Right In Front of Me

Author: Janet (SkyGirl5)

Genre: S/V, AU

Summary: Sydney and Michael have never been anything more than neighbors and close friends, but when they're dared to kiss at a friend's party that all may change.

A/N: This is the sequel/companion to a J/I fic White Flag; however, this fic can be read (and understood) without reading the J/I fic.

Disclaimer: Sydney, Vaughn, etc are properties of JJ Abrams and ABC.

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Chapters 1-10 // Chapters 11 - 20 + Epilogue

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Chapter 1

“CRAP!” Sydney Bristow groaned when the clip she was trying to insert into her hair snapped painfully in half. It flew from her hand, when its two plastic pieces broke, and clattered onto her bathroom floor. She was already running a few minutes late for Sarah Thompson’s graduation party; now she’d be even later. To make matters worse, her friend, Michael Vaughn, was waiting for her and he hated being late, especially because of her ‘girl issues’.

She quickly dug through the basket on the counter in her powder pink bathroom and found another clip, which she put in her hair. Then, she rushed from the bathroom and down the hall, past her sister’s room, to reach her own room. In passing, she glanced in and saw her sister kneeling on her bed playing the ‘air guitar’ as she listened to some god awful (in Sydney’s opinion) punk music with her headphones on. Rolling her eyes slightly, she wondered how exactly it was possible for two people who were biologically related and were quite similar physically to be so very different in other ways. Sydney liked pink; Nadia liked black. Sydney did well in school; Nadia was average. Sydney, when she was younger, played classical piano; Nadia played the air guitar (though she was getting a real guitar for her birthday later that summer). The sisters did get along though, for the most part anyway.

After grabbing her purse and shoes from her room, Sydney jogged down the stairs shouting, “Mom, I’m leaving now!”

“Well hold on, come here!” her mother’s voice came from the family room. Sydney groaned slightly as she stomped into the family room to see her mother and her mother’s best friend for as long as she could remember, sitting on the sofa, ready for one of their ‘girls nights’.

“Hi Amelia,” Sydney said to her mother’s friend, who was really more like an aunt to her.

“Hello cheré. Your hair looks lovely,” Amelia smiled at her.

“Thanks,” Sydney smiled back.

“You have your phone?” Irina checked with her daughter. Sydney nodded. “Michael’s taking you, right?”

“Yes, yes and I’ll be home by eleven, I’m leaving now!” she said as she rushed towards the door while the two women said goodbye.

She raced out the front door and across the side yard to the man who was waiting impatiently as he leaned against his car. “Finally,” he groaned as he opened the passenger side door for her.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” she sighed as she climbed in. “My clip broke!”

“Oh the horror,” he mocked her.

“Shut up Michael, just because I never comb my hair like you,” she retorted.

“Ha you’re funny,” he said dully.

“Of course I am. Do you know where Sarah’s house is?” she asked him.

“Of course; I’ve been there before,” he told her.

“Oh right, I forgot, you two were involved,” she said dramatically.

“Or, we went on two dates and broke up within a week,” he corrected.

“I know, I’m just teasin’ ya,” she grinned as she poked his arm.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna be so glad to go to college in two months so that I don’t have to live next to your sorry ass anymore, Bristow.” Her jaw dropped and she gaped at him, completely offended. He laughed loudly.

“You are awful. I don’t even know why I’m friends with you.”

“Well, our parents forced us together when we were infants; we had no choice in the matter,” he reminded her.

“True,” she laughed.

“Exactly. We’ve been friends for eighteen years; no wonder I’m sick of you,” he smirked.

“Hey!” she whined as she hit him. “You’re going to miss me and you know it.”

“Yeah, yeah I’ll miss ya,” he mumbled. Sydney smiled over at him; she was definitely going to miss him.

Sydney and Michael were born only five months apart (he was older) and since their parents were neighbors and their mothers were best friends, their families had switched off babysitting duties and thus their friendship began. They were friends all throughout infancy and early childhood. Even when Sydney was going through her ‘ew boys are icky’ (and Michael through his ‘ew girls are yucky’) phase, she still played with Michael, because she never thought of him as a ‘boy’, not exactly anyway.

They were close up until 5th grade when they began to drift apart. They were never not friends; they just became less attached at the hip. Throughout middle school and high school they remained relatively close. They didn’t spend every moment together, but they were always there if the other needed them. Recently though, during their senior year in high school, they had drawn closer to each other; a ‘best friend’-like status. However, neither of them knew exactly why or how that had happened.

Throughout all that time together though, they had never been more than friends. No more than a hug or an occasional kiss on the cheek had ever been exchanged between them, much to their mother’s dismay, of course. Their mothers had been rooting practically since birth for them to get together romantically. Occasionally when Sydney and Michael were in their presence (which was often) they would squeal and giggle and say how cute they’d be as a couple. Then, while their children turned crimson and protested their matchmaking, they would say how wonderful it would be for them to be mothers-in-law with each other. Perhaps that was why neither of them dared to cross the ‘friends’ line. They knew that if they even so much as kissed, their mothers would become even more unbearable.

Still, they were friends, and in only two short months they’d be leaving for separate colleges, meaning that they’d be apart for the first time in their lives and neither of them were yet ready to face the full implications of that.



Chapter 2

Fifteen minutes later, Sydney and Michael pulled up in front of their friend’s house for her graduation party. Sarah was a mutual friend of theirs and for her party she had invited about twenty friends over, all of them friends of either Sydney or Michael or both, so it was going to be a fun evening for them.

“Sydney! Michael! HI!” Sarah squealed at them. “Come in, come in, get something to drink!”

“Thanks Sarah,” Sydney laughed as she walked over to greet a group of her friends, one of whom was sobbing.

“It’s just,” the tearful girl, Beth, sniffed. “This is the last time we’re going to see each other! I’m going to miss you guys so much!”

“Beth, we still have all summer… and e-mail and instant messenger,” Sydney told her.

“But it’s not the same!” Beth choked as she hugged Sydney tightly. Sydney just rubbed her back softly.

Later on in the evening, Sydney returned from the bathroom and sat down on the couch among her laughing friends. Knowing that she had missed something she asked, “What are you guys talking about?”

“Spin the bottle at Ryan’s thirteenth birthday party,” Sarah laughed.

“Oh god, I remember that,” Sydney groaned at the recollection of her first and only time playing that game.

“Michael had to kiss you, remember that?” a now tear-free Beth said to Sydney. Sydney blushed slightly at that memory.

“Yeah, but Vaughn chickened out,” Ryan pointed out.

“Excuse me, I did not,” Michael defended. “I kissed her.”

“Oh her cheek!” Ryan laughed. Everyone booed. “I think you should kiss her now.”

“Yeah right,” Michael laughed. “Because we’re thirteen.”

“No, I think you should kiss her too,” Sarah chimed in with a smile. Sydney gave her a horrified look and Sarah laughed. “Oh come on, if you two are just friends like you claim, it’s just a kiss; no big deal.”

“You people are being so childish,” Sydney groaned and got up from her seat on the couch as her former classmates began to taunt ‘kiss her, kiss her’ over and over again. Meanwhile, she knew her face was bright pink and she was beginning to sweat. She hated being put on the spot and put on the spot to kiss Michael was even worse.

“Whatever,” Michael muttered as he went to walk away.

“Fine, be a chicken! Just like on the ice rink!” Ryan called after him.

Michael froze and Sydney gulped; that meant trouble. Up until two years earlier, Michael and Ryan had been the best of friends. At that point, both of them were on the school’s ice hockey team. After a player from another team had tripped one of their players and wasn’t penalized for it, the other team player gloated and Michael’s team got the brilliant idea to teach this opposing team member a lesson in the form of beating him senseless. Michael refused to participate in such a mindless act and Ryan had endlessly berated him for being a ‘chicken’ to the point where Michael had punched Ryan during a game.

After being heavily chastised by his parents for such an act, Michael cooled off, but there was forever a rift between him and Ryan. As time wore on, they were able to actually have a conversation with each other in the same room without glaring, but they would never be able to go back to their best friend status.

Standing there, Sydney waited with bated breath for Michael to lunge across the room and pummel Ryan, but he didn’t. In fact, he had quite the opposite reaction. Before she was even able to react, Michael grabbed her by the waist, spun her around and planted a kiss on her that made her forget her own name. For only a second she was stunned then she was aware of everything around her. The awkward positioning of her feet since she had been spun by him. His warm, strong hand at her waist, holding her up since she had gone nearly limp the moment his lips connected with hers. The pressure of his lips on hers and the fact that he tasted like the Coke he had just been drinking.

She was just about to kiss him back when he let her go and stalked off. Sydney faltered slightly since she was light headed and his arm was no longer supporting her. Distantly she heard her friends around her clapping and laughing, but Sydney was distracted by how loud her heart was beating and how heavily she was breathing.

It took her a few more moments, but she was able to right herself and then she stumbled over to the couch where she had left her purse. “You okay there, Syd?” Sarah smirked at her.

“Me? Oh … yeah… fine…,” she tried to say casually but her voice squeaked slightly.

“So is he a good kisser?” Sarah smiled at her.

“Well you’ve kissed him, you would know,” Sydney told her before walking away.

Still reeling slightly from Michael’s kiss, Sydney decided she needed some fresh air from the stuffy house, so she slipped out onto the front porch. There she found that she wasn’t alone. Michael was gripping the railing tightly with his fists with his eyes closed. “You okay?” she asked quietly. Upon hearing her voice, he jumped slightly. “Sorry,” she said quickly.

“No, it’s alright,” he sighed. “I’m the one that needs to apologize.”

“It’s fine,” she waved her hand casually, even though that wasn’t the whole truth.

“No, it’s not. I’m sorry I shouldn’t let him affect me like that but he does and I dragged you into it.”

“It’s fine, really Michael. Jeez, it was just a kiss; it’s not like you hit me or something,” she tried to laugh it off.

“I would never,” he said very seriously.

“I know,” she smiled at him. “So…uh, we kissed… wouldn’t out mothers be proud,” she laughed softly as she walked over towards him.

“Oh god,” he laughed. “We cannot tell them.”

“Oh no, of course not; we’d never hear the end of it,” Sydney told him.

“Right…. I mean, it didn’t mean anything, right?” he asked, almost sounding curious.

“No, of course not,” she said quickly. “It was just a kiss.”

“Right… just a kiss,” he repeated quietly.



Chapter 3

For the next week, Sydney avoided seeing Michael as much as possible, for their kiss had shaken her up more than she cared to admit. Stupidly, she had agreed to go to a movie with Michael that evening so there was no way to avoid him then. The only thing keeping her from throwing herself down the stairs was the fact that the movie would buffer any potentially awkward moments, however nothing would stop the way she felt.

In all of her life, Sydney had never had intense feelings for Michael, mostly because of the fact that their mothers wanted them together so badly. Sure, she thought he was good looking and obviously she liked him since they were close friends. Over the years, she had come to love him as a friend and if he had asked her out she wouldn’t have turned him down, it was simply that going after him wasn’t a high priority in her mind. But now that they had kissed, things changed.

The kiss she had received from Michael, though it was sudden and rather forced, was the best kiss she had ever been given. True, in her eighteen years, she hadn’t received that many kisses. How many exactly she didn’t know, but they had only come from three different guys, well, four including Michael. The kiss from Michael was definitely the best of the bunch and, knowing that, she couldn’t help but wonder how good it would have been had she been an active participant in it instead of just standing there, or rather hanging there, stunned. His kissed had evoked in her butterflies and tingles like she had never felt before and all she could think about was kissing him once more. She even dreamt about it.

Realizing that she was quickly driving herself insane, she went to the only source she knew of to talk about it. “Nadia, you got a sec?” Sydney asked when she knocked on her fourteen-year-old sister’s door.

“Ya!” Nadia called back loudly, obviously listening to some horrible music on her headphones once more.

Sydney walked into her sister’s room and shut the door behind her. “I need to tell you something, but you have to swear you’ll tell no one.”

“Oh my god, are you pregnant?!” Nadia laughed.

“Are you retarded?! Of course not,” Sydney groaned. Then she cringed and said, “Michael kissed me.”

“WHAT?! For real?!” Nadia gasped loudly.

“Shhh!” Sydney quickly tried to hush her.

“Sorry, for real?” Nadia asked quietly. Sydney bit her lip and nodded. “HA! Wait, so was this like a quick peck on the lips or was he like tasting your tonsils?”

“Well neither… but slightly closer to the second one,” she said quietly as she bit her thumbnail. Nadia snorted. “Nadiaaaaaaa,” Sydney whined.

“Okay, okay, so he kissed you… what type of scenario was this in, anyway?” Nadia asked.

“Well, we were at Sarah’s party and everyone was mocking us for never having really kissed and… I dunno, he just grabbed me and kissed me,” she told her.

“Romantic,” Nadia said sarcastically. “So what? It was just as kiss to get those freaks you call friends to shut up. unless….. you liked the kiss!” she said accusingly.

“No,” Sydney said causally. “It simply got me thinking about….”

“…how you wanted to kiss him,” Nadia finished for her with a smile.

“Okay, okay!” Sydney groaned. “Yes, I liked the kiss; yes, I want to kiss him again, so HELP ME!”

“Help you with what?” Nadia asked seriously.

“What do I dooooo??!?!” Sydney moaned as she flopped down on her sister’s bed.

“Well, I assume by your pathetic behavior that Michael wasn’t exactly overzealous about kissing you again,” Nadia said.

“Not really,” Sydney sighed. “He said it was just a kiss…. Actually we both said that… but now I don’t know and I’m afraid to bring it up because if he rejected me, not only would I die but it would ruin our friendship and then I’d really die.”

“Well, don’t flat out be like ‘Michael, do you love me?’ be subtle,” Nadia suggested.

“Subtle how?” Sydney asked. Nadia shrugged. “Gee, thanks you’ve been a real help.”

“Sorry,” Nadia sighed.

“Yeah…just remember not to tell Dad and especially not Mom or I’ll accidentally let it slip about that boy with the lip ring I saw you kissing,” Sydney warned.

Nadia looked horrified and brought her fingers to her lips in a mock ‘key locking’ manner and then pretended to throw the ‘key’ away before giving her sister a thumbs up. Sydney rolled her eyes and walked away.

~*~

Michael glanced nervously down at his watch and then over towards the Bristow’s house. Was he overly thrilled about seeing Sydney? Not exactly. He was more in the ‘let’s just get this over with’ frame of mind. Ever since he had kissed her so foolishly, he couldn’t get her out of his head. He had created an extremely awkward situation and it was entirely his fault. He had grabbed her and practically smothered her and she had simply hung there, stunned. Every time he thought about it and replayed it in his mind, he just wanted to crawl into a hole and die a horrible death. The worst part was, he wished he could do it again.

Truth be told, he had felt things for Sydney for quite some time. What exactly those ‘things’ were, he wasn’t sure, but he kept telling himself that nothing could happen. Yet every time he looked at her and saw her smile, he just wanted to kiss her. Every time he felt that way, though, he hated himself more. Sydney never dated guys like him. She dated ‘braniac’-type people, like the head of the Quiz Bowl team and the boy voted ‘most intelligent’ in their class, not him, voted ‘most athletic’. He realized that there could never be anything between them, but he couldn’t figure out who would be sadder about that in the long run: him or his mother.

Finally, he saw Sydney emerge from her house and called out, “Ready to go?”

“Yeah… um, just a sec though,” she sighed nervously as she walked up to him. “That kiss last week… that’s forgotten about, right?”

Michael’s heart jumped up into his throat at the mention of it. He gave an automatic response as he opened up his car door, “Yeah… why do you ask?”

“No reason… just wanted to make sure there wasn’t any awkwardness or anything…”

He smiled at her. “No awkwardness,” he told her, though he still wondered why she had mentioned it.

“Good,” she smiled back.



Chapter 4

After the slight awkwardness of their movie outing, both Sydney and Michael separately decided that they needed to just forget the kiss ever happened and move on with their relationship as it had been. They were both busy working, so they were unable to see each other often, which they both missed, since they were so used to spending every school day together because of the two classes they had in common.

The first week in August, a mere two and a half weeks before she was to leave for college, Sydney and her mother went shopping to pick up some last minute items needed and also as their mother-daughter bonding time. Earlier that week, Nadia had gone to the beach with a friend and Sydney’s father had left the previous day for a two day business trip, so it was just her and her mother, but she didn’t mind. Sydney was definitely much closer to her mother than her father; she always had been.

Whenever she’d hear stories of her childhood from her parents (and occasionally Amelia), the common theme between all of them was Sydney’s strong bond with her mother. As an infant, she’d cry and reach out for her mother if she was in someone else’s arms and she’d always fuss when someone tried to take her away from her mother. As a toddler, if her mother tried to leave the house, she’d latch onto her leg and refuse to let go until someone (usually Amelia, who often shared babysitting duties) pried her off. Though they’d had a few rocky moments during her early teen years, through most of her life, they rarely fought; simply remaining close. Sydney wasn’t quite sure how she was going to survive college when she was suddenly snatched away from all of the people she was close to, she was just grateful there were cell phones.

“So, do you think you have everything now?” Irina asked her daughter when they came out of a department store with an extra set of towels for Sydney’s dorm.

“I think so… I mean, I’ve got so much crap,” Sydney laughed.

“So I’ve noticed,” Irina smiled at her. “So what should we do now? Get some ice cream?”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Sydney smiled. “And then we can go try on shoes!”

Irina laughed loudly. “Ice cream and shoes, now I know you’re my daughter,” she said while nudging Sydney slightly with her elbow. Sydney giggled and took the bags from her mother so she could open up the trunk to their car. Just as she was doing this though, there was a loud screech from behind them. Sydney spun around and saw a black van speeding through the parking lot, causing pedestrians to leap out of the way and other cars to swerve around it.

Much to Sydney’s shock, the black van pulled up right beside their car, and, much to her horror, three men with vests labeled ‘US Marshall’ and armed with large guns emerged from the van and grabbed her mother.

Irina, who stayed amazingly calm, said to them, “What is the meaning of this?”

“You’re under arrest, Ms. Derevko,” one of the Marshall’s said to her as he hand-cuffed her.

Sydney looked on in horror as her mother was roughly shackled. “Mom? Mom, what’s going on?” she whimpered.

“It’s alright, Sydney,” Irina told her daughter calmly. “Just go home and call your father.”

“But… what? What’s happening?” she asked tearfully as the men shoved her mother towards the open door of the van.

“Now hold on a second,” Irina said, raising her voice slightly. “If you don’t give my daughter the car keys, she’ll be stranded here.” She looked over to the man who had snatched her purse from her and said, “They’re in the back pocket. Give them to her.”

The Marshall looked into the back pocket for a moment before reluctantly tossing the keys at Sydney. Sydney didn’t move and the keys fell a few inches from her toes. “It’ll be alright, Sydney!” was the last thing she heard from her mother before the van drove away.

Sydney stood frozen in horror for a few more minutes after the van had left the parking lot. A few curious people whispered around her, wondering what exactly had gone on after witnessing the odd sight of the apparent kidnapping or arrest of a woman in her late forties. Finally, while breathing heavily and trembling, Sydney knelt down and picked up the keys from the ground. Then slowly, she put the bags she had been holding into the trunk and walked around to the driver’s side.

Once seated, she pulled out her cell phone and with a trembling hand she dialed her father’s number. He was unavailable so she had to leave a voice mail message, “Dad… Mom, Mom was just taken… t-taken by these men… They ha-had vests that said US Marshalls… I dunno what to do,” she sniffed finally before hanging up her phone. Then, knowing that she had to drive, she took a few deep breaths before putting the key in the ignition and starting the car.

How she got home, she never knew, but by the time she pulled into her driveway, tears were flowing freely down her face. She noticed that Michael, who must have had the day off, was in his driveway hosing off the car he had just washed and she had never been more thankful for it.

Leaving the keys in the ignition, she got out of the car and walked over him as she sobbed. He didn’t notice she was crying at first because she was behind him, but he knew it was her because he recognized her walk. “Hey Syd, how was shopping?... Syd?” he asked a moment later when she didn’t respond. Turning around, he saw the tears in her eyes and her hands trembling. “Syd, what happened?” he asked her. But she said nothing. She only stepped forward, wrapped her arms around his back and squeezed his bare torso tightly (he had been washing the car shirtless).

“Syd? Honey, what happened?” he asked her again, but she still said nothing. She just clung to him. Not knowing what else to do, Michael held her tightly, occasionally telling her ‘it’s okay’ and stroking her hair with his dry, soap-free hand.

After ten minutes of this, Amelia, who worked as a teacher and thus had summers off, came out of the house and asked, “What’s going on?”

“I have no idea,” Michael told her. “She won’t tell me; she’s just crying.”

“Sydney, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Amelia asked softly as she pulled back some of Sydney’s brown hair so she could view her tearstained face. “What happened?”

Sydney managed to pry herself off Michael and then switched to smothering Amelia with her hug. Amelia hugged her tightly and rubbed her back softly. “Sydney, what is it? You can tell us.”

“T-They… they took my-my mom,” she whimpered.

Amelia looked up at her son, who shrugged and looked clueless. “What are you talking about? Who took her?” Amelia asked.

“The M-Marshall’s,” Sydney sniffed.

Amelia stiffened slightly and sighed heavily. “Alright Sydney, it’s alright. Did you call your father?” Sydney nodded into her shoulder and Amelia continued, “Alright, let’s go inside and I’ll make you some tea… Michael, for heaven’s sake, put a shirt on,” she rolled her eyes at her perplexed-looking son. Amelia guided Sydney inside and sat her down at the kitchen table before passing her a handful of tissues and assuring her that everything would be alright.



Chapter 5

Amelia watched Sydney, a girl who she couldn’t have loved more if she was her own daughter, shake and tremble and her heart broke for her. She knew that Sydney didn’t know the truth, which made her utterly confused and thus terrified, but she wasn’t sure that Sydney finding out the truth was something that Jack and Irina wanted, so she could do nothing but give her reassuring smiles and squeezing her hand lightly.

Just as Michael came up from his shower (he had a room and complete bathroom in the basement), Sydney’s cell phone rang and she answered it quickly, “Dad?!”

“Yes, sweetheart, it’s me. Where are you?” he asked her.

“I’m with Amelia. Dad, what’s going on?”

“I’ll be home soon sweetheart; everything’s alright,” he told her before hanging up. Sydney whimpered and threw her cell down on the table rather violently.

“What’s wrong?” Michael asked her as he walked up behind her and rubbed her back softly.

“They won’t tell me!” she wailed as she turned and buried her face in his chest. “Why won’t they tell me?! What are US Marshall’s anyway?!”

“I dunno,” Michael mumbled as he looked up at his mother.

“They work for the government,” Amelia offered.

“Really? Thanks,” Michael snapped sarcastically. Amelia just shrugged. Michael sighed and rubbed Sydney’s back. “Come on Syd, you’ve got to do something to get your mind off this… you wanna go play Nintendo? Come on, we haven’t done that since we were like twelve. I’ll let you wiiiin,” he enticed in a sing-song voice.

“Okay,” she sighed quietly. Michael led her down the stairs to the basement and dusted off his old video game player before handing Sydney one of the controls. She took it and stared down at it sadly.

“Syd, it’s gonna be okay,” Michael told her as he sat down beside her and put his arm around her. “I promise you.”

“Yeah…,” she said quietly. He kissed her temple and then switched on the game for them to play.

They played a few rounds of the game until they both realized that not only did they suck at it, but it wasn’t very entertaining either. After that Michael, who was determined to make Sydney smiled, began digging through all the old toys from their childhood, trying to find something amusing. Finally, he came across the box of things they used when they played ‘princess’ as Sydney called it. He pulled out the two plastic crowns and beaded jewels and brought them over to her.

He sat down next to her and put the beads around her neck and then the crown on her head. She looked over at him like had lost his mind. He then put the crown on his own head before adding the final, and best, touch – plastic clip-on earrings, which he clipped on his ears. When he did this, Sydney burst out laughing so hard that she nearly fell over. “You look… like… a moron!” she managed between bouts of laughter.

“But I made you laugh, didn’t I?” he smiled as he began to remove the fake earrings.

“No wait,” Sydney said as she quickly took off her jeweled necklace and put it around his neck. Then, she exchanged his crown with the one on her head (the more girly of the two). After that, she crawled over to the table beside his bed and pulled out his digital camera with a wicked smile.

“No Syd, don-” but before he could finish, she snapped the picture. “Great,” he grumbled.

“Come on, lemme take a good one,” she said as she crawled back over to him. She put her arm around his neck and held the camera out at arm’s length to take a picture of both of them.

“Fabulous,” Michael sighed after the picture was taken and he began pulling off the fake earrings.

Sydney grinned and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” he said.

“Okay, I’m gonna go show your mom!” she called out as she raced towards the stairs. Michael reached out to grab her and stop her but he was too slow; she was already bounding up the stairs shouting out, “Amelia! Look at this!”

~*~

Later that evening, Sydney was feeling slightly better as she ate dinner with the Vaughn’s and they were all laughing at Michael’s expense since Amelia had printed out the picture of her son and hung it on the refrigerator.

“Sheesh, ya try to be a nice guy and you get ridiculed for it!” he grumbled.

“Sorry,” Sydney smiled. “I do appreciate it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he sighed. She reached over and squeezed his hand; he winked at her.

“SEE!” Amelia exclaimed. “You two are the perfect couple, I just don’t understand it!”

“Mom,” Michael groaned.

“Amelia quit meddling,” her husband warned.

“I’m not meddling,” she defended. “I’m simply pointing out what they don’t see.”

“Okay, we’re going for a walk,” Michael sighed as he grabbed Sydney’s hand and pulled her towards the back door. Both of them were so used to comments like the one Amelia had just made, they didn’t even bother them anymore; they simply ignored them.

“God… I just wish I knew my mom was okay,” Sydney sighed.

“I’m sure she is. I mean, your dad didn’t sound worried, did he?” Michael asked.

“Michael, my dad has never sounded worried or happy or… anything really,” Sydney pointed out.

“Oh, that’s not true. Remember when we kicked that soccer ball into the gas pipe at the side of your house. He was pretty worried then,” Michael pointed out.

“Michael, he was pissed off and frantic,” Sydney laughed.

“True,” Michael laughed back.

Sydney sighed and they kept walking for a few minutes in silence. “I’m gonna miss this…”

“What?” he asked.

“This… us…,” she clarified.

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it softly. “Me too.”

After a few more minutes of silence, Sydney asked cautiously, “Michael… can I stay with you tonight?”

He looked over at her and smiled. “Sure, of course.”

~*~

Later that evening, Sydney went home briefly to change into her PJs. She returned to the Vaughn’s basement, where Michael was arranging the blankets on his bed, knowing that Sydney would get cold, even though it was summer. The Vaughn’s had let Sydney stay in Michael’s double bed in the basement on one other occasion. It had been seven months earlier during their Christmas break when Michael was scheduled to have his wisdom teeth removed. When he was younger, he had had an awful experience with a dentist who tried to pull out one of his baby teeth, so though he tried to be brave, on the night before his scheduled surgery, he was terrorized. Sydney, who seemed to be the only one who could calm him down, stayed with him all night.

“She’ll be alright Syd, I know it,” Michael whispered to her once they were settled in his bed and Sydney was whimpering slightly. She rolled over, grabbed onto his arm and held it tightly the whole night.



Chapter 6

“Sydney,” Amelia shook her softly the next morning to wake her up. “Sydney, your father’s here.”

“Mmm, my dad?” she mumbled.

“Yes, he’s here,” Amelia told her.

Sydney sat up and yawned. “Where’s Michael?”

“He went to work about an hour ago,” Amelia told her.

“Oh,” she sighed as she slid out of bed. She slowly shuffled up the steps and found her father waiting in the kitchen. “Where’s Mom?” she asked immediately.

“She’ll be home soon. Why don’t you come with me? Thanks for everything, Amelia,” he added to the woman standing behind Sydney. Sydney didn’t move and Jack had to practically drag her out of the house.

“Dad, stop it!” Sydney snapped at him. “I want to know where Mom is! What the hell is going on?!” she demanded.

“I’m going to tell you, but not in the middle of the backyard,” Jack grunted at his daughter. Sydney stormed past him and into the house where she sat down at the kitchen table and waited for him impatiently. “Sydney, remember how your mother and I mentioned we lived in California before moving here?”

“Yeah…,” Sydney said slowly, not seeing how that had anything to do with anything.

“Well… when we lived out there, I worked for the CIA,” Jack told her.

For a moment, Sydney thought he was confused. If she hadn’t known that her father was never one to tease or jest, she would have thought he was joking. “What?! You were like… a spy?!”

“Yes,” Jack nodded.

With this, Sydney laughed as she tried to imagine her father holding a gun. “You’re joking.”

“No,” he said. “There is more to the story but I’ll wait for your mother to get home,” he told her.

“Where is she?” Sydney asked.

“There was a… misunderstanding. She’ll be home this afternoon,” Jack told her cryptically.

Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head at him. “I can’t believe you lied to me.”

“We didn’t lie, Sydney; we just cannot be open about this. It is very delicate and it means that you can’t tell anyone about this, not Michael, not even your sister,” he told her.

“WHAT!? I have to keep this from Nadia?!” she gasped. Jack nodded. “This is ridiculous,” Sydney muttered as she stormed away from the table and up to her room to change and shower. All she could think about was how they must have gone insane. Her father couldn’t possibly be a spy. Spies were strange people, full of secrets. They crept into hidden places without being noticed, they were stealth, slim and fit. None of those things described her father.

Yet as she showered, she thought back to odd secretive things that happened around her house. She was never allowed to touch any of the drawers in her parents bedroom bureau. Was perhaps a gun hidden there? And there was the locked cabinet in her father’s office. There were things that didn’t make sense, but now maybe they did, then again, she was so confused that she didn’t know what to think anymore.

After her shower, Sydney retreated to her room and curled up in her bed with a book since she had called in to work that day due to a ‘family emergency’. Just as she was cleaning up what she had eaten for lunch, she heard two car doors slam outside and she raced to the front door. When she saw her mother, she nearly screamed in horror because of the fact that Irina’s lip was cut and there was another slice above her right eyebrow. “MOM! Oh god Mom, what happened to you?!” Sydney cried as she flung herself at her mother.

“I’m alright, Sydney,” Irina sighed in a rather haggard way as she hugged her daughter.

“But you’re cut and bleeding and there were people with guns and Dad’s a spy… WHO THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE?!” Sydney wailed frantically.

“Sydney, come inside; we’ll tell you everything,” Jack said as he led them into the house. Once inside he sat Sydney, who was still clinging to her mother, down on the couch and he sat across from her on the coffee table.

“Sydney, what I told you before was the truth. I did work for the CIA; I was a spy and so was your mother,” Jack told her.

“Mom…,” Sydney said in horror as she slid away from her. Irina nodded slowly. “You… you worked for the CIA?”

“No, sweetheart, I worked for Russia,” Irina told her. Sydney looked only more confused and horrified.

“We didn’t tell you before because it was dangerous to know-”

“Danger?! We’re in danger?!” Sydney asked.

“No, we’re not,” Jack said firmly. “But it’s not something you spread around. We couldn’t tell you when you were younger and have you accidentally tell your friends. No one can know about this.”

“But I still don’t understand… what happened yesterday… and, and weren’t the Russian’s enemies of the US back in the fifties or whatever?” Sydney asked with confusion.

“Yes Sydney, well, sort of,” Irina told her. “It’s very, very complicated, but yes I was spying against the US and then I turned myself in. But you see recently, the government suspected a spy who had turned themselves in years ago was active once more. They thought it was me; but it’s not,” Irina assured her.

“We left all of that behind when we moved here from California,” Jack explained.

“So… so you’re not spies anymore?” Sydney asked slowly.

“No,” Jack and Irina said together.

“And…and why can’t Nadia know?” Sydney asked.

“Well… she’s a little young,” Irina said. “We’ll tell her eventually.”

“Okay…,” Sydney said. “I…I need to go for a walk,” she said before getting up from the couch and walking towards the front door.

“Sydney!” her father called after her.

“Yeah, yeah I know, don’t tell Michael,” she sighed before leaving.



Chapter 7

For almost two hours Sydney walked around her neighborhood thinking about the mind blowing information she had just received. They had never been secretive about the fact that her mother was born and raised in Russia, though they couldn’t really have been since she did still have a slight accent, especially when she was tired. Sydney and her sister had been told from a young age that their mother had attended school in Russia and had come to UCLA for grad school, which is when she met their father. It was a sweet and romantic tale, but now everything was changed. They lied about this, so why not other things? How could she believe anything that they told her?

After one more lap around the block, she was in tears again. She heard a car pull up beside her and saw that it was Michael. “Syd? What happened? Is it your mom?” he asked.

She opened the passenger side door and climbed inside. “Can we go somewhere to talk?” she sniffed.

“Sure… you wanna go back to my parent’s-”

“No,” she cut him off. “Somewhere else please.”

“Okay,” Michael nodded. He did a U-turn in the middle of their street and headed back out of their neighborhood, bound for Sydney’s favorite spot in the whole world. It was a lookout point on a high mountain-like hill near their house, about fifteen minutes away. She loved that spot.

Once there, Sydney got out of the car and walked over to the railing on one of the cliff edges, looking out across the tree covered valley below them. Michael followed her and stood beside her. It took her a few minutes before she spoke but she finally said, “Michael, can you promise not to tell anyone what I’m going to tell you? Because I’m not supposed to t-tell anyone but… but I just have to,” she said while choking slightly on her tears.

“Sure, of course Syd, what is it?” he asked her softly.

“M-My…my parents are s-spies… they were spies… my dad worked for the CIA and my mom was a Russian spy,” she sniffed, almost laughing at the end because of how ridiculous that sounded.

“You’re kidding,” he laughed, almost sounding relieved.

“No….,” she said slowly.

“Syd, my dad works for the CIA too,” he told her.

“WHAT?!” she gasped.

“Oh yeah, totally. That bank job he has is a cover. Remember when he used to go on all those trips when we were younger? He was going on like… spying missions… of course, I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone that,” he sighed.

“Wait, wait,” Sydney said trying to grasp how insane her life had just become. “Serious? He’s a spy? How long have you known?”

“They told me when I turned eighteen,” he told her. “Yeah, remember how freaked out I was and you thought I had seen them having sex and I just went with it? Well, it was really because they told me that,” he explained to her.

She nodded slowly, recalling the incident. “Does that mean your mom is….?”

“NO, no, no,” he said quickly. “But her father was,” he told her. Sydney looked shocked. “Yeah, their story is totally cool. Like, he was sent on a mission by the CIA to go over to France and like bust into this party and steal something or other.”

“I do hope the CIA gave him a bit more detail than that,” Sydney laughed softly at him.

He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, so it was my mom’s father’s party and he was like this bad rogue dude or something. So my dad goes to the party and he and my mother see each other and it’s like BAM l’amour, or so my mom says anyway,” he laughed softly. Sydney smiled. “So they have this one dance and then my father has to leave ‘cause he’s gotta do his spy crap, but she followed him-”

“Oh no,” Sydney interrupted.

“Yeah, totally, she followed him after he took whatever it was and he told her he needed to leave, so he left her behind. But then the next week, he went back and they had this insane weekend together and she followed him back to America,” Michael told her.

“Oh my god, serious?” Sydney asked, nearly squealing. Michael nodded. “That’s like the most romantic thing ever.”

“I know,” he laughed softly. “They only knew each other a week before they got married and they’ve been together almost twenty-five years now.”

“Wow,” Sydney sighed and shook her head in amazement. “I don’t know what my parent’s story is… they didn’t tell me, of course I didn’t really give them a chance.”

“What did they say?” he asked her.

“Just that my mom used to be a spy and they arrested her yesterday because they thought she was spying again… but she’s not… apparently… I don’t even know anymore. I mean, they lied to me about this. What if they lied about other stuff?!” she whimpered.

“I know,” he sighed in a knowing way. “I felt the same way. But then I realized that they weren’t lying to me about… not really being married or something. Think about it, I mean, the CIA never wants to reveal the identity of their spies, I mean, it kinda defeats the purpose. Plus, it’s a dangerous job.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I guess… it’s just a lot.”

“Give it a few days,” he smiled down at her and rubbed her back softly.

She leaned her head against his shoulder. “What would I do without you, hmm?”

“Dunno, but right back atcha,” he winked.

“Hey… you think…. You think our parents know about, you know, each other being involved with the CIA?” Sydney asked him a moment later.

“Um… most likely, yeah…. Well, I dunno, maybe not, but I think they probably do,” he told her. “It’s not like we can ask though…”

“Right, because then we’d reveal that we told each other,” Sydney finished his thought for him. Sydney sighed and looked back down across the valley, where there were birds flying everywhere between the trees. “I love it here…”

“I know you do,” he told her with a soft laugh.

Sydney lifted her head off Michael’s shoulder and looked up at him. For some reason, in that moment, she saw him differently. He was the Michael that was always there for her, her best friend, the one she had loved ever since she could remember. She leaned her face up close to his and when he turned to look at her, their lips met. Neither of them moved, for it was what they had both secretly wanted for a very long time. In a moment, Michael’s hands had been removed from the railing and they were at her hips and her hands were around his neck as their kiss grew more passionate.

After a minute, Michael pulled back and whispered breathlessly, “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” she said just as breathy as him. Then they brought their lips together once more and Sydney pulled herself closer to him as she ran her fingers through his hair. They continued to kiss for almost ten minutes, only taking breaks to take a breath.

“Oh damnit,” Sydney sighed at one of their oxygen breaks.

“What?” Michael asked.

“Our mothers were right,” she said in an almost defeated way.

“I know… that really sucks… that they’re going to gloat, that is,” he clarified. She nodded, brought her hands down from his neck, ran them down the length of his arms and finally linked her hands together with his.

“So… um,” she began cautiously.

“Yeah,” he laughed softly with a smile.

“You felt that right?” she asked him, referring not only to the butterflies but to the good, perfect feeling of them kissing.

“Oh yeah,” he nodded. Then he looked down at his feet. “The truth is… I felt it at Sarah’s party too…”

“So did I,” Sydney jumped in.

He looked up at her. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t want to freak you out… I mean, I didn’t want to ruin what we have and I wasn’t sure you felt the same way…,” her voice drifted off. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t think you’d go out with me,” he laughed softly.

“What?” she gasped in surprise. “Why not?” He just shrugged. “Michael, you’re my best friend, of course I would.”

He gave her a smile. “So…do we know what’s going on here?”

“No,” she laughed softly. “But I want to find out.”

“Me too,” he said before kissing her softly.

“I don’t think we should tell our mothers though,” Sydney told him.

“Are you kidding?!” he laughed. “Of course not. They’d be planning a wedding before we’d even finished the conversation.”

“Yes,” she laughed softly. “We need to take it slow and figure this out, because… who knows… it could be…,” she let her voice drift off.

“Definitely,” he smiled before kissing her again.



Chapter 8

Michael had been right, after a few days of letting the crazy news from her parents sink in, Sydney was able to understand why they hadn’t told her and why it was so important to keep it a secret. In addition to that, she was completely giddy and overjoyed about the fact that she was finally with Michael. That evening, they were going on their first official date, which actually turned out to be quite easy. All Sydney had to say was that she and Michael were going to a movie and they were going to grab some dinner on the way and her parents weren’t suspicious at all because it wasn’t the first time that had happened, in fact, it happened quite often.

“Good evening, my dear,” Michael said to her in an extra suave tone when he opened the passenger side door for her.

“You know, I love that you’ve always done that,” Sydney said with a grin.

“Why, thank you,” he smiled at her.

“Why, you’re welcome,” she smiled back. “So, were your parents suspicious at all?”

“Nah. I just said I was going out with you and they never questioned it,” he told her.

“Wow…,” she sighed. “This whole secret thing is actually going to be very easy.”

“Yeah…. Except we have to be careful where we kiss, or that might tip ‘em off,” Michael said.

“No, really?” Sydney said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. He grinned at her.

Before the movie, they went out to dinner at a restaurant. It wasn’t an overly fancy restaurant, but it was a nice one. Once they had ordered, they fell into an awkward silence and Sydney began to panic.

“What is it?” Michael asked, noting her pale face.

“Well… it’s just… this is kinda awkward,” she said with a slight cringe.

“I know!” he exclaimed in disbelief.

“Why is that?” she asked.

“I dunno… I mean, we already know like everything about each other…,” he sighed.

“Well, not everything. I don’t reveal all my secrets to you, Michael,” she smiled mysteriously.

“Really?” he asked, intrigued. “What have you kept from me… aside from the gross girly stuff?”

She laughed softly. “Well, I don’t know if this would qualify as ‘gross girly stuff’ but I caught Nadia making out with some kid who had a lip ring.”

Michael grimaced. “Ew.”

“I know!” she exclaimed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”

“She’s Nadia,” he shrugged. “She’s always been that way.”

“I know… maybe it happened because you dropped her on her head when she was a baby,” Sydney smirked at him.

“Hey,” he pointed a finger at her. “I did not drop her. She slipped and she didn’t even fall… my mom caught her.”

“Uh huh,” Sydney smiled.

“Syd! Mike! How are you guys?!” Sarah, who apparently was their new waitress since she brought them their meals, asked.

Sydney and Michael exchanged slightly panicked glances. “Oh… fine, how are you?” Sydney managed.

“Eh, you know,” Sarah shrugged. “So, are you two like on a date?”

“What?! No,” Sydney and Michael said quickly.

“Oh, ‘cause I could have sworn I saw you two holding hands,” Sarah eyed them suspiciously.

“We weren’t,” Sydney told her.

“Alright,” Sarah sighed before walking away.

Sydney bit her lip and looked over to Michael. “That was close.”

“That was bad,” he said. “If anybody finds out about it, our mothers will find out.”

“Yeah,” she cringed. “I guess sneaking around just got a bit more complicated.” Michael nodded.

They finished their meal and made careful attention not to act any differently than normal, especially when Sarah was eyeing them. After they ate, they went to the theater and thankfully, since it was dark, they were able to hold hands and Sydney rested her head on Michael’s shoulder.

“So…,” Michael sighed as they were walking out to his car. “I won’t be able to kiss you goodnight at our houses… so I guess I should do it now.”

Sydney stopped beside the car and turned around with a smile. “I guess you should.” Michael leaned his face in close to hers and kissed her lips lightly, but she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him closer.

“Mmmm Syd, it’s the middle of the parking lot,” he mumbled between their kisses.

“So,” she sighed while still kissing him.

“Syd,” he laughed slightly and took a step back so she couldn’t attach herself to his lips again.

“Sorry,” she said rather sheepishly as she looked down at her feet. “I just really like kissing you.”

“I like kissing you too,” he assured her. She smiled at him. “So… tomorrow night my parents are having one of their date nights so they won’t be home…. You wanna come over and we can... do some kissing?” he smiled.

Sydney laughed softly. “That sounds like a great idea.”

~*~

“So… what’s going to happen to us when we leave for school in two weeks?” Sydney asked sadly once the movie they were watching on Michael’s couch was over.

“I dunno… now it’s going to suck even more to leave you,” he sighed.

She snuggled up to him and sighed, “I know.”

“We’re not going to see each other until fall break,” he pointed out sadly.

“That’s awful! I’m going to miss you,” she frowned.

“I’m going to miss you too, but we can call each other and IM each other… it’ll be okay,” he smiled at her. She leaned over and kissed him. He pulled her closer until she was practically sitting in his lap while they kissed. They had only been sitting that way for about five minutes before they heard the garage door to Michael’s house open and they shot apart from each other as quickly as possible. Sydney moved a seat cushion away from Michael and made sure she looked as normal as possible before Michael’s parents walked in.

“How was the movie?” Sydney asked them casually.

“Horrible, but oh well,” Amelia sighed. “How was yours?”

“Alright,” Sydney shrugged. Amelia gave them a smile before walking back into the kitchen. Sydney and Michael exchanged grins and tried not to laugh.

“We’re awesome,” he whispered to her.

“Yeah, something like that,” she laughed.



Chapter 9

The first few weeks of college were the hardest few weeks of Sydney’s life. She missed Michael terribly and in addition to that, she missed her family. She was literally counting down the seconds to her fall break, which, unfortunately, was six weeks away. She talked to Michael every day though, whether it was in the form of instant messaging or phone conversations, and sometimes even both. Through those conversations she found that he was missing her too, but he had found a bunch of friends and was enjoying school, aside from missing her.

Finally, the day arrived for her parents to come and pick her up and though she hugged them both and chattered with her mother the whole hour and a half drive home, she was still more anxious to see Michael than them, which made her feel slightly bad. Once they were home, Sydney saw that Michael was sitting on his front porch waiting for them and Sydney nearly jumped out of the car while it was still moving, until she realized she had to ‘play it cool’ or her parents would get suspicious. She casually got out of the car and watched as Michael noticed her, stood and began to walk towards her.

“Hey,” she sighed, before they hugged a ‘normal’ hug, like the ones they hugged before they had reached a relationship status.

“Hey,” he sighed back.

“I missed you so much,” she sighed into his shoulder as she kissed it softly.

“I missed you too,” he told her. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

“Wait, give me a couple minutes to take my stuff upstairs before my dad freaks,” she told him.

“Okay,” he laughed softly.

Sydney grabbed two of her bags and ran them upstairs at lightening speed. Then, she raced back downstairs, taking two stairs at a time, and back out to Michael. “Ready,” she told him breathlessly.

“Wow, Syd, I didn’t realize you could go at hyper-speed,” he teased her.

“Shut up,” she muttered as she punched his arm lightly. In return, he flicked her arm. “Hey,” she whined.

“Oh yeah, you can dish it out but you can’t take it,” he rolled his eyes. She just smiled. They walked all the way through their neighborhood and to a small, rather run down, baseball field and stadium where they could have some ‘alone time’.

They were both practically running by the time they were only a few hundred yards from the dugouts and once they reached them, Michael pulled Sydney inside and into a searing kiss. Much to his surprise, she started giggling. “What?” he asked.

“Nothing…. This is just so high school or something. It’s fun though,” she smiled and kissed him again. “I really, really, really missed you,” she said the ‘really’s in between kisses.

“I missed you too. So, tomorrow night my parents are going to have dinner with my grandparents and I got out of it so we can spend the evening together,” he smiled at her.

“Oh Michael, I’d love that, but I feel bad you’re ditching your grandparents,” she told him.

“I’m not. I got out of the dinner by telling them I’d visit them for a few hours tomorrow afternoon,” he said proudly.

“That’s brilliant,” she smiled at him.

“Why, thank you,” he smiled back.

~*~

“Okay Mom, I’ll be at Michael’s!” Sydney called before she left the next evening.

“Wait wait!” her mother called. “You sure are spending an awful lot of time with Michael.”

“No I’m not,” Sydney said a little too quickly. Then she tried to back track, “I mean, we only went for a walk yesterday and now we’re watching a movie. That’s all. He’s my best friend and I missed him.”

“I know… I was just hoping that… you know,” she sighed exasperatedly.

“Irina,” Jack warned from his position on the couch reading the newspaper.

“What?!” she asked innocently.

“Leave the girl alone,” Jack told her.

“Yeah Mom,” Nadia chimed in. “If Sydney was going to have sex with Michael, she’d be wearing something nicer than sweats… of course, the sweats could be covering up something.”

“NADIA!” the other three family members shouted. She grinned.

“Whatever, I’m leaving,” Sydney sighed.

“Don’t have sex!” Nadia called after her.

“I’m gonna kill my sister,” Sydney groaned when she walked into Michael’s house.

“Why?” Michael asked.

“Because she won’t stop implying that we’re in here having sex!” Sydney exclaimed.

“Oh no, you thinks she suspects?” Michael asked in a panic.

“No, she’s just being a moron,” Sydney groaned.

“Oh,” he laughed. “Let’s just go watch the movie.”

An hour and a half later, Sydney and Michael were buried underneath blankets on his bed just as the movie was ending. “Okay, that sucked,” Sydney announced as she sat up and stretched.

“Yeah, it really did,” he laughed softly. “I like this.”

“What?” she sighed, laying back down, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Us, like this,” he said before kissing the top of her head.

“Me too,” she smiled and kissed him.

“Mmkay, tell me something,” he said to her.

“Like what?” she laughed softly.

“Something you’d tell someone boyfriendy,” he told her as he stroked her arm that was across his chest.

“Mmm well,” she giggled softly. “I have a birthmark that looks remarkably like a heart.”

“Really?” he laughed. “How come I’ve never seen it?” he asked, recalling the previous summer when they had taken a day trip to a water park with their friends and thus he had seen her in a bikini.

“Well,” she said, blushing slightly. “It’s not in a place you’d see.”

“REALLY?!” he asked, sounding very intrigued. “Alright Bristow, whip it out,” he smirked.

“Michael!” she screeched as she smacked his chest.

“Seriously I wanna see. Where is it?” he asked.

“I’m not telling you,” she smiled. He grumbled. She kissed his cheek and said, “I promise I’ll show you some day – if you’re lucky,” she winked.



Chapter 10

After another painful six weeks apart, Sydney and Michael were reunited once more when they returned home for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Sydney’s school let her out a day earlier than Michael’s so she was left sulking around the house.

“Sydney, what is the matter with you?” her mother sighed when she found her daughter slumped over on the couch, absentmindedly flicking through TV channels.

“Nothing,” Sydney sighed woefully.

“Do you have a boyfriend up at school that you miss?” her mother asked with a smile. Sydney looked up at her and groaned.

“Don’t be stupid Mom, Syd’s not going to have a boyfriend. She’s just going to pine over Michael until she dies,” Nadia said with a smirk.

“Excuse you,” Sydney retorted at her sister. “I am not pining.”

“Uh yeah, you are,” Nadia told her. “You keep looking out the window longingly towards the Vaughn’s house.”

Sydney lowered her face behind the couch cushion to hide the fact that she was blushing. She had hoped that no one had noticed her obsessive checking of their neighbor’s driveway. “Well, I just want to see Michael so I can tell him…about my boyfriend,” she said quickly, cringing at what a horrible liar she was.

“So you do have a boyfriend?” her mother asked in an excited tone. “Who is he? What’s his name?”

“How much of a nerd is he?” her sister laughed.

Sydney growled at her. “His name is…James,” she said the first male name that popped into her head. “And he’s a chemistry major.”

“Ohh interesting,” Irina said. “So how did you two meet?”

“Mooooom,” Sydney groaned. “We met in the cafeteria, ok? Enough.”

“Alright, alright. Anyway how about you come out with your sister and I? You can talk to Michael tomorrow,” her mother said.

“But tomorrow’s Thanksgiving,” Sydney pointed out.

“Yes, I know and we’re having dinner with the Vaughn’s,” she said casually.

Sydney turned around and gaped at her, “What?! Since when?!”

“Didn’t I tell you?” Irina asked. Sydney shook her head. “Oh… I’m sorry, sweetheart, I thought I did. Anyway, they’re not going anywhere this year and since we never go anywhere, Amelia invited us over.”

“Oh…. Alright,” Sydney sighed. She didn’t mind having dinner with the Vaughn’s, she would just have to keep reminding herself to keep her goofy grins to Michael across the table in check.

“So come on; come out with us,” her mother smiled. Sydney sighed and forced herself from the couch. She knew she had to go or risk being accused of ‘pining’ again, which was something she couldn’t afford, nor was she in the mood to deal with.

~*~

“Ugggh, come on,” Sydney groaned quietly as she looked at her watch for the four billionth time. She had been ready to go and sitting at the front door for over an hour. She couldn’t wait to see Michael since she had yet to see him because of her parents need for them to ‘spend time as a family’.

Finally, her mother came down the stairs and Sydney bolted to a standing position. “A few minutes yet,” Irina told her casually. Sydney groaned and flopped back down.

“You’re pathetic,” Nadia snickered at her as she walked down the stairs a moment later.

“Says the girl wearing silver chains on her black pants on Thanksgiving,” Sydney pointed out.

Nadia was unfazed. “Better than pink,” she muttered.

“Whatever… you’d be excited too if you hadn’t seen your best friend in ages,” Sydney told her.

“True… but I also couldn’t have a guy as a best friend. That’s too…,” she shivered.

“There’s nothing wrong with Sydney and Michael being best friends,” Irina pointed out as she walked into the hall and over heard their conversation. “It would just be better if-”

“Irina,” Jack cut her off as he too walked down the stairs. Irina gave a miffed little ‘hmph’. “Let’s just go,” Jack said to his family.

It took all of Sydney’s self-control not to race across the lawn. Really the only thing stopping her was the thin layer of ice she knew she’d fall on. She did manage to make it to the Vaughn’s front door first though and she didn’t even have to ring the bell. Michael opened the door immediately with a massive grin across his face. “Hey!” Sydney practically squealed as she hugged him.

“Hey loser, way to ditch me,” he muttered to her quietly. She smacked his arm.

“Ohh come in, come in! It’s so nice to see you all!” Amelia beamed as she came into their foyer area. “Sydney, how is school?”

“Good,” Sydney smiled at her.

“Wonderful! Oh Irina, this pie looks fabulous,” Amelia told her friend as she gave her a kiss on the cheek. Sydney and Michael exchanged glances and laughed softly. They always found their mother’s to be an odd pair of friends, especially with their different accents and drastically different backgrounds, despite, as it turned out, having the ‘spy thing’ in common. Most likely, that was why they had become so close, or at least one of the reasons anyway.

“Well come, sit down everyone. I still need about fifteen minutes for the turkey, but make yourselves comfortable,” Amelia told them.

Michael grabbed Sydney’s hand and slowly pulled her towards the basement door entrance. They slipped away, unnoticed by their parents, and managed to make it into the basement, behind the closed door before attacking each other.

“Sorry…. I couldn’t… yesterday… parents…,” Sydney mumbled an explanation.

“’sokay…missed you,” he mumbled back.

“MM-Michael, I’m going to fall down the stairs,” she giggled at the fact that he was slowly backing his way towards his room at the bottom of the stairs. Michael grinned and scooped her up, carrying her down the rest of the way as she squealed slightly. Then, he set her down again and they continued to kiss.

Sydney broke after a long kiss and nuzzled her face against his while hugging him tightly. “Michael… I love you,” she whispered.

He pulled back and looked at her curiously. “What?” he asked in a breathy voice.

Sydney’s heart began to beat faster as nerves took over. She hoped she hadn’t made a mistake with that admission, but she had been thinking about it for quite some time. “Well… it’s just…I’ve loved you as a friend forever. I can’t remember not loving you as a friend… but now, I love you as this too.”

He leaned forward and kissed her softly. “I love you too.”

Her grin grew impossibly large and she hugged him tightly. Before either of them could speak again, Amelia called down from upstairs, “Sydney! Michael! Dinner’s ready!”

“So um… I guess we’re going to tell them now, right?” Michael asked as they slowly made their way upstairs.

“No… I don’t think we should,” Sydney said. He looked at her curiously. “I mean… well, it’s a holiday. Let’s not make it even more insane than it already is. I think we should tell them at a more down time, you know?”

He nodded. On the off chance their relationship status would cause a fight, he didn’t want to be responsible for ruining Thanksgiving. “Over Christmas then?” he suggested. Sydney gave a casual shrug and then followed him upstairs.



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Chapters 11 - 20 + Epilogue