Serendipity

Author: Janet (SkyGirl5)

Genre: S/V, AU

Summary: Usually, nothing interesting happens in the boring little town of Port City, that is until a woman crashes her car on a nearby road and stagers into the town without any knowledge as to who she is or where she came from.

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

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Chapters 1-10 // Chapters 11 - 20

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Chapter 11

When Michael awoke, he wasn’t sure how much time had passed or even where he was. Slowly the cabin around them came into view and he felt something warm snuggled up in his arms. Looking down, he saw that Sydney had rolled over and her face was buried in his chest and her arms were around his waist while his were around her back. Sleeping that way felt absolutely perfect to Michael and he never wanted to move, but when he looked at his watch he saw that it was nearly three and knew they needed to get back to the diner.

For a moment, he contemplated the best way to wake her, but decided that if he moved she probably would wake, so that’s what he did as he said softly, “Syd get up.”

“Mmm, no school,” she mumbled into his chest as she clung tighter.

“No, we have to go,” he laughed softly. “You have a test.”

“WHAT?!” she jolted awake, but upon seeing his grin she groaned. “That was mean.”

“That was hilarious,” he laughed. “Seriously, we have to get back to the diner.”

“Fine,” she sighed as she slid off the bed and smoothed out her clothing. “You know, you’re a good nap buddy.”

“I’m glad,” he smiled. “So are you.”

“You know,” Sydney sighed on their drive back. “If I ever remember who I am and go back to Boston… I’m definitely going to visit here again.”

“Well, how nice of you to think of us,” Michael teased.

“I’m serious. I’m coming back,” she said firmly.

“Glad to hear it,” he said, even though the thought of her leaving made his heart break.

Ten minutes later, Michael parked his car behind the diner and went to open the back door but cursed. “What?” Sydney asked him.

“Forgot the keys,” he grumbled as he stood on his tiptoes and groped at the top of the light above the door. A minute later he pulled out a key and unlocked the door before putting they hidden key back where he had found it.

“Smooth.” Sydney commented.

“Right,” he laughed.

“I’ll go take the sign off the door and unlock it,” she said before disappearing out of the storeroom.

“Thanks!” he called after her.

The moment Sydney opened the door, Annabelle appeared. “Well, well, well,” she said. “I believe this is the first time in over ten years that this place has been closed.”

Sydney, feeling in a challenging mood not to mention generally annoyed by Annabelle, retorted, “Well, sometimes things just need a change.”

Annabelle nearly growled as she pushed past Sydney and into the diner, shouting Michael’s name. “Jesus, what is it?” he asked as he appeared from the back.

“Well… I wanted to know where you were. You weren’t here,” she said in a sad tone.

“Did you have a food emergency,” Sydney laughed. Annabelle gave her a look of death.

“Sorry Annabelle,” Michael said quickly, hoping to break up their impending fight. “We just went for a drive.”

“WE?!” Annabelle gasped.

“Yes, we,” Michael said.

Annabelle’s eyes narrowed as looked between Sydney and Michael while backing out of the diner. “I KNEW there was something going on between you two, I knew it!” she exclaimed. Then, she left quickly as Sydney laughed

“Is she normally this psychotic?”

“No, actually she’s not,” Michael sighed. “I guess she’s jealous… or something,” he shrugged.

“Jealous? Of me?” Sydney asked in surprise. Michael simply shrugged and looked away. “Does she have a reason to be jealous of me, Michael?”

“No,” he said rather unconvincingly, still not looking at her. Sydney just smiled softly to herself.

~*~

“Weeeeell, I think I’m gonna go try to finish Alice in Wonderland,” Sydney sighed once she had finished her dinner. “Come get me when you want help with your napkins and stuff, okay?”

“Nah, you don’t have to help; I’m giving you the night off,” he smiled.

“Michael, I want to help,” she told him seriously.

“I know you do,” he laughed softly.

“You’d better come get me!” she said in a threatening (but teasing) way before walking upstairs.

Just as she left, the mayor walked in and waved Michael over to him. “How’ve you been, my boy?” he asked in his typical ‘I treat everyone, no matter their age, as my child’ manner.

“Pretty good,” Michael smiled even though that was pretty much the understatement of the world.

“Good, good… and how is Sydney? I hear you two had an outing today,” he smiled broadly.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it an outing,” Michael laughed. “She just wanted to see those cabins she was heading to.”

“Oh I see, I see, very good. Does she remember anything at all?” he asked quietly.

“Um, I think she thinks she’s a writer from Boston… but that’s about it,” he said sadly.

The mayor nodded as he ran his fingers across his mustache. “Well… I’ll tell you what. I found this and I believe it might be of interest to you,” he said as he pulled a folded newspaper from his back pocket.

Michael took it slowly and found that it was a copy of The Boston Herald from Tuesday, the day before Sydney had appeared in Port City. “Okay…,” Michael said slowly.

“Page eight of section B,” the mayor muttered under his breath as if he was giving away some secret code.

Feeling even more confused, Michael turned to the page the mayor had just whispered to him. As soon as the newspaper opened, Michael gasped aloud and nearly dropped it. There, on the top right corner of page eight was a tiny, black and white grainy photo of Sydney. Underneath it read, Sydney Bristow, columnist. “Whoa,” he breathed.

“Looks like she remembered correctly,” the mayor said with a wink. Michael just stared at him; he was at an utter loss for words. “Anyway, I just wanted to show you that. I trust you’ll pass along the information,” he said before walking out of the diner.

Quickly, Michael crammed the paper underneath the counter. He had no idea what he was going to say to Sydney, but he couldn’t think about it then; he had customers waiting.

He thought about it all evening, as he was serving dinners and answering nosy questions about his absence that afternoon, as he was cleaning up and as he was sat staring blankly at the wall. He knew that he had to tell her, but he was worried for her. So she was Sydney Bristow, but what did that mean if she still remembered nothing? Even still, she’d leave and go back to Boston. But would she really return as she promised? And even if she did, when? How often? And what would she do when she came?

Finally he realized he’d been sitting there nearly an hour, so he grabbed the newspaper and switched off all the lights before slowly trudging up the stairs. He found the door to his mother’s apartment ajar and pushed it open slowly. He saw her in bed, asleep with the open book across her chest. She looked so peaceful, so angelic that he just couldn’t wake her. Instead, he slowly walked over to the bedside and turned out the lamp. Then, he kissed her forehead softly and placed the book on the nightstand beside her before going to his own room, realizing that he’d have to tell her the truth in the morning; knowing that by the next evening she’d be gone, back to Boston and out of his life, possibly forever.



Chapter 12

The next morning, Michael opened up his diner with a heavy heart. He just knew that day was going to be a bad day, but he could have never foreseen just how bad it was going to be.

Sydney came down for her morning coffee just as chipper as she always was, grinning from ear to ear and practically skipping. “Jeez, doesn’t anyone go to church around here?” she commented on the unusually large number of people in the diner at that time of morning.

“Church doesn’t start until ten; it’s only quarter to nine,” he told her dully.

“Whatsammatta?!” she asked playfully as she poked his chin dimple.

“Nothing,” he said rather unconvincingly. “Want some coffee?”

“Nah, I’m going for a run,” she smiled. “I won’t get lost, I promise.”

“Okay,” he sighed as he watched her walk out the front door. Once she was gone, Annabelle slid into the stool directly in front of Michael and he groaned. “I’m really, really not in the mood, Annabelle.”

Annabelle ignored his comment. “So, I hear Sydney’s actually a reporter for the Boston Globe. You think she’s some sort of hard hitting journalist just pretending to have amnesia but really doing an in-depth story on the diner?”

“Considering her column appeared on the eighth page in the lifestyle section, most likely not,” he sighed.

“You never know,” Annabelle said. “Anyway, what did she say? Did she act like she remembered at all?”

“I haven’t gotten to tell her yet,” Michael said quietly. Annabelle’s jaw crashed open. “Well, she just got up and left! That’s not something you just blurt out to a person!” he defended.

“Uh huh,” she mumbled, sounding unconvinced.

“Whatever. I don’t have to justify myself to you,” he snapped. Annabelle just raised her hands in defeat and walked away. Michael grunted. He did have to tell Sydney, but telling her in the public of the diner wasn’t appropriate. Yes, he knew he was making excuses, but he just didn’t want to let her go, not after having the best four days of his life.

Sydney returned from her run twenty minutes later with her brown hair matted down to her head with sweat. “Lookin’ good,” he teased her as she passed.

“Yeah right,” she rolled her eyes.

The entire time she was gone, Michael was trembling, knowing that he would have to tell her the truth when she returned from her shower (or at least he assumed she was taking a shower).

Half an hour after she returned from her run, she still hadn’t come downstairs, but a strange, very out of place looking man had just entered the diner. He was tall with dark, messy hair wearing a very expensive suit. All the diner patrons (quite a few of them, since it was nearing the ‘Sunday brunch rush’ time) turned and looked at him. He in turn looked at each and every one in an almost disapproving manor. Michael’s brow furrowed as he approached the counter and shoved his way between two stools. “Excuse me, who is the owner here?” he asked.

“That would be me,” Michael said. “May I help you?”

“Perhaps, though I doubt it,” he added under his breath. “Has a woman named Sydney Bristow been in here lately?”

Michael’s heart dropped to his stomach and his mouth went try. “Sy-Sydney…,” he croaked. But before he could say another word, she appeared from the back room, combing her hands through her wet hair.

The moment Sydney saw the man talking to Michael, she felt as though she had been swimming under water for ages with her lungs burning and aching for oxygen. But in that moment, she had broken through the surface and the cool, welcomed air was reflooding her body, shocking her eyes open and jolting her back to her former life. The feeling actually knocked her back a step as it all came into focus. All of it. “D-Danny,” she stammered. This was Danny. Danny, her fiancé, Danny, standing there speaking to Michael, Port City Michael.

“Sydney, there you are! I’ve been worried sick! You didn’t call me, why didn’t you call?! What the hell’s going on here?” he demanded.

“Wait,” Michael croaked, finally regaining his ability to speak. “Who are you?”

“I’m her fiancé,” he snapped to him before walking over to Sydney.

A knife shot directly through Michael’s heart and he stumbled slightly, having to lean against the counter so he wouldn’t fall completely on the ground. At that moment, everyone in the diner who had heard (which was everyone) gasped and began to mumbled under their breaths to one another.

“Sydney, where have you been?!” Danny repeated his question.

“I…I,” she stammered. “I had a, a car accident... hit a tree,” she said distantly all the while looking not at Danny, but at Michael, who looked positively crushed.

“Oh god, are you alright?” he asked as he walked over to her and touched the fading cut on her forehead gingerly.

“Y-yes.. I just… wait a second- you’re talking to me?” she snapped. With her memory came the knowledge of their fight early Wednesday morning.

“Of course baby, I’m so sorry,” he sighed as he leaned over and touched his lips to hers. At the sight of this, the knife in Michael’s heart twisted and contorted painfully, so much so that he actually winced and looked away.

“Mmm,” she sighed suspiciously.

“Seriously, babe, what are you doing in this place?” he asked.

“I told you; I had an accident. My car was totaled and I had forgotten my purse. The people in this town took me in,” she explained.

“Well that’s great babe, but are you ready to leave now? Come on, if we leave now we can still get back in time to go to the Mason’s party. Come on,” he coaxed as he pulled her arm.

“Danny wait, my things are upstairs,” she stopped him.

“Fine, get them,” he sighed and waved her off. She glanced over at Michael but he was pretending to wipe up an invisible spill on the counter, so she turned sadly and walked back upstairs to retrieve her things.

She wasn’t happy about packing. While she had been trying to remember who she was, she had thought that finding out would be a relief; going home would be a relief. But somehow, as she walked down the stairs from Michael’s apartments, she felt as though she was leaving a home.

“Great, let’s go,” Danny said as he yanked her bag from her hands and charged towards the diner exit.

“Wait,” she sighed as she walked over to Michael. He refused to look up at her and she didn’t blame him. She leaned over the counter and kissed his cheek softly before saying in a quite voice, “I don’t know how to thank you for the past few days.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said quickly. He was unable to hide the emotion in his voice and he was too afraid to look up to her for fear she’d see the tears he could feel burning.

Sydney sighed heavily. “Goodbye Michael,” she said quietly before she followed Danny out the diner door.

The only noise was of the bell still jingling and the door shutting with a soft ‘thump’. No one… not one of the diner’s patrons said a word. All they could do was sit there and breathe in the palpable sadness as they all watched Michael, a man they had grown to love and think of as their own son or brother, in indescribable pain.



Chapter 13

Driving back to Boston, it was all Sydney could do to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks. The way Michael had reacted had simply broken her heart, but then again, had she really expected him to react any differently? After all, over the past four days they had become… close, to say the least. They were definitely friends, but they had also nearly kissed at least once and had snuggled together while Sydney napped. Put simply, Sydney was utterly confused; torn between Danny, her fiancé, the man she had been with for four years sitting beside her, and Michael, a man she had barely known for four days, but yet she couldn’t help looking back over her shoulder in his direction.

“Sydney, seriously, why didn’t you call or something?” Danny asked her.

“I,” she began, but her voice was harsh so she cleared her throat. “When I was in that car accident, I lost my memory… I had amnesia.”

Danny actually laughed at her. “You’re joking?”

“No,” Sydney said firmly. “I didn’t remember my name, who I was or where I was from.”

“Sydney, that’s awful. What were you going to do?” he asked. She shrugged; she and Michael hadn’t figured that out yet. “When did you remember?”

“The moment I saw you,” she said honestly. Danny, taking that as a compliment, smiled and squeezed her shoulder lightly.

“So, you ready for the party tonight?”

“Well, um,” Sydney hesitated. Those parties were Danny’s thing; not hers. He was the one with socialite parents; not her. She hated those parties. They always bored her to tears and Danny had promised they wouldn’t have to go to many of them once they were married (which, as she recalled, they had yet to set a date for their nuptials).

“Come on babe,” Danny coaxed. “The Mason’s are my parent’s oldest friends. We have to go.”

“No, I know, it’s just… my head still hurts, you know, from the accident and I’m just not really feeling…”

“Ah yeah, fine,” he sighed. “I’m sure when I tell them about your car accident, they’ll understand. By the way, where is your car?”

“It was totaled,” she told him. “I told the guy back in Port City’s body shop to do whatever with it.”

“Oh, alright, we’ll get you a new one tomorrow then,” he smiled at her. Sydney just sighed and looked down at her hands. The only reason she was happy about getting a new car was because it enabled her to be able to drive back to Port City if she wished, but she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Sydney fell asleep on the drive back to Boston, but was awakened by Danny shaking her lightly. “Babe, we’re here.”

She stirred and slowly unbuckled her seatbelt, her eyes straining to see in the dark parking garage. Sleepily, she stumbled from the car and felt Danny grab her hand as they walked towards the elevator that would take them to Danny’s penthouse. She leaned up against his shoulder as they rode, still feeling rather sleepy and, quite frankly, sad. “So tell me about that small town, Port whatever. Those people seemed… just so common,” he shivered.

Sydney rolled her eyes slightly. “They were all very nice,” she told him while thinking, but not saying ‘much nicer than you sometimes’.

“And that man you kissed, which by the way, I did not appreciate,” he said tensely.

“Relax Danny,” Sydney sighed. “I was simply thanking him. He gave me a place to stay and let me eat free in that diner. It was the least I could do.”

“Oh,” he said shortly. “So nothing happened?”

“Don’t be stupid; of course nothing happened,” she said quickly. Technically nothing did happen, but she would have been lying if she said she didn’t want anything to have happened. “In fact, he’s close with one of the town girls… she’s in the diner practically all day drooling over him,” she said, thinking of Annabelle and using her as a lie to appease Danny’s jealous tendency.

“Oh, good, very good,” Danny said actually sounding relieved.

Once inside the apartment, Danny went off to get ready for the Mason’s party while Sydney took her bag and threw all her dirty clothes into the laundry. Then, she went to her laptop and brought up her latest work to see if it needed any tweaking before its deadline the following day. Her column ran on Tuesdays and Thursdays in The Boston Herald. Before she had left for her trip to the mountain cabin, she had turned in both articles for that week and she had been working on the one for that Tuesday so that she wouldn’t be rushed when she returned from her trip.

It took her a few minutes to get back into the writing mindset, but once she did she was able to write a few more sentences and fix a few things. Finally, once she was satisfied, she saved a hard copy to a CD and then printed it out to hand to her editor the next morning. After that, she walked into the kitchen and was disheartened (but not surprised) to find a small pile of glass simply brushed under a chair, not cleaned up, simply out of the way.

The broken glass had been a result of Sydney and Danny’s argument the morning of that fateful Wednesday Sydney drove to the cabin. In fact, their argument had been about Sydney’s visit to the cabin itself. She had it planned for weeks. The cabin was owned by one of Danny’s rich friends who had insisted they spend some time there. Danny was hesitant because of his whole ‘I hate nature’ façade, but Sydney was more than willing to accept the escape.

At the last minute, Danny had announced that he would be joining Sydney at the cabin, but Sydney knew it was only because he didn’t want her to go anywhere alone. Thus their fight ensued, which resulted in Sydney grabbing her bag and storming out of the apartment furious (and forgetting her purse in the process).

Her memory had been fully restored with the exception of the time around the accident. That she didn’t remember. She remembered driving through the rain on the narrow, winding roads, but after that the next thing she remembered was walking into the diner.

“Babe, I’m goin’. Feel better!” he called out before slamming the door behind him. Sydney made herself a cup of tea and sat on the couch with her feet tucked up underneath her, the only thing in her thoughts being Michael and how soon he’d be closing up the diner and she wouldn’t be there to help with the napkins.

~*~

It was amazing how fast news of Sydney and what had happened spread through the town. It seemed as though everyone who had been in the diner at the time, left immediately and told everyone that they knew and then those people had told everyone that they knew. In fact, that was most likely what had actually happened. No matter what the case though, by the middle of the afternoon, everyone knew, and they were all coming in the diner giving Michael sympathetic smiles and reassuring words, which was the absolute last thing he wanted. He just wanted to sulk and be left alone. Actually, he was too numb to sulk.

He was numb. It had all happened so fast, he wasn’t even sure what had happened. One second she was there smiling, the next the door was shutting behind her and she was gone. Gone with her fiancé; gone for good.

Michael almost laughed at how stupid he had been. How could he have thought that a woman as wonderful as Sydney would have been unavailable? Or even more naïve, how could he have though she would have stayed there, in Port City – a.k.a. “nowhere” -- when she had a life in Boston? That just wasn’t possible.

Cleaning up the shop that night was when it finally hit him. There he was, sitting at the one of the counter stools, filing a napkin dispenser and he nearly broke down in tears simply because he missed her smile that badly. He had to pull himself together. Life would go on, without her, and there was nothing he could do to change that.



Chapter 14

The next morning, Sydney awoke with Danny’s arm lazily across her chest. For a moment, she just looked at it there across her, thinking about how much nicer it was to have Michael’s arm around her. But she pushed that thought from her mind as she slid out from underneath it and shuffled to the shower.

The shower in Danny’s apartment was huge with two showerheads, nothing like the cramped one in Michael’s mother’s apartment. Cursing herself for forgetting to return her packed shampoo to the shower, she reached over and grabbed some of Danny’s, cringing immediately; she hated the smell. She’d have to rewash her hair later.

After she was in the shower for only a few minutes, Danny stumbled in, yawning. Sydney cringed at his disgusting morning habits and finished showering as quickly as possible before tightly wrapping her towel around herself. “I’ll come get you at lunch and we’ll get you a car, okay babe?” he said to her.

“Well, um,” she hesitated. “I’m not really sure what I want yet… and I want to be able to think about it. Can’t I just get a rental for now?”

“Sure, whatever you want,” he yawned once more.

~*~

Later that morning, Danny dropped Sydney off at her work on the way to his own. Although in Danny’s case ‘work’ was slightly stretching the term, since he basically just told others what to do while he sat in his office and played internet games all day. “Hello Sydney, how was your weekend? Relaxing I trust?” her boss, Mr. Dixon asked.

“Oh…. It was… something,” she sighed as she dug in her purse. “Here’s my article.”

“Efficient as always,” Mr. Dixon smiled as he took it. “I think there are a bunch of messages for you at your desk.

“Thanks,” she smiled before walking away.

Sydney tried to concentrate on her work; but it was no use. She returned a few phone calls, but when she tried to start on her next article, she had absolutely no idea what to write. Thankfully she had two more days to figure it out. Instead of writing, she flipped open the paper and began absentmindedly reading some articles. She came across a brief mention of Port City in one of the obituaries and nearly broke down in tears. It seemed that everything reminded her of Michael.

At lunch, she barely paid attention to Danny or the rental car dealer who were trying to ask her what car she wanted. She was so distant, in fact, that Danny actually asked if she’d be alright to drive, but she assured him she’d be fine, she was simply tired.

Instead of going back to work, Sydney drove around the city for a bit, finally stopping at a park near the water. She wandered around, watching children play and dogging joggers as they passed. The only thing on her mind was Michael. She thought about their time together and realized what she regretted most was the fact that they had never kissed. She desperately wanted to know what his lips would feel like against hers. Would their kiss have been tender and soft? Or would it have been one of those pinned up against the wall, passionate, crazy going at each other ones? Either way, she wanted to experience it.

Realizing that was definitely not something an engaged woman should be thinking about, she suddenly felt uncomfortable in her own skin. She was confused and simply roaming around, thoughts pouring through her mind as a blur, but the only clear one was Michael and how much she wanted to just go to him, but could she? Going to him, what would that mean? Leaving Danny obviously, but leaving Boston as well, perhaps even her job and moving permanently to Port City, small town USA. Was she ready to do that with a man she had known for four days? It sounded preposterous and completely unlike her to do something so spur of the moment; so unplanned. So, she pushed it from her mind and returned to Danny’s apartment.

She tried to concentrate on her article again, but it didn’t work. After that, she made her goal to think about anything that wasn’t Michael or Port City or leaving Danny, even though by that point she realized that leaving Danny was rather inevitable, whether it was to be with Michael, or not.

The most amusing part to her was that Danny didn’t even mention her strange behavior; he didn’t acknowledge it at all. He simply sipped on some brandy and was asleep in his Lay-Z-boy by seven o’clock. At that point, Sydney began daring herself to go; just to walk out. She grabbed her purse and walked towards the door six times, each time she got a little bit closer, each time she walked away.

Finally, on the seventh time, she left, went down to the parking garage and got in her rental car intent on just going for a drive, but the sappy song on the radio played with her emotions and brought tears to her eyes. She realized then that she could deny her true feelings no longer. As crazy as it had sounded, in those four days in Port City, she had fallen in love with Michael and she needed to tell him that. She owed them a chance; otherwise she’d always wonder.

As she drove, she constantly glanced down at the clock, which caused her to press down on the gas pedal a little bit harder. She needed to make it to Port City by nine, which was his self-proclaimed bedtime. Even then, she had the problem of actually finding words to explain her presence there and the possibility that he would be angry with her.

How she made it to Port City by eight fifty-nine, she’d never know, but she parked her rental car behind the diner next to Michael’s SUV and ran around to the front of the building. All the lights were out and she cursed herself as she ran around to the back. Looking up at the second floor, she could see a light on, meaning that he was thankfully still awake and most likely getting ready for bed. She contemplated knocking on the back door, but he probably wouldn’t hear her since it was so far away from the room he was in. Then, she remembered the key.

After three jumps and misses, she managed to snatch the key from its hiding place and jammed it in the lock. Realizing at that point she was practically breaking and entering, she hoped beyond hope that Michael wasn’t angry with her. She quickly jogged up the stairs, her hands trembling violently. She took two extremely deep breaths to calm herself before knocking on his door, realizing once it was too late that she probably scared the hell out of him.

Inside the apartment, she could hear footsteps creaking on wood floor. “Michael it’s me,” she said finally, hoping that he’d recognize her voice and realize she wasn’t a robber or a murderer. The footsteps grew louder as he approached and slowly opened the door, visibly stunned.

“Sydney…,” he sighed. “Wha… what are you doing here?”

“I…,” she began, her voice cracking from her tears upon seeing his emerald eyes once more. “I… I had to… I need to tell you something.”

“Okay…” he said slowly. Sydney opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t find words. Instead, she slowly stepped forward and pressed her lips against his. It took him a moment to respond, but he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in close. She sunk deep into the kiss as she let her purse fall to the floor and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Michael, realizing he needed to take a given opportunity before he lost it, pulled out of their kiss and whispered against her lips, “I love you,” with his eyes still squeezed shut tightly, praying it wasn’t a dream. She laughed softly and his eyes flew open to see that she was smiling.

“That’s what I came to tell you,” she whispered back.

Michael, feeling like he could have flown at that moment if he tried, pulled Sydney into his apartment and into another kiss as he kicked the door shut behind him. Sydney responded by pulling herself up into his arms and combing her fingers through his hair. Their kiss lasted a few minutes before Michael pulled back and looked at her curiously. “How’d you get in here?”

She laughed softly. “I used the hidden key.”

“Oh,” he laughed.

Sydney kissed him once more and pulled him through his apartment towards a closed door she assumed to be his bedroom. He stopped them and looked extremely hesitant. “Michael,” she sighed. “I remember everything, ever moment of my life before, and all the time we spent together. The only memory I don’t have is this,” she said. Then, she lowered her voice to a whisper and leaned in so that her lips were nearly touching his ear before saying, “and it’s the one I want the most.”

Shivers ran up and down Michael’s spin as he wrapped a strong arm around her waist and guided her towards the opposite side of his apartment. She looked confused so he explained, “That was a closet.”

“Oh,” she blushed before following him.



Chapter 15

“I’m sorry; it’s way past your bedtime,” Sydney whispered to Michael upon seeing that it was after eleven.

He picked up her hand, which was resting on his chest, and kissed her palm. “It’s alright; for you, I’ll be sleepy.” She smiled at him. “You really remember everything?” he asked; she nodded. “So, tell me who you are Sydney.”

She took a deep breath and looked at him through the dim light. “Sydney Bristow. I was born on April 17th; I’m twenty-eight. I don’t have any siblings. My mother is a professor of Russian literature at Harvard. My father is a government professor at North Eastern. I’ve lived in Boston my whole life. I went to North Eastern and majored in journalism. I worked for various small papers before getting my job at the Herald thanks to Danny. I have a lifestyles column that runs on Tuesday and Thursday. I don’t like cats, I could live on pasta and I’m in love with Michael Vaughn,” she finished with a smile.

He laughed softly as he rolled over and kissed her. “Sounds good to me.”

“Mmhmm, but now I have to go,” she sighed as she rolled away from him.

“Why?” he laughed.

“I have to break up with Danny,” she cringed.

“WHAT?!” he gasped as he sat bolt upright. “You didn’t break up with him before you came here?!” he asked sounding incredibly offended.

“No… it was sort of a spur of the moment thing… when I left he was asleep, but I already knew I was going to break up with him,” she told him, feeling even guiltier because of the look on his face. She sighed, slid over to him and kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry Michael, I really am.”

“Alright,” he sighed. “But I don’t want you driving back now; it’s too late and you don’t exactly have the best driving record – hey! I’m serious!” he defended after she smacked him softy. Then he brought his hand up and caressed her cheek softly with his thumb. “Stay please.”

“Okay,” she sighed. “I’ll leave when you get up at the ass crack of dawn.”

“Ass crack of dawn!?” he laughed loudly. “You city folk and your phrases.”

“Uh huh,” she rolled her eyes before curling up beside him once more.

~*~

When Michael awoke the next morning, he had a giant ridiculous grin plastered across his face. The energy he felt was so strong that he could have lit the entire room, despite the fact that it was five thirty a.m. and he'd gotten a fraction of his normal sleep. For some reason, he and Sydney had been very distracted with one another. He slipped out of bed and went straight to the shower after turning off his obnoxious alarm. When he returned to his bedroom, he found it empty, but there was a small note on the pillows. He picked it up and read, Back by lunchtime, Love S xoxo. He smiled down at her scribbly writing and noticed that she actually dotted her ‘i’ with a tiny heart. Laughing to himself, he put the note aside and pulled out jeans from his bureau drawer. It was going to be a good day.

~*~

After spending the night with Michael, any doubts Sydney had about their relationship had been quelled. She knew that he was the one for her; the one she had been truly looking for all along. With Danny, she had a love that developed from comfort and security over time, but with Michael their love was sparked immediately, almost as though they were meant to be together because of some cosmic force. Thinking about it more, Sydney warmed to that concept. After all, she had survived a horrible accident, one that ended up being a blessing in disguise.

Sydney arrived back at Danny’s just as he was pouring himself coffee. “Where the hell were you?” he asked her in a very irritated tone.

“Danny, we need to talk,” Sydney sighed. His head snapped up to look at her. “Danny, I’m sorry but-”

“You cheated on me!” he accused loudly.

“Danny-”

“With that diner guy! I knew there was something going on between you two!” he exclaimed bitterly.

“No, Danny, nothing happened between Michael and I before, honest. But I did go to see him last night…. I’m sorry Danny, but I love him,” she said as she lowered her eyes to the floor.

“LOVE HIM?! You’ve known him three days! Whatever. If you want to throw this away for some stupid weekend fling, whatever. It’s your choice,” he said sharply before pushing past her and out of the apartment.

Sydney felt awful for hurting Danny, but she couldn’t change her previous actions, so she just went into their bedroom and began collecting her things. Packing everything up took longer than expected, and when she was finished, the trunk and back seat of her rental car were stuffed full. She left an apology note along with the keys to his apartment on the kitchen counter before leaving and driving back to Port City.

When she arrived, she parked her car where it had been the previous night, next to Michael’s. Glancing at her watch she knew that the diner would be full since it was the lunch hour, so she decided to enter through the front, figuring that the town would find out about her return one way or another, so she might as well make a grand entrance.

She pushed open the diner door and the only sound that was heard was the bell jingling. Everyone stopped eating and talking and stared at her. At the counter right in front of Michael, Annabelle, who had been beaming with pride for two days, looked as though she had been hit by a truck.

Upon seeing her, Michael practically leapt over the counter and was at her side in an instant. “Hi,” he sighed.

“Hi,” she giggled back. Then, she leaned up and kissed him as his hands found her waist. At that moment, clapping and cheering erupted from the diner patrons and Sydney felt horribly embarrassed as she buried her face in Michael’s chest while he hugged her. However, she knew then that she’d be happy with Port City as her home and Michael as her life.



Chapter 16

“Alright, alright… go back to your lunches… jeez,” Michael sighed, trying to calm the still cheering diner crowd as Sydney blushed furiously and they walked back towards the counter. “So, what’d Danny say?” he asked her quietly.

Sydney shrugged. “He was pissed, but I didn’t expect anything less. I, um, brought my stuff… it’s out in my car.”

“Stuff? You brought stuff?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah,” she said unsurely. “Is that okay?”

He smiled. “I love that you brought stuff.”

“Oh good,” she laughed with relief.

“You can put it upstairs in my place if you want… or actually, it’d probably be better if you put it in my mom’s apartment for now because I’m messy and I have no extra space,” he cringed.

“Okay,” she laughed softly. Then she kissed his cheek before walking through the back storeroom to get to her car.

Michael walked back behind the counter with a grin permanently glued to his face. Annabelle gave him an almost sad ‘my puppy dog just died’ look. “I don’t really care what you have to say,” he said quickly to her.

“Fine,” she grunted before leaving the diner.

~*~

It took her over half an hour to lug all her things upstairs and partially arrange them in a relatively organized fashion so she could find the things she needed the most. Then, she grabbed her laptop and headed down to the diner, which had emptied out considerably. “Get everything organized?” Michael asked her.

“Relatively,” she laughed. “Can I plug this in somewhere?” she asked as she held up the power cord to her computer. Michael took it from her and plugged it in underneath the counter. “Thanks,” she smiled.

“No problem. You want something to eat?”

“Hmm,” she said as she took a menu from the counter in front of her. “I plan on trying everything, but it’s going to take me a few days.”

He laughed. “That’s slightly insane, but sure, whatever you want.”

She grinned and put the menu back. “I think I’ll have some chili.”

“Chili it is, then,” he said.

“So, I have a question,” she sighed as she propped her elbows up on the counter and rested her chin in her hands. “What’s with the tattoo?” she asked. She had been utterly shocked when she saw it on his upper bicep when he took of his shirt the night before and had been wondering about it ever since.

“Shhh,” he hushed her quickly. “Nobody knows about it.”

“Oh really?” she smiled.

“I got it at college and my mom freaked. She said I was forever scarred and nearly disowned me,” he explained quietly.

“Oh no,” Sydney laughed.

“Yeah…,” he sighed.

“So, why’d you get it?” she asked him.

He shrugged. “All the other guys were doing it… and I thought it was cool.”

“Good reason,” she laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, why don’t you just play with your little computer there,” he muttered as he handed her the chili.

“I can’t play with my computer because I have no idea what to write!” she sighed woefully.

“What do you usually write about?” he asked.

“I dunno,” she shrugged. “Stuff.”

“Helpful,” he laughed.

“OH! I could write about small town diners!” she grinned.

“You…. could…,” he said slowly.

She grinned and ate a large spoonful of the chili. “Mmm really good, but I’m gonna get fat living here.”

“You are not.”

“If I eat stuff like this every day, I will!” she insisted, but he rolled his eyes. Then, she turned to her computer and began typing. “Do you guys even have internet in this place?” she asked fifteen minutes later.

“Well… I’m not sure, is that the thing that has all the nude pictures? Because they say we shouldn’t look at that… you know electricity really flipped this place upside down and…well, it’s just crazy.”

“You’re funny,” she said dryly.

“Thanks,” he grinned. “We have dial-up. No DSL yet.”

“Fine,” she sighed. “And don’t mock me. It’s going to take me a while to get used to all this small town stuff.”

“You want to get used to all this small town stuff?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I want to get used to spending time with you and considering you, this diner and therefore the small town are kinda a package deal – sure. Besides, I meant what I said before. It is a lot nicer here than in the city.”

“Glad to hear it,” he smiled at her. Then he lowered his voice and leaned down closer to her. “Just… just to make sure… you’re like, moving here right?” he asked cautiously.

She smiled, leaned forward and kissed him. “I’m not leaving.”

“Good,” he grinned. “Very good.”

“OH CRAP!”

“What?!” he asked quickly.

“Well… the car I have… it’s just a rental and I really can’t afford a new one right now,” she cringed.

“What do you need the car for?” he asked her.

“Well, right now I still have to work at the Herald… tomorrow when I turn in this article I have to talk to my boss about it,” she sighed.

“Just take mine; I don’t need it. I mean, I rarely use it as it is. Mostly, I just use it in the winter,” he told her.

“You sure?” she asked.

“Positive,” he nodded.

It took Sydney another half hour, but she finished her article and was very proud of it. She turned her computer around so Michael could read it. He read her article about how small town diners are the heart of the small town community with good food, kind people and interesting conversation; summarized, they were a home away from home. “This is amazing. You’re like… awesome!” he exclaimed.

“No,” she laughed softly.

“Yes, you are,” he said before kissing her.

“So you really liked the article then?” she asked cautiously.

“Loved it; it’s perfect,” he smiled. “In fact, I’m going to go out and buy like… ten copies of it and hang it all over the diner.”

“Now you’re just insane,” she laughed.

“No, just in love with you,” he smiled.



Chapter 17

By dinner, people were flooding into the diner congratulating Sydney and Michael, since by then, most of them had heard about her return. Sydney was nearly overwhelmed by the fact that she was being introduced to a new person practically every second. Finally, the mayor, whom she knew, approached them and she was slightly relieved not to have to be bombarded with a new name and face.

“Well, I must say,” the mayor beamed, “you two have become our new celebrities.”

“But we don’t want to be celebrities,” Michael told him.

“Ah well,” the mayor shrugged. “A little publicity never hurt anybody. Besides, just think of all the extra diner business!”

“Great,” Michael sighed.

“Sydney, I would just like to say that you are a very welcome addition to our town,” the mayor smiled at her before pulling her into a bone crushing hug.

“Uh thanks,” she choked out from the nearly smothering hug. Finally he released her and Sydney took in a deep breath.

“Do you need help finding a place to stay? There are some apartments over on Elm Street that are quite nice.”

“Oh,” she stammered as she looked over at Michael for assistance. “I was, um, I…”

“She’ll continue to stay in my mother’s apartment,” Michael told him for her. The mayor looked suspicious but just nodded and walked away. “Sorry about that,” Michael said quickly.

“No, it’s fine,” she sighed as she turned to him. “I… I should have realized that small towns wouldn’t be as accepting of the whole pre-marital shacking up concept…. Why are you laughing like that?” she asked when Michael practically doubled over.

“Syd, honey,” he sighed as he put a hand on her shoulder. “‘Not accepting’ is probably the biggest understatement.”

“Really?” she cringed.

“Yeah, it’s probably the equivalent of prancing around in underwear or… well yeah,” he said. She looked concerned, so he added, “Don’t worry. I couldn’t care less what they think. Besides, it won’t be as bad…I mean we tell everyone that you’re just staying in my mother’s apartment… of course, they most likely won’t believe it, but they can’t prove it, which is the key,” he smiled.

She laughed softly. “Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want to be the town whore…”

“Oh no, that’s Susan Thompson,” he said quickly. She burst out laughing. “I’m not kidding…”

“That’s why I’m laughing. What happened to poor Susan Thompson?”

“Well, she’s lived with three men and has two kids – but she’s never been married and I think the kids have different fathers,” he sighed.

“Oh, then I don’t feel so bad for her,” Sydney said with a slight tone of disapproval.

“Yeah… she has issues. She doesn’t come around here much.”

“Clearly,” Sydney said.

“What’s the matter babe? You look worried,” he said as he put both hands on her arms and rubbed them softly.

“Well… it’s just that moving isn’t as easy as it seemed in my head. I mean, I might get fired from my job and-”

“Syd,” he cut her off. “You’re not worried about money are you?” he asked. She looked uncertain. “Syd, it’s not a problem, trust me. I mean… this place is completely paid for – it has been for years. The only expenses I have are the electricity, food and… Eric, who is vastly overpaid.”

Sydney couldn’t help but laugh. “You sure?” He nodded. “Alright,” sighed.

“But if that offer to be the roller skating waitress still stands, I’d be glad to hire you,” he grinned.

She laughed loudly. “Yes, I’m sure I’d be just fabulous.”

“Of course you would be,” he grinned at her.

~*~

“Michael, you look exhausted. Go to bed,” she told him that evening as they were cleaning up the diner.

“But-”

“No buts. I can handle this. Go. To. Bed,” she said, specifically enunciating each word.

“Alright,” he sighed, too tired to argue with her. Then he walked over and kissed her softly before heading up the stairs. Sydney finished up the napkins and salt and pepper shakers before making sure the door was locked and all the equipment was turned off. Then, she turned out all the lights and headed up the stairs. She stopped off in Michael’s mother’s apartment to change her clothes since that’s where all her belongings were, before creeping quietly into Michael’s bedroom. He was already snoring softly and she couldn’t help but smile at him. Gently, she slipped in beside him, being careful not to wake him up as she snuggled up to him before settling down with her head on the pillow beside his.

Since she wasn’t used to going to bed at nine p.m., Sydney lay awake for a while just listening to the sound of Michael breathing beside her. At one point, she wasn’t sure if he was awake or still asleep, but his arm slipped around her and held her close. She rubbed her hand softly against his and then drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, she awoke briefly when Michael’s alarm went off and he climbed out of bed, but she fell quickly back to sleep since it was so early. By eight, she was up and changed into her running outfit so she could go for a jog before it got too hot because of the beating summer sun.

After her run, she showered and changed and then went down to the diner in search of a late breakfast. As she did this, she noticed Annabelle leaving in a huff. “What’s her deal?” Sydney asked Michael.

“Ohh, she’s just being stupid,” he muttered, still half-glaring at the door. “She was telling me how I’m going to burn in hell for my sinful ways.”

“She didn’t!” Sydney laughed.

“Sadly, she did,” he sighed.

“You think I should try to make peace with her?” Sydney asked. “I mean…I take it she doesn’t like me anymore now that I’m living here…”

“Not really… you could try, but Annabelle is very stubborn. If she’s made up her mind to hate you, she’ll hate you even if you give her a kidney or something.”

“Great,” Sydney sighed sadly.

“Don’t worry about her. She’s just being… herself and she’s pissed she finally has to face the fact that I won’t be marrying her,” Michael told her.

“Oh… well Annabelle works at that hair salon, right?” Sydney asked. Michael nodded. “Well, maybe I’ll check it out after I get back from Boston.”

“You leaving now?” he asked.

She nodded. “Oh, that reminds me. I have to turn in my rental and I think I can get a train out of Boston but the nearest stop is like twenty minutes away. Can you pick me up?” she cringed.

“Sure, when would it be?”

“Um, three ten, I think,” she told him.

“That’s fine. You can just call me or something if it changes,” he told her.

“Okay, I – oh wait… I just realized, I don’t actually have the phone number for here,” she laughed.

“That could be a problem,” he laughed as he ripped a piece of paper off from the pad in his hand and jotted down the number before handing it to her.

“Thanks, I’ll see you later,” she smiled before kissing him and leaving.



Chapter 18

Sitting on the train platform waiting for Michael, Sydney felt much better than she had when she left that morning. After talking to her boss, she found that she didn’t actually have to go into work in Boston every day. It was perfectly acceptable for her to e-mail them her articles when they were due and her column would continue to run since it was so well received.

Sydney heard a horn honking and jolted from her thoughts. She turned and saw Michael’s SUV and bolted off the platform towards it. “Hey, thanks for comin’,” she sighed when she opened the door.

“No problem. How was Boston?” he asked.

“GREAT! They’re not firing me and I can start e-mailing my articles,” she grinned.

“Oh, that’s excellent,” he said as he pulled back out onto the main road.

“Yeah, and then I figure I’ll just work in the diner in between time… because I have a lot of free time,” she laughed.

“Lazy bum,” he teased.

“That’s right,” she grinned.

“Seriously, don’t you have to research stuff?” he asked. She shrugged. “Okay, well you know you don’t have to work in the diner, right?”

“Yeah, but I want to,” she smiled. “I mean, you seriously work too hard, Michael; you deserve a break. But… if you don’t want me to…”

“No, I’d love company, I’m just making sure you realize you don’t have to do it,” he told her.

“I realize,” she smiled.

“Good,” he laughed softly.

As it turned out, Sydney wasn’t the best waitress in the world. In fact, she was horrible. While she only dropped one thing, she was extremely slow and shaky caring everything else, so she ended her waitressing career the same night it started. “I’m sorry I suck,” she told Michael sadly once they had closed the diner.

“It’s okay. Like I said, you don’t have to help,” he told her.

“But I wanted to,” she said sounding sad. “I’ll just wipe off the tables and take away the dirty plates in that tray thingie. I can’t ruin anything that way.”

“Aw, you’re so sad,” he laughed as he gave her a tight hug.

She leaned up and kissed his chin. “How did your parents run the place?”

“Well, they had this whole system down… my mom would make breakfast while my dad was out here taking orders, then they’d switch and he’d do lunch and dinner while she was out here. Then, when my dad died, I was back there cooking… well, not at first, because I was so young and couldn’t do it on my own. We had someone working back there, but my mom still made breakfast every morning while I ran the front.

“When I was sixteen, she finally let me work back in the kitchen and at first I was a disaster -- really, really horrible. But I got better and the guy we had working for us and I shared the cooking duties while my mom ran the front. She loved it; she thrived on it -- talking to all the customers, being everyone’s mother.”

“She sounds like an amazing woman,” Sydney commented with a smile.

“Oh, she was,” Michael nodded. “Yeah, she worked that counter every day…. Until she got too sick, that is.”

“What happened to her?” Sydney asked cautiously.

“Breast cancer,” he said while shaking his head softly. “She hated doctors; never went. By the time they caught it, it was too late.”

Sydney leaned over and kissed his cheek softly. “I’m sorry, Michael. I wish I could have met her.”

“Oh, she would have loved you,” Michael said with a soft laugh.

“Yeah?” Sydney asked hopefully.

“Oh yeah. She loved anyone not from this town… plus you’re just so spunky,” he said as he poked one of her dimples.

“Spunky?!” she laughed as she pushed his hand away.

“Yeah, spunky,” he said, poking her belly that time.

She backed away and giggled. “Alright then, let’s finish up here so we can go to bed and I’ll show you just how spunky I am,” she winked.

Michael was so stunned by her comment that he laughed. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

~*~

The next morning, after having Annabelle glare at her, Sydney knew that she had to at least attempt to make peace with her. Using the ‘well, I should get a haircut anyway’ excuse, she went over to the small hair salon nearby. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, Annabelle was the only stylist available (there were only two) and she seemed rather stunned Sydney was there. “I just want a little bit off… you know, get rid of the split ends,” Sydney told her as she sat down. Annabelle said nothing, but reached for a water bottle to spray Sydney’s hair. “I just… I was hoping that maybe we could… be friends…. Or not,” Sydney added quietly when she caught Annabelle’s death glare in the mirror. Maybe the haircut hadn’t been such a good idea after all…

~*~

Michael had let Sydney go to the beauty salon without an argument but he knew that her presence there wouldn’t be well received. He, however, couldn’t have foreseen just how bad it would be. When Sydney returned, she didn’t come through the front of the diner, but instead went through the back. Michael heard the door slam and faint sounds of sobbing so he went to investigate.

“Syd? Syd, what happened?” he called as he ran up the stairs. He found her in the bathroom and when he saw her hair, he actually screamed. “SWEET JESUS!”

Sydney simply burst into tears even harder and slammed the door shut. “Aw Syd, sweetie it’s okay,” he lied. Truthfully, he had never seen a worse haircut. Well, actually there was the time Becky Applemen walked into sixth grade on picture day after her four year old sister had given her a haircut, but even that may have been a close second compared to this. It appeared as though all the hair on the back of Sydney’s head had simply fallen off in a very disjointed, messy fashion.

“It is not okay!” Sydney sobbed. “This is miles from ‘okay’!”

“Did Annabelle do this?!” he asked. Sydney wailed. “Damn it, I’ll make her fix it.”

“NO DON’T LET HER NEAR ME!” Sydney screeched.

“Okay… okay, I’ll be right back,” Michael sighed as he ran from the apartment, downstairs, through the diner and all the way into the beauty parlor where Annabelle and her fellow stylist were still rolling with laughter. “ANNABELLE SOUTH, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

“Relax Michael, it’s just hair,” Annabelle snickered.

“JUST HAIR?! Annabelle, you made her look like she had a tragic accident with a weed whacker on crack! And even worse, you did it just to spite her,” Michael scolded. Annabelle simply shrugged. “Oh, you know what, my mistake,” Michael snapped. “I didn’t realize we were back in the third grade.”

With that, he left the shop and ran back to the diner and up the stairs where sounds of Sydney crying could still be heard. “Syd, please open the door,” Michael said as he knocked softly on it. Slowly, the door opened and when he saw her tearstained face, his heart broke. “I am so, so sorry Syd,” he sighed as he pulled her into a hug.

“It’s not… your… fault,” she said between sniffs.

“Well, it’s not my fault Annabelle’s such a freak, but she did this because I refused to be with her,” he sighed as he kissed the top of her hair (the only undamaged part).

“It’s still not your fault… but look at me!” she sobbed.

“Well, from the front it looks okay,” he said hopefully. Sydney didn’t seem too impressed by that. “Well…um,” he sighed as he examined the chopped up back of her hair. “You could get it layered… or cut it all off here, I suppose.”

“Then I’d be bald!! And I look awful with short hair!” she sobbed.

“Well… um… pull it back with one of these thingies,” he said as he picked up a hair rubber band from the edge of the sink. He combed her hair back and tied it up with the hair band at the nape of her neck. “See… you can’t even tell,” he lied, but at least it was less obvious.

Sydney whimpered and walked away. “Aw Syd, what can I do to make it better?”

“Nothing… it’s fine,” Sydney sighed. “I’ll just find a salon to fix it tomorrow… it will be interesting explaining what happened though.”

“Eh, just say you have a two year old who wanted to give Mommy a haircut,” he smiled.

“Right,” she laughed and rolled her eyes. “But speaking of… do you want to have kids, Michael?”

“Definitely,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “You?”

“Definitely,” she smiled.



Chapter 19

By the time Sydney had lived in Port City a month, she felt like she had never lived any other place. She felt so welcomed by everyone (except Annabelle, of course) that she simply felt at home. She loved spending nights with Michael in their bed, she loved waking up in the morning to find a diner full of smiling faces, which were growing more and more familiar by the day. And even though she was still slightly upset about her hair, which had been cut very short as the only way to salvage Annabelle’s damage, Sydney and Annabelle had made peace. At least, they agreed not to cause each other additional bodily harm since the first time Sydney saw Annabelle in the diner after the hair incident, Michael had to physically restrain her. As the end of summer was drawing closer though, the diner actually was less crowded since more and more families were going on vacations away from Port City.

Under Sydney’s influence, Michael had decided to push the diner opening time on weekends to seven a.m., since there was rarely anyone in there at six, especially since Annabelle stopped coming around. No matter when he opened it though, Sydney refused to get out of bed until nine. When she finally shuffled down to the diner, she was still in her PJ’s.

“You’re getting progressively more pathetic, you know that?” Michael laughed at her as he poured her a cup of coffee.

“Yeah, I know,” she yawned.

“I made you a special breakfast today,” he smiled at her.

“You did?” she asked with a smile. “Is it chocolate chip pancakes?”

“No,” he laughed. “But there is chocolate involved.”

“Then you know I’ll like it. What is it?”

“One second,” he said before going back to the kitchen area to find the plate he had prepared in secret. He had gone all out and was hoping his attempt hadn’t been in vain. Early that morning, he had melted down chocolate and put it in an empty ketchup bottle so he could write words in chocolate on a plate. Then, he had sprinkled some powdered sugar before adding the final touch.

When Sydney saw him approaching with an apparently empty plate, she was confused. But when he nervously set it down in front of her, her hands shot to her mouth and she gasped. The words ‘Will you marry me?’ were spelled out on the plate in chocolate with the exception of the ‘o’ in the word ‘you’ which wasn’t chocolate, but a white gold diamond ring. “Oh my god…,” she sighed as she carefully picked up the ring, being very careful not to brush it through any of the chocolate.

“Syd…,” he said nervously.

She looked up at him grinning impossibly large. “Yes.”

“Yes?” Michael laughed with relief.

“Well, with an edible chocolate proposal, how could I say no?” she grinned at him.

He walked around the counter and pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her. “I love you so much.”

“Mm, I love you too and this ring is… Michael, it’s amazing. When did you get this?” she asked him.

“Last week,” he smiled.

Sydney recalled his hour long trip to ‘the store’ and nodded. “Well, it’s gorgeous and I love it,” she smiled and kissed him again. “Now… I’m going to go find some pretty clothes to go with my pretty ring… and maybe shower. Would there be any chance of you joining me for a celebratory shower?” she asked him quietly.

“Ohh, I think that can be arranged,” he grinned. Then she giggled as he followed her up the stairs.

~*~

Nearly an hour later, they made it back downstairs and were, of course, teased endlessly by Eric, but they were both too deliriously happy to care. After Sydney helped Michael with the lunch rush, the two of them went for a walk around the town, holding hands as they went. “What’s the matter?” Michael asked Sydney when he noticed she was rather quiet.

“Oh nothing… I just always get rather sad around this time of year… you know left over from having to go back to school for all those years,” she sighed.

“Right,” he laughed.

“But I’m very happy about being engaged,” she smiled up at him.

“Yeah, I noticed that in the shower,” he grinned. She laughed and smacked him softly.

After walking about for a bit, they headed back to the diner. Once the place came into view, Sydney stopped dead and simply stared. “Wha-?” But there was no need for Michael to continue his thought for he saw exactly what she had. There was a large collection of people gathered around the front of the diner and they were raising a ‘Congratulations’ banner high above the building. “Oh dear god,” Michael sighed as he and Sydney began to walk more quickly towards the diner.

“OH OH!! There they are!” the mayor shouted happily. Immediately everyone started clapping and cheering.

“What the hell is this?” Michael asked.

“We heard about your engagement!”

“You what?!” Sydney gasped. “But we didn’t tell anyone…”

“Eric,” Michael growled. Sydney looked confused. “He was there when I was making the plate,” Michael added in explanation. Sydney nodded.

“We’re just so thrilled!” the mayor beamed as he hugged them both. “Are you going to have the wedding here in town… or someplace else? Maybe with your family, Sydney…”

“We just got engaged seven hours ago,” Michael sighed.

“Right, right, of course too soon, but we’ll just have the party-”

“PARTY?!” Sydney gasped.

“Yes of course, dear. We always throw them for upstanding citizens such as yourself…. Now what night would work for you? I suppose tonight’s too soon…”

“You know what, we’ll get back to ya on that,” Michael cut him off as he quickly pulled Sydney inside the diner, where they were met with more clapping. They kept walking into the back storeroom where they were safe.

“This is INSANE!” Sydney exclaimed.

“I know it is,” Michael sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I am so sorry!”

“Michael, it’s not your fault… I just didn’t realize we had gone back in time this much…,” she sighed.

“I know, I know,” he sighed as he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sure it will die down in a day or so and we can just go back to being us.”

“I like us,” she smiled.

“That’s good, because I like us too.”



Chapter 20

“So… I was wondering. When would you be free to have lunch with my parents?” Sydney asked Michael over breakfast the day after they got engaged. Michael looked hesitant. “It’s just… my mom’s been bugging me for a while and now that we’re engaged… what’s the matter?”

“Well, it’s just… your parents are professors… and I’m…,” he let his voice drift off.

“Michael,” she sighed as she ran her hand across his chest. “Is that what you’re worried about?” she asked. He shrugged and looked away. “Michael, they don’t care about that; besides you’re so smart.”

“No, I’m not professor or Russian literature at Harvard smart,” he sighed.

“Nobody is,” Sydney told him with a laugh. “Michael, my parents are going to love you.”

“How do you know?” he asked quietly.

“Honestly? Because they’ll compare you to Danny and they hated him.”

“Why’d they hate him?” he asked curiously.

“Well… they hated his parents… Danny was a real socialite and he didn’t work – he just lived off his parent’s wealth. Plus he was kinda snobbish.”

“Wow Syd, sounds like your soul mate,” Michael laughed, wondering why exactly she was with him.

Sydney cringed. “No, I mean… Danny, when I first met him, was great… we were both just out of school and having fun and stuff… but as he got older he got sucked into his parents world more and more and…”

“Gotcha,” Michael nodded.

“Well anyway, they’re going to love you, I know it, so you have nothing to worry about,” she assured him. He gave her a half smile. “So, what day is good for you to go have lunch in Boston?”

“Well…um, when are they available?”

“Anytime this week; school hasn’t started yet,” she told him.

“Oh, alright… how about Wednesday?” he asked.

Sydney nodded and kissed him. “I’ll go call my mom now.”

~*~

On Wednesday, Michael and Sydney closed the diner after the breakfast rush to go to Boston to have lunch with Sydney’s parents at their home. Sydney drove since it was pointless for her to just call out directions to Michael when she knew the way perfectly. Throughout the drive Michael’s nerves were apparent. He wanted Sydney’s parents to like him, or at least accept him considering he was marrying their daughter, but for some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they wouldn’t. After all, he just owned a small town diner and her mother was a professor at arguably the best university in the country.

“Um, wow,” Michael sighed when Sydney pulled up in front of her parent’s huge, brownstone house.

“Yeah, it’s kinda…,” she let her voice drift off since there really was no description necessary once a person saw the house. “Let’s go.”

Michael sighed and climbed out of the car. Sydney caught up to him and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. She let them into the house calling, “Mom! Dad! We’re here!”

“Oh Sydney, wonderful!” her mother, who had a slight touch of a Russian accent, smiled when she entered the foyer. She gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek before turning to Michael. “You must be Michael. It’s wonderful to meet you.”

“Wonderful to meet you, too,” he said rather shyly as he shook her hand.

“Daddy,” Sydney beamed at the man who had just entered the foyer. “This is Michael.”

“Nice to meet you sir,” Michael said bravely as he extended his hand. Sydney’s father looked him up and down once before shaking his hand roughly.

“Well, let’s go eat then, shall we?” Sydney’s mother smiled. They followed her back through the hallway towards the back patio where they would be eating.

“Mom, Dad, we need to tell you something before we eat,” Sydney began as Michael tensed nervously beside her. Her parents looked over at her curiously. “Michael and I are engaged.”

“Well….that’s sudden,” her mother exclaimed. “But good!” she added quickly.

“We know it’s soon,” Sydney continued. “But we’re in love… and we’re not going to be getting married tomorrow.”

“Right,” Michael added. “We decided on early next year, maybe February or March.”

“Well, that sounds lovely. Doesn’t that sound nice, Jack?” Sydney’s mother asked while obviously nudging her husband under the table with her foot.

“Oh,” he grunted as he jumped slightly. “Very nice… So Michael, Sydney tells us you work in a diner?” he asked.

“Dad, I told you he owns the diner,” Sydney corrected her father. He looked unimpressed.

“Um, yes, it was my parents’,” Michael told him. “I took over after they passed away.”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” Sydney’s mother smiled at him. “You do a good business then?”

“Well, yes,” Michael said. “It’s really the only place to eat in town. There is one other small restaurant but it’s more of a fancy, upscale place,” he explained.

“Only one restaurant in the town?” Jack laughed in disbelief.

“Port City isn’t that large,” Michael said quietly.

“You’ve lived there your whole life then?” he asked.

Michael nodded. “I went to school in Boston, but other than that, yes.”

“Oh really? What school?” Sydney’s mother asked.

“Boston College,” he told her. “I majored in business so I could actually know what I was doing when I ran the diner,” he laughed softly.

“See that’s practical,” Jack said to his daughter. “Much better than journalism,” he sighed with disapproval. Michael looked over and saw Sydney rolling her eyes.

The rest of their lunch was filled with pleasant conversation and in the end it was quite clear that Sydney’s parents actually liked Michael considerably. Once they were through, they said their goodbyes since Sydney and Michael had to make it back to Port City by 4 for the dinner rush at the diner.

“See, you were worried over nothing,” Sydney told him as they drove. “They love you.”

“Yeah,” he laughed softly. “You know I was thinking… maybe I should hire one or two people to work in the diner. That way we wouldn’t have to close it up entirely if we left.”

“Sounds good, Mr. Business Major,” she smiled at him. “Why haven’t you done that before?”

“Well… I had no reason to leave before,” he smiled at her.

“Mmm,” she sighed. Then after a few more minutes of driving, she noticed he was smiling at her with a goofy grin. “What?” she laughed.

“Just you,” he said. “I’m amazed.”

“Amazed by me?” she laughed in disbelief.

He nodded. “Yes and that I found you- you the most amazing, perfect person in the world for me,” he said as he kissed the back of her hand.

She smiled at him. “But you’re forgetting something.” He looked at her curiously and she continued, “I found you.”

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