Author: Bookworm
Rating: T
Summary: Celebrate Vaughn & Syd, a relationship that always leaves us wanting more...
"Love is a meeting of two souls,
Fully accepting the dark & the light within each other
Bound by the courage to grow through struggle into bliss"
.
Five & Ten ~ Part 5
June 21, 2014
Nearly a dozen years after that night, he's still got me – every day.
I can't even entertain the slightest possibility of not having him – the agency can lose him perhaps, if it comes down to it; but definitely not me, and definitely not our children.
Having been forced to live months and years without each other, we refuse to spend more than a day apart physically since he came home from Nepal over five years ago. We don't care if others think we're clingy or needy, we're just thankful to finally have had more days together than the number of days we have endured separated.
When we have our fights, which we do from time to time, our mutual understanding is to talk things over and not go to bed angry – no matter how heated the argument may be. We've learned not to underappreciate each day.
"I hope you're still taking advantage of me nowadays." He smiles at me, still so handsomely after all these years. Age has merely added to his appeal.
"Of course I do, there's no reason to stop." I continue the banter. "Except there are three of us doing it now."
"Told you I'm an efficient guy."
"I don't think you should be too efficient after dinner tonight. I'd like you to drag it out" I play along, thoroughly enjoying our double entendre.
"You know, your wish is always my command… That's why we've got tonight, plus the next few days all to ourselves…"
Unbeknownst to me, my husband has this trip planned for a while.
16 days earlier ~ June 5, 2014
"Her last day of kindergarten! I remember changing her first diaper…" Michael exclaims while driving to our daughter's graduation.
"She'll be sneaking out with her boyfriend before you know it." I joke casually.
"I hope not." He deadpans.
"You're not gonna turn into my dad, are you? Chewing all his daughter's boyfriends out..."
"All? How many are we talking about here, Syd?"
"We are not going to discuss this in front of Jack. Let's just say Dad only knows about the ones you know about. The rest aren't important."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" He whines.
"No… this," I lean across and place a chaste kiss on his neck, "is supposed make you feel better. More later… if, you behave."
"You win, Syd." He chuckles, "But how about a family vacation? Our kids are growing up right before our eyes."
"Yeah? What are you thinking?"
"10 days in France with my mom's family. That way, I can take you back to Rome for our anniversary… We'll spend 5 days in Italy, just the two of us – and Mom can watch the kids. You in?"
"So this vacation will be in, like, two weeks?"
"Exactly. Isabelle will be done school after tomorrow and I've cleared our schedule at work. We leave on Thursday the 19th and come back on Monday, the 30th."
When we returned to the CIA, after a year off with my pregnancy and Jack's birth, they convinced Vaughn to resume his role as the LA branch Director of Field Ops. While his main job is to provide strategic oversight to operations, he does have final say on scheduling of clandestine teams. Guess it pays to have your husband in charge.
"You've approved the vacation I have yet to request?"
"I'm an efficient guy."
"I do notice our travel fits conveniently after the Stanley Cup finals." I remark.
"I say it's meant to be. So, it's a green light?"
"Oui, j'aime votre idée."
June 21, 2014
"This place's still got the best food, and you're still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
"Vaughn, you need to get out more." I'm oddly self-conscious about compliments from others, especially my husband.
"It's true, Syd – and I've seen a lot of women."
"Stop bragging – I guess they include all those young new recruits that keep popping up at work?"
"You can kick their asses anytime."
"If I do, you'll have to fire me."
"Why would I do that? Devlin or Dixon can deal with you."
"Nah, I can make them look the other way if I want to."
"I have no doubt." He gazes into me dreamily, "You've got men wrapped around your little finger all the time."
"How did you find this restaurant in the first place?" I've always meant to ask.
"Uh, it was Craig actually. We were sent here to set up a meet, must have been like fifteen years ago. We were a few hours early and it was around dinner time. So he said we gotta try the food here. Apparently he had a girlfriend, used to live in Rome. I've never tasted better Italian since."
"I say your orecchiette can give them a run for their money…" I might as well go for broke since we're taking a trip down memory lane, "So you've never brought your other girlfriends here?"
"Only my mom, once. I was kind of a boring boyfriend before I met you."
"You're never boring with me." I protest.
"I did enough travelling for work I usually just stayed around L.A. on dates. I spent long hours at the agency, and I had my hockey games – guess I didn't have too much time to be romantic." He pauses, "Or, I just hadn't met the woman who could make every day exciting, no matter what I did."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't. Selfishly, I'd like here to always be one of our special places."
"Subconsciously, I was probably waiting to share this restaurant with someone extraordinary." He says meaningfully. "And I can tell you, she's worth every minute of the wait."
"Especially if she encourages you to move on from here to explore what the hotel room has to offer."
"Mi piace la tua idea!"
...
He really has every detail arranged to please. As I step into our suite, I notice Michael has asked to have fresh flowers and a bottle of my favorite Italian wine brought in while we were out.
"This is really nice, Vaughn!" I exclaim, "Guess I'm still worth all the trouble after all these years." I smile mischievously.
"You kidding? How often do you let me spoil you? Wait till you find out the rest of my plan…" He loops his arms around my neck and plants a playful kiss on my lips before disappearing into the bedroom.
He's never made the typical moves on me. For one, our relationship did not start out typical – it was anything but. Truth is, he has always been so genuine and selfless that he had me smitten without superficial romantic gestures. That's not to say he isn't generous with indulging me whenever he has the chance.
"What do you say we start with this…" He reappears in the living room a minute later bearing what looks like a gift.
As he hands me a beautifully wrapped square box, "Okay, you may think it's cheesy but I have a theme going here…"
"Yeah?" I smile seeing how hesitant he seems.
"We had our wedding five years ago – and it's still one of the most magical days of my life. But you know I always think of us married since 2004, which makes today our 10th anniversary… So, I've planned for the family to be on vacation for ten days but you and I have our own getaway for five."
"You're so cute…" I'm amused, "I can see you going with a 'five and ten' theme."
"Too much?" He asks tentatively.
"Why would I mind when my husband is still bent on romancing me after three thousand six hundred and fifty-two days? You were saying?"
"Well, if you're naughty, there will be five presents for you – starting with this box tonight."
"Ooh, I like the sound of that…"
I unwrap the gift box to reveal a photo book of our family. He gave me a similar one two years ago and it moved me to tears. It was a bound collection of pictures he had hand-picked to tell the story of our life together, with Isabelle – our wedding, random captured moments, different stages of our daughter growing up, photographs of her art… With the addition of Jack last year, he knows it's time for another book.
The casual family portrait we took on our son's first birthday last month is on the cover. "You know I'll love this…" I peck him on his cheek and proceed to turning over the first page. Instead of a picture, it's a typewriter poem, with a few handwritten words on top "To my Sydney"…
What if all we have ever wanted
Isn't hiding in some
secret and far away dream
but inside of us now
as we breathe one another
and find home in the way
our arms always seem to fit
perfectly around the spaces
between us?
What if we are the answer
and love was the question?
What if all this time
it was us you were supposed
to find?
I am filled with wonderings
questions and doubt
but of one thing I am certain:
it will always be you
that gives flight to the
butterflies inside me,
calm to the sea I have become
and hope to the darkness
all around us.
It is you and it has always
been you…
you.
You that soothes and excites
and spreads joy like rainfall
on the already damp earth;
You that pulled me from the longest
sleep and kissed my tired eyelids
awake.
If life is a question mark,
then you my love,
are the proud and bold period
that is typed with certainty.
~Tyler Knott Gregson~
And my tears fall again.
I compose myself before I start, "Thirteen years ago, when Danny was murdered, I thought it was the worst day of my life because I thought I couldn't be more in love." I swallow hard with the floodgates of emotions open, "As it turns out, I've had far worse ones since. Because until I met you, I had no clue what it was like to have a soul mate, even though I had broached the concept in my grad school studies.
I finally learn, when you find the one you're meant to be with, when you find your soul mate, even the most riveting literature cannot captivate the depth of the connection. And you kept proving my theory.
Like I said, I don't have a plan B." I finish off softly but surely.
"You know you don't need one." He lifts my chin and kisses me deeply, while running his fingers through my hair.
I manage to twist myself out of our tangled state of prolonged kissing, "You stay here and no peeking."
I walk back toward the couch a short while after, wearing – only – his anniversary gift.
"I didn't get you five presents. This one will have to do!"
"I never thought Team Vaughn can be so sexy." He laughs while pulling me down to straddle him. "You're the best looking hockey player I've ever seen and I know my hockey players." He puts his hands on my hips, "I'm crazy about my present but it is driving me insane right about now…"
With a playful grin, he picks me up and carries me to our bed – before casting aside the custom Kings championship jersey with "Team Vaughn" and the initials "MSIJ" right above his number 11.
He lies down next to me, then leans over to kiss me again. "What happens if the Kings didn't end up winning the Cup?" He buries his face into my neck and breathes in, causing me to shiver happily. He is caressing the length of my body in the most tender way and I'm drunken by his touch.
"That, I got a plan B." I say huskily, "Besides, I had an instinct they would." I busy myself to take off his shirt, revealing his toned body but also the much faded yet still visible scars. I affectionately run my hand across the panes of his chest, slowly stroking the scars, and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
"Syd, you really are remarkable. You don't just indulge my passion, you immerse yourself in it. You never said no to skating with me at the rink, you come watch my games, and you encourage Isabelle to get into it as well. It means more than you know for me to be able to share what I love with you." He is placing feathery kisses down my neck and over my breasts, moving lower to my stomach; as we continue to pleasure ourselves with foreplay.
"And I haven't even thanked you for allowing all those play-off parties at our place. But I think I've got an idea…" I begin to moan with what he is now offering with his hands and his tongue. "You're so charming when you got all excited during the games." He murmurs into my ears in between assaults of his lips. I flip him back onto our bed and kneel to unzip his pants. With one leg, I drag them down to his ankles. He pushes me backward and removes his boxers, the last piece of clothing between us. He leans down again to press his lips into my neck under my jaw. I breathe raggedly and he grins devilishly at me again. I arch my back as he presses his body onto mine, ever desperate to get even closer.
Making love to Michael Vaughn is pure inexpressible joy.
As we reach the height of ecstasy, his green eyes light up with fiery fervour; I bite my lower lip and we both groan in euphoria before we loosen our grip on one another.
I feel the warmth of his body finally leave mine as he rolls back to rest beside me. We smile contently at each other, my right hand still holding on to his left to not sever our connection.
Obviously, our five years of marriage has not lessened our craving to be sexual. I wonder how we didn't end up with more babies given our desire to have as much fun as we possibly can.
.
AN: Sorry work was just all-consuming yesterday and I couldn't post on the 5th straight day. I'm posting a fairly long part today to make up for it.
This part is all present day, with the intention to let my readers peek at what married life is like for our favorite couple. I updated the rating to T for implied content.
I will continue this story but won't likely be able to post daily. With a number of WIPs on the go, I feel somewhat bad for not having finished any of the stories yet.
I do hope you enjoy going on this trip with Vaughn & Syd.