These people were different. Not sure if that was good or not she nodded her reply to Sydney. What better opportunity to make friends?

"Come over at about seven," Sydney smiled again. "Apartment seven, by the way."

"Good on ya Mate!"

"See you then Yani."

And with that Sydney left for her own apartment.

Having friends to hang out with that evening would certainly help her forget about Vaughn.


"Wait, wait, wait. So Marissa is with that Alex chick?" Yani asked Francie, hugging her knees with excitement. They were watching The O.C.,and decided that every Thursday night then on, would be O.C. Night at Syd's. The weekly event sounded juvenile at first, but when they thought about it, none of the three had anything interesting to do Thrusday nights.

"Yeah, and last week, they were gettin' it on in Alex's apartment," Francie giggled. She had quickly become attatched to this Aussie girl, even though they had just met an hour before.

"You yanks are so lucky. Back in Queensland, we're not even to the finale of season one," Yani complained.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure Francie will catch you up with her season one DVDs sometime," Sydney called from the kitchen where she was preparing pasta for their dinner. Sydney smiled to herself. She had managed to push away Vaughn and make a new friend all in a day's work. She was really starting to warm up to the O.C. Night at Syd's idea.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought that Ryan was just waiting for Marissa, and wanting to get back together with her!" Yani squealed at the television screen. This girl really had been missing out on the American lifestyle. "Since when was that annoying red hair girl in the picture?" Francie rolled her eyes playfully.

"Yeah, maybe this weekend you should come over to watch the end of season one," Francie suggested.

"Oh, most definitely. Before I beat my brains out trying to figure out who this Zach kid is," Yani nodded in agreement.

Sydney shook her head. She was glad that she introducing the young woman to American culture. A culture she didn't quite understand herself, but knew enough to teach.

By the time the show stopped for a commercial break, Sydney had already set the table in the small dining roon for dinner. Francie and their new friend made their way to the table to finally get something to eat.

"So Miss Yanicka, what do you think of the guys here in LA?" Francie asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Eh, they're alright. I guess as long as they have a noggin and nuggets, then I'll survive just fine here," Yani laughed.

Sydney threw the younger woman a quizzical look. It was that damn Aussie slang. "Do I want to know?"

Yani shook her head with a slight chuckle.

"Have you found a job yet?" Sydney asked.

"I'm actually still looking. Finding work here is tough," Yani replied truthfully. Her job hunt hadn't gone so well, but if she kept looking, she knew she'd finally find something she wanted to do. But her mind was set on bigger goals and achievements...

"If you don't mind my offer, I have a job opening at my streetside cafe here in Redondo Beach," Sydney sipped her glass of water. She was debating with herself with whether or not she should quit her job at Shadow Box, the hip clothing store she managed. Business at the cafe she owned was doing well enough that maybe she could quit at Shadow Box. She would have more time to herself. So why not? She was going to quit her job at Shadow Box.

"Really? Are you sure this all isn't just some piffle?" the younger woman asked.

Before Sydney could ask what piffle was, someone was knocking at her front door. Sydney nodded her genuine response to Yani, before getting up to answer the door. Who had the nerve to interupt a dinner with her friends?

Opening the front door, Yani's giggles of excitement and acceptence ceased, when none other Vaughn was seen to be the dinner pooper.

"Oooo he's hot, aye!" Yani cooed, leaning back in her chair to get a better look at Vaughn. Sydney closed the door behind her and stepped out of her apartment, cutting off Yani's view.

"What do you want now?" she inquired coldly.

"I wanted to apologize." Sydney snorted. He was really going out of his way to prove himself not an arrogant asshole, in her opinion.

"I would be apologizing to Alice if I were you, Michael," she retorted. No way was she going to accept his 'apology' without a fight.

"That's what I came over to talk to you about."

"Oh really."

"Just let me finish," he implored.

Sydney rolled her eyes, and twirled a strand of her hair, trying to look as uninterested as possible so he could finally get the hint.

"I actually broke up with her this morning. Things weren't going so well for the two of us, and continuing to date her because of the loss of her father, didn't seem like a good reason anymore," he continued.

"Oh good for you," Sydney said with her hand on her hip. Sure she was sounding like a bitch, but she had every reason, right?

"But I wanted to make it up to you. I really want us to be friends, Syd."

"Sydney."

"So Sydney, I was thinking that maybe," he started.

"Come on," she muttered impatiently.

"That maybe you'd want to go up to Santa Barbara with me this weekend."

"Santa Barbara?" she perked up with sudden interest.

"Santa Barbara."


A/N: Did you like it? Review and give me your feedback! I couldn't think of a better ending for this chapter. SORRY! Did you guys like it? Please review! Your reviews mean the world to me! Go ahead, you know you want to click that purple 'Go' button. How can you possibly resist? Remember, reviews are on my livejournal. I assume you all know how to get there!