Shades of Blue

Author: Janet (SkyGirl5)

Genre: S/V, AU

Summary: At first, Sydney Bristow finds Michael Vaughn to be the slightly quirky tech support man in her office, but a chance meeting a year later just might change her mind. [

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

~ June, 2005 ~

“Oh Michael thank god!” Sydney Bristow sighed with great relief at the sight of her office’s tech support employee. “It’s been beeping at me and… I dunno what to do,” she said in a rather helpless tone, pointing at her computer monitor.

“I got it,” Michael said. He took a seat in the chair she vacated, pushed his dark rimmed glasses further up on his nose and peered down at the screen. “Oh, this is easy. You just hit control, alt, delete, hit end program and then you’re done; all better,” he said after doing the task he’d just explained.

Sydney laughed slightly sideling slowly back to her computer, her absolute least favorite and burdening possession. “Okay, well I have no idea what you just said but thank you!”

“N-no problem,” he stammered slightly at the sight of her cavernous dimples. “I’ll just…,” he let his voice drift off while gesturing towards the door. He got out of her chair, tripping slightly on the way, and made his way towards the exit as quickly as possible.

Michael cursed himself the entire way back to his office. Why did he have to become such a goon around her? Only because she was positively perfect, he answered his own question within his thoughts. For two years he had worked at Xavier Publishing, a business specializing in making flyers, pamphlets and small newspapers for the surrounding area, and for two years he had pined away for Sydney Bristow. Though she wasn’t technically his boss, she was the highest ranking person in their tiny branch office of the larger company. It wasn’t her power he was attracted to, though; it was her, every part of her.

From the moment he saw her sauntering down the hallway on his first day of work, he was a goner. Everything from the way her hair fell gently around her face to the way she’d tap her left foot on the ground while waiting for the coffee pot to finish making a fresh batch of precious brown liquid made him want to hold her. True, they had never had more than a few sentence conversation and, even then, it was about computer related issues, but it didn’t matter. He still loved her. The only problem was, she seemed to be rather indifferent towards him. She wasn’t seeing anyone, though, this he knew. Her secretary was Michael’s closest friend in their office and, when he asked her if anyone seeming to be a boyfriend ever called for Sydney, the secretary had said no.

Despite this knowledge, Michael couldn’t work up the courage to say anything to her. Sure, he could talk about computer issues with anyone from day to night if necessary, but he knew she didn’t want to hear about those. What he had gathered from watching her from afar (in the most non-stalker-ish way possible) was that she loved sappy romance novels. She was almost always reading one during her lunch break along with a tissue clutched in her hand. Also, she only ate red apples, never yellow or green, and she’d eat her yogurt with a fork (something he couldn’t understand, but yet saw her do frequently). He only hoped that maybe one day he’d be able to talk to her, even if it was just about the weather.

~*~

“Michael Vaughn you are the most pathetic twenty-eight year old man ever in the history of the world,” his best friend Eric Weiss told him later that evening. They were sitting on the couch playing video games at their shared apartment, a frequent activity for the two self-proclaimed geeks.

“Says the man in the ducky pajamas,” Michael said with a pointed look towards Eric’s pants.

Slightly miffed, Eric grumbled. “This isn’t about me; this is about you and your sad, sad life.”

“Thanks for the pep talk Eric…”

“I’m serious. You’re thinking about her again, aren’t you? Don’t lie, I know you are. You’ve got that hazy look and you’re drooling,” Eric pointed out.

Michael quickly wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m not drooling and I’m just… reliving the horrible scenario in Sydney’s office today in my mind…”

“What horrible scenario? Did she throw herself down on her desk, begging you to ravish her and then you forgot how to unhook a bra?” Eric asked, obviously finding his joke hilarious due to the fact that he couldn’t even say it without laughing.

Michael gave him an unamused look. “No. I just sorta… tripped on my way out of her office…”

Eric laughed, “See, I told you you’re pathetic.” Michael threw down his game controller and stalked away from the couch into the kitchen. “Man, come on – I’m kidding, well, sort of anyway. You are pathetic but only because you won’t ask her out already. She’d totally say yes!”

“You think?!” Michael asked, sounding very hopeful.

“Well… probably,” Eric said, hedging slightly. Michael’s entire body slumped forward as he muttered something unpleasant towards Eric under his breath. “Well… I mean… you’re a great guy Mike so if she said no it’d be her loss. Seriously, though, you should go for it… but maybe without the glasses?” he suggested with a slight cringe.

“Then I wouldn’t be able to see,” Michael said, pushing his frames further up on his nose.

“Contacts, you idiot…”

Michael shivered slightly. “Can’t touch my eye, ew,” he said. Then, after finishing the bottle of water in his hand, he tossed it into the trashcan and bid Eric goodnight.

When getting ready for bed that evening, he took a long look at his reflection in the mirror. Was he really that hideous? Or, more importantly, was he that invisible? He tried to take a good, objective look at himself, but found it difficult. True, he had the glasses, but he didn’t think they were that bad. His previous pair of frames had been awful, but his new ones, well ‘new’ from six months prior, he really liked. Besides the glasses, he had green eyes, which his high school girlfriend had loved, sandy blonde hair and a chin dimple, which his college girlfriend had adored.

After scrutinizing his appearance and picking at himself for an amount of time Eric would have dubbed ‘chick-like’, Michael decided that invisibility was his problem. He wasn’t vocal enough around Sydney; he needed to start being more outgoing. This, of course, was easier said than done, being that he was a naturally shy person, but he could always try it, right? What was the worst that could happen?

“I could say something completely idiotic and she could laugh at me,” he answered his own question aloud. Sighing, he left the bathroom and went into his bedroom, where he crawled under the sheets of his bed. Tomorrow was another day; a day he was going to try to talk to Sydney Bristow.



Chapter 2

When Sydney Bristow was startled from her peaceful dream world by the unpleasant beeping of her alarm clock, she let out a loud moan. It wasn’t just a normal moan, either; it was a loud, lamenting, woe-as-me, ‘Why, God, can’t it be Saturday?’ moan. Normally, getting up for work didn’t cause her that much agony. Sure, it was earlier than she would have arisen had she been able to choose her waking time, but she didn’t really mind her job all that much (at least on most days). That day, however, she had a particular hatred for life.

Why her bitter attitude? It was simple, really. Over her lunch break that day she had a dentist appointment which meant, not only would she be unable to eat or finish the page-turning novel she was nearing the end of, but she would be poked and prodded with sharp metal tools until her gums bled profusely. Call it residual childhood trauma or, perhaps, being at the receiving end of one two many dental horror stories. Whatever it was, though, Sydney was terrified of dentists and an appointment with one gave her anxiety for weeks leading up to it.

Unable to prolong getting up any longer, Sydney rolled from her comfortable position in bed and shuffled her way to the bathroom, needing to get ready for the day.

~*~

Upon arriving at the office, Sydney tried her best to make a bee-line to her desk, not being in the mood for any sort of conversation work related or not. Unfortunately, she was intercepted by Michael, the IT guy. “Sydney, hi – hey – Morning,” he stammered slightly.

“Morning Michael,” Sydney said casually, keeping up her fast walking pace.

He tried his best to keep up with her, which left him nearly out of breath. “I, um, just wanted to, uh, tell you that, um, someone brought in muffins if you’re, you know, hungry or some-”

“No thanks; not hungry”’ she managed before slipping into her office and shutting the door tightly behind her.

The moment the door slammed in his face, Michael’s chin dropped to his chest as he willed himself not to bash his face into the nearest wall. Just as dejected as ever, he sulked away from her door, returning to the practical tomb that was his office. Why was he so invisible anyway? Looking around his office, he didn’t think he was dressed any differently than any of his colleagues. Oh well, he thought with a sigh. He couldn’t say that he didn’t try. He had talked to her, albeit he was stammering like a fool at the time, but still, words had left his mouth. He needed to be satisfied with that minor triumph for otherwise the situation was out of his hands.

~*~

“I have a…a CAVITY?!” Sydney gasped, horrified, at her poor, unsuspecting doctor. Little did he know he was looking at the business end of a world-class freak out. Her hyperventilation set in as the dentist nodded. “I cannot have a cavity… CANNOT!”

“Miss Bristow, please, calm down,” the dentist said in a calm voice. Sadly his tone only succeeded in agitating her even more. “It’s perfectly fine. The procedure won’t take that long at all. You won’t feel a thing, I promise.”

Sydney let out a slight whimper at this. Going to the dentist for a regular check up was terrifying enough, but a cavity?! That was beyond terrifying.

“Oh Jesus Christ suck it up you big twenty-six year old BABY,” Sydney’s younger sister Nadia scolded her that evening after her dentist appointment. “It’s just a cavity. I’ve had like… a dozen of ‘em. You just lay there and the guy does his thing… it’s a lot like sex actually…except you feel even less,” Nadia said with a smirk.

“Nadia, you’re whorish jokes are NOT helping me right now!” Sydney shouted in a frazzled tone.

“Lighten up! I was just tryin’ to make you feel better sheesh. Seriously, though, it’s no big deal,” Nadia assured her. She got up from the couch where she was sitting and walked into the kitchen. There, she began rummaging through Sydney’s refrigerator and, after finding nothing appealing to her there, moved on to the cabinets beside it. “Syyyyyd,” she whined. “Don’t you have anything good to eat?!”

“Doesn’t Mom feed you?” Sydney laughed. So far during Nadia’s twenty minute visit she had eaten a sandwich, half a bag of sour cream and onion chips, ten Hershey’s kisses and the rest of Sydney’s soup, which she didn’t have the appetite to finish.

“Well, she says that I need to start cooking stuff and pulling my weight or something. It’s like freakin’ child labor over there!” Nadia exclaimed in horror.

“Nad, I, uh, hate to break it to you but you’re twenty-two,” Sydney said with a slight laugh.

“Yeah… I know that, but I’m still living at home which makes me a child!” she defended in her insane, half backwards logic.

“Then why don’t you move out?” Sydney suggested.

“Can’t; no money.”

“Get a job?”

“Can’t; no skills.”

“You have skills! You just graduated with a degree in communications,” Sydney told her.

“Okay, fine, I don’t want to get a job,” Nadia admitted with a grumble as she flopped down on the couch, bag of pretzels in hand. “Real life sucks.”

“Yep, it does,” Sydney told her honestly. Then, she looked at the bag of pretzels with a furrowed brow. “Hey Nad… you’re not pregnant, are you…?”

“What?!” Nadia screeched. “Why would you say that?!”

“Because I’ve never seen you eat like this before!”

“Oh… well, no, I’m not. Last time I had sex was…,” she paused to think a moment as she popped a piece of pretzel in her mouth. “Oh, oh it was the week before Easter. That was like three months ago, so not pregnant.”

“The week before Easter?” Sydney raised her eyebrow.

“Yep, Jimmy and I had break-up sex,” Nadia mumbled through a pretzel.

“Lovely,” Sydney sighed with a slight eye roll.

“Hey, just because you haven’t had sex in for-ev-er, or a boyfriend for that matter, doesn’t mean other people aren’t living perfectly healthy sex lives,” Nadia told her.

“And yet, somehow, I wouldn’t exactly describe having sex with a person you just broke up with a ‘healthy’ sex life,” Sydney pointed out. Nadia shrugged, unfazed.

“OH! Speaking of sex – there is this totally cute guy who-”

“NO!” Sydney cut her off, loudly and forcefully. Though her sister meant well, there was no way she was being set up by her again, especially after the last time had been catastrophic.

“Syyyyd come on. You’re pathetic! Seriously, when was the last time you were on a date?!” Nadia demanded of her. Sydney looked away, grumbling a non-committal answer. “See.”

“I’m just… I’m not dating right now,” Sydney told her.

“Whatever,” Nadia rolled her eyes dramatically.

“I’m not,” Sydney insisted. It was the truth; she had vowed to herself after her six week long train wreck relationship with Joe, the accountant who, apparently, moonlighted as a male “dancer”, she was done with men, at least for the time being. If she had been able to find the perfect guy, that would have been one thing, but the constant sadness and frustration that resulted from going out with loser after loser was really beginning to drag her down. That was why she had created her no dates for at least three months rule. After that, she’d reevaluate the situation.

“Whatever,” Nadia repeated. “Alright, I’m gonna go before Mom starts calling me and yelling…”

“Seriously, move out,” Sydney told her with a laugh.

“Can I move in here?” Nadia asked with a hopeful grin.

“No,” Sydney said, knowing that would result in bloodshed.

“Fiiiiiiiine,” Nadia said dramatically before stomping her way out the door.



Chapter 3

The following week came with promising news for Sydney. Due to the retirement of the senior editor, the position needed filling and the owner of the company had chosen her to take it. Sydney had been waiting for quite some time to receive a promotion, so the prospect of being senior editor thrilled her, though it came with a rather sad condition. Since the senior editor worked at the main office, it meant she’d have to move away from the branch office where she worked. Her entire career with Xavier Publishing had been working in that office and she had made a great many friends there, so leaving would be sad, but she felt it would be for the better.

When she made the announcement to her office that she would be leaving, everyone seemed rather sad; happy that she was promoted, but sad she’d be leaving them. This made Sydney sad as well, but, luckily, or rather unluckily, her looming dentist appointment, during which her cavity would be fixed, distracted her from being too, too sad, at least about moving offices.

Not surprisingly, Michael took Sydney’s impending departure the hardest of everyone in the office. No longer would he be able to position himself at the entrance just as she walked in the office in the mornings thereby ensuring he’d be the first ‘hello’ of her morning. No longer would he be anticipating her phone call for assistance with her computer, which usually happened at least two or three times a week. No longer would he be able to eat his lunch in the lunchroom at the same time as her. Most of all, her leaving meant that his chances to ask her out were dwindling by the hour.

“Mike, Mike, Mike, this is your prime opportunity!” Eric exclaimed after Michael told him in a dejected tone about Sydney’s promotion. He really was happy for her being promoted; he was just having difficulty showing it through his own…well, patheticness. “You have to ask her out!” he exclaimed slapping one hand into the other.

“Really?” Michael asked timidly.

“Absolutely! Look, check it out. Scenario one – you ask her out and she says yes. Then, you’re dating her plus you no longer work in the same office and thus break some sort of inter-office dating rule. Or, scenario two – you ask her out, she turns you down and then moves offices so there’s no awkwardness of running into her in the hallway plus, out of sight, out of mind,” Eric told him. “It’s a win-win situation.”

“How is it a win-win situation when one of the scenarios is her turning me down?” Michael asked, utterly confused as to how that ever made sense. Then again, it was coming from Eric’s rational, or rather irrational brain.

“Mike, seriously, if she’s going to turn you down, she’s going to turn you down whether you ask her today or a year from now, right?” Eric said. Michael shrugged and nodded slightly; that was a valid point, however shocking it was coming from Eric. “Plus, think of it this way – you’ll always wonder if you don’t ask her, right?”

“Right…”

“So grow a pair and do it!” Eric exclaimed. Michael gave him a wary look. “Do it! Do it! Do it! DO IT!” Eric chanted.

“Alright, alright I’ll do it!!... when the right time comes,” he added quieter. Eric rolled his eyes.

The next day, Michael went to work with every intention of asking Sydney out during their lunch break, but, for the millionth time, he chickened out. Days came and went, opportunities arose and passed and, before he knew it, it was Sydney’s last day in their office. He had to do it then, or lose his chance forever.

~*~

On the morning of June 15th, Sydney Bristow awoke with the sourest mood of all sour moods. For starters, it was a Monday and Monday’s were never good. It was also the day she had to pack up her entire office for it to be moved to her new one across town. She hated packing; it her opinion it was the worst. Even more than packing, she hated more unpacking and rearranging her things so that they’d fit into her perfect, neat, tidy little world. That day was going to be full of packing and unpacking. To top it all off, late that afternoon, after the packing and unpacking, she had to get her cavity filled. So, even if she had miraculously won the lottery on the way to lunch that day, it still would have sucked.

To make matters even worse that terrible Monday, when Sydney went out to her car to drive to work that morning, she found that she only had two good tires; the other two had been slashed over night and were thus, flat. Cursing loudly, Sydney called her mother and begged desperately for her to transport her to work, lest she be late and make her day even worse than it already was. Luckily her mother came through and, knowing how upset she was about her impending cavity filling, volunteered to make the arrangements for her car to be towed and the tires fixed.

Upon arriving at work and cursing some more at the boxes obstructing the path to her desk that had apparently been left for her to use, she got down to the unpleasant task of packing everything up including her computer because, apparently, she needed to take it with her. Of course, being the entirely un-computer-savvy person she was, she had absolutely no idea how to take it apart; she could barely turn it on, which was why she called Michael.

“Thank you so much,” she said to Michael, her tone still frazzled.

“No problem,” he said with a smile. Working in close proximity to her, Michael was trying his best (and failing) not to sweat profusely. Just being within a foot of her was making his heart race and palms sweat so badly he could barely unhook her computer properly. Every moment he dared himself: Just do it! Ask her! Do it now! But he couldn’t. Until, finally, her computer was packed up completely, meaning he was done with his task.

“So…Sydney, um…,” he cleared his throat slightly, “I was wondering if maybe you wanted to, um… go out some time… you know… dinner, a movie, ice cream, coffee… anything,” he listed, convinced he was actually going to sweat himself to death. Either that or gross her out entirely when she noticed his profuse perspiration.

“What… um…,” Sydney hedged, completely taken aback by his questioning. It took her a moment to decipher his stammers to realize he was actually asking her out on what most likely was a date.

When she realized this she said, “Look I um… I don’t think…I mean…,” she sighed and looked at him. He was looking extraordinarily hopeful, which, for some strange reason, annoyed her. “The thing is – you’re just not my typea guy, you know? I mean you… you play with computers and video games and I have no idea how to turn on a computer you know, and you don’t really do sports and the whole outside thing and I do that and I just… No. Sorry, no,” she told him.

“Oh,” he said, his tone short. “Yeah that’s… cool. Thanks for, uh, bein’ honest… good luck with your new job,” he added weakly before bolting from her office. Instead of going to his office, he went to the bathroom, which was thankfully empty. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…,” he repeated, staring at his reflection in the mirror, as he combed through his hair with his fingers. What had he just done? He had put himself out there and somehow managed the guts to ask her out and BAM!, he was rejected. Not only was he rejected, he was borderline insulted.

After hyperventilating for a few minutes, Michael was finally able to calm down by telling himself it was over. He had tried his best and at least he’d never wonder ‘what if’. If Sydney had no interest in him… well, then it was just her loss.



Chapter 4
~ June, 2006 – One Year Later ~

As Sydney Bristow walked through Community Park that swelteringly hot Saturday morning, preparing herself for her jog, she wondered why exactly she felt the compulsion to jog half a mile on such a day. Her answer was simple, though; she knew if she didn’t force herself to do it every week like clockwork she’d get lazy and never would. She loved jogging outdoors, she really did; it just became increasingly harder as the temperature climbed closer and closer to that ninety degree mark. After all, why was it ninety degrees anyway? It was only the second week in June in the north east. It wasn’t supposed to reach ninety until August. Yet, there she was, sweating, and she hadn’t even started her run yet.

Noticing that her shoe was untied, she stopped at a bench and propped her foot up on the edge of it so that she could tie it more easily. Beside her, there was a man doing the same thing. He was obviously a jogger as well, she noted upon observing that his blue shorts, socks and white sneakers seemed to be the extent of his wardrobe. With a slight smile she craned her neck to observe a few droplets of sweat trailing down his toned back. Very nice, she thought.

Just as she finished tying shoe, the man beside her stood up from his hunched over position and, not noticing she was there, elbowed her rather painfully in the forehead. “Oh my god I am so sorry I didn’t see you!” he apologized quickly.

“’s fine,” Sydney said causally. She stood up straight and looked the man in the face and nearly did a double take. She recognized him from somewhere but…where? She just couldn’t place him.

“Are you… Sydney Bristow?” he asked with a disbelieving laugh. Elbowing Sydney Bristow in the face after finally moving on from her? What sort of cruel twist of fate was that?

“Yes,” she smiled, glad she wasn’t actually hallucinating and really did know this toned, tanned, green eyed man in front of her. “I knew I knew you from somewhere but I’m sorry I just can’t place you… what’s your name?”

“Michael Vaughn,” he said rather quietly, looking down at his feet. “We used to work at Xavier together until-”

“Oh my god!” Sydney gasped. Surely this couldn’t have been nerdy IT guy… could it?! “Michael Vaughn the tech guy?” she asked. He gave a sheepish nod and shrug. “Oh my god… what happened to you?!” she gasped, looking him over from head to toe. Then she cringed slightly realizing the vast impoliteness of her comment. “Sorry, that sounded entirely wrong – let me try again – you used to have glasses, didn’t you?” she asked, trying to cover up her faux pas.

“Yeah, I got Lasik surgery a few months ago,” he explained.

“Ahh,” Sydney nodded. Then she shivered slightly, “That kinda freaks me out that whole cutting my eye thing,” she shivered again, “I think I’ll just stick to contacts thank you very much.”

“And see they freak me out,” he told her. Then they both laughed.

“Did…did you lose weight too?” she asked him. She was sure that, in addition to the glasses, she hadn’t recognized him because his face used to be fuller. Plus, she was convinced that his stomach had never been as flat and well defined as it was then (not that he had ever been shirtless while fixing her computer, it was simply a hunch).

“Yeah, about fifteen pounds,” he said with a brief glance down towards his washboard stomach.

“Wow, talk about a full make over,” Sydney laughed. “Any reason for it…?”

He shrugged and gave a non-committal mumble. “Just thought it was time for a change.”

“Cool,” Sydney smiled as she crossed her arms over her chest. Looking up into his green eyes her heart began to flutter. Why hadn’t she noticed just how perfect they were before? “Well, um, I don’t wanna hold you up on your run or anything…”

“Nah, it’s cool. I’m procrastinating anyway since it’s so damn hot out here,” he said with a slight laugh.

“Yeah me too, you…you wanna go together?” she suggested.

“Um…,” he paused for a solid moment, debating whether or not that was the words stupidest idea or not. It probably was, though, considering the fact that Sydney’s smile when combined with her form-fitting running top were resurrecting all his old feelings. “Sure, okay,” he said. Sydney smiled and took off on her jog, with Michael close behind her. Michael quickly noticed that she was jogging at a much faster pace than he usually did, which meant she was going to kill him.

“So do you still work for Xavier?” Sydney asked somewhat breathlessly. Michael managed to nod and mumble a positive response. “Oh that’s nice. I quit about…oh, six months ago now. I needed a change, you know? I’d been working there since I graduated college.”

“Wow… long time…,” Michael panted.

“Yeah definitely. I’m managing an office now so it’s cool,” she said. He nodded.

For the remainder of their half hour run the two of them stayed rather silent since it was difficult to keep up a steady conversation while jogging that way. Sydney did make a few additional comments about the park surroundings but Michael hardly answered, being that he could barely breathe as it was. When Sydney noticed his laboring breaths she suggested that they take a break and slow their pace down to a walk, which Michael was more than happy to oblige to.

“So, when did you start running?” she asked him.

“Oh I dunno… not quite a year ago. My roommate and best friend – Eric – he had this thing with his heart and we thought he was having a heart attack. It wasn’t a heart attack, but it freaked me out, you know? He’s only two years older that me and I was like, god I have to get into shape so…,” he let his voice drift off with a shrug. Then, he winced as he pressed his fist painfully into a stitch on his side.

“Is he okay?” Sydney asked cautiously.

“Oh,” Michael said with a slight eye roll, “he’s fine. He’s the one that should be out here running but, ironically, his heart incident didn’t faze him at all – only me… and his mother. He’s back at home… on the couch…with a beer and chips probably.”

“Right,” Sydney laughed softly. She tucked her arms around her body once more, suddenly feeling slightly nervous about what she was about to say. “So, um, as long as I have you here – I mean, not that I expected to see you again… but, um, as long as I do I need to apologize.”

“Apologize?” Michael questioned, still slightly out of breath.

“Yes…the last time we saw each other I was so incredibly rude to you. I mean, really I was a downright bitch and I’m very sorry,” she said.

“You weren’t a bitch…,” he said, looking away from her. The last thing he wanted to do was dredge up memories about that incident. After all he’d practically forgotten about it. Well, practically was the wrong term since he thought about it…oh, every waking hour.

“No, I was, I really, really was and it’s just – not like it’s any consolation to you but – I was having a really, really bad day. My car tires had been slashed and I was packing and I had a cavity filling that day and I have this really bad phobia of dentists…,” she listed with a sigh. Then she shook her head slightly and looked back to him. “I’m sorry, I’m just making excuses. I shouldn’t have said what I said and I’m sorry.”

Michael looked back to her with as large of a smile as he could muster. “Apology accepted; I appreciate it.”

“Okay,” she nodded with a slight smile. “So um… I guess I’m gonna go…shower,” she said with a slight nervous laugh. “Did you, um… maybe wanna run again sometime? Or no you… you don’t wanna do that I’ll just-”

“No, we can,” he told her. “Next Saturday?”

“Next Saturday,” she repeated with a smile. Then, she walked off towards her car, looking back once over her shoulder to see him watching her go.



Chapter 5

“Dude you reek! Why don’t you take a shower?” Eric suggested with a grimace when he found his sweaty friend in their kitchen, gulping down a bottle of water.

“Um, I just walked in the door, I’m on my way to do that now thank you very much,” Michael told him.

Eric shrugged slightly. “How was your run?”

“Eh… you know…okay,” he said casually. “Ran with someone…”

“Ooo a female someone perhaps wearing one of those teeny tiny partially see-through running bras?” Eric asked sounding far too intrigued.

“Gee, Eric, you wanna take up running?” Michael asked with a slight laugh. Eric grimaced. “Anyway, it was a female someone, yes. We’re going running next weekend,” he said, purposely leaving out the identity of the female someone.

“That’s great – you should ask her out to, you know, do something less strenuous… although,” a wicked grin crossed Eric’s face. Michael rolled his eyes dramatically before leaving the kitchen.

As he showered and changed into clean clothes, Michael debated his decision to go running with Sydney that following weekend. He would have been lying if he said his change in appearance and lifestyle was one hundred percent to do with Eric’s heart scare. True, that had been the initial catalyst, but ever since Sydney’s heart wrenching dismissal of his dating invitation, he had been questioning the way he lived. After all, he had been a twenty-eight year old single man who played video games on Saturday nights. That certainly was not a normal way to live, at least, in his mind and in the opinion of several others including his mother, who pointed out her disapproval at nearly every opportunity.

Sydney turning him down that day in his office had put Michael into a month-long funk. He couldn’t help it; he had truly thought she liked him at least a little bit in the way that he liked her. Unfortunately, he had been wrong and, since he had felt that way about her for two years, it wasn’t something he got over in the blink of an eye. Eventually, though, he did move on and dated a woman for three months before breaking it off with her.

Keeping in mind that he had, in fact, moved on, Michael rationalized with himself that running with Sydney would be alright. After all it was just a jog in the park, not a marriage proposal, and, most importantly, she had apologized. Her apology was really the main reason he had agreed to see her once more. She could have not mentioned their awkward moment at all, but she apologized and seemed genuine about it, which was why he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt and give her a second chance.

~*~

“Hey, you made it,” Sydney greeted Michael with a smile the following Saturday. She was sitting on the bench where they had met, waiting for him, but stood when she saw him approaching.

“Yep. Thank god it’s not as hot today, right?” he said with a slight laugh.

“Oh I know, but, uh, I feel so bad, but I can’t really run today. I went jogging after work on Thursday and I rolled my ankle pretty bad,” she said, gesturing towards her foot.

Michael looked down and saw that, beneath her sock, her foot was wrapped in a flesh colored bandage. “Ohh… well, that’s okay; you wouldn’t want to hurt it anymore,” he said.

She nodded. “Well, um, I guess I’ll go, then. I don’t want to infringe on your run with my gimpiness,” she laughed slightly. “Maybe some other time…”

“No,” he said quickly. She looked up to him, looking slightly curious and half offended. “I mean you don’t have to go we could…sit or walk or something…”

“Walking’s okay,” she told him with a smile. He smiled back and then they started walking down the park’s path. “So…what made you go into the IT profession anyway?”

“Oh well… it’s stupid really, you don’t wanna hear about that…”

“I do; I asked,” she said with an insistent smile.

“Well,” he sighed. “I was planning out my schedule for my freshmen year of high school and I had no idea what I wanted to take. All the girls were taking home ec with the cooking and sewing and stuff and the guys were taking shop, but I had suffered through shop enough during eighth grade and I definitely wasn’t in the mood to suffer more if I didn’t have to, so I took computer science. Before then, I wasn’t really all that into computers. I mean, I could type up school papers and play solitaire but that was about it,” he laughed slightly.

“So basically you were like me,” she said.

“Well not quite that pathetic,” he said with a playful grin. She elbowed him lightly. “Anyway, I dunno… I just had a knack for it and started obsessing over it and got better and better and became the giant dweeb that I am.”

“You’re not a dweeb,” Sydney told him. “You’re good at what you do. I, for one, am lost without you.”

“Still pathetic?”

“Definitely. Although, I’m not quite as pathetic as I once was. I was forced to learn a few more things since the IT guy at my new office wasn’t as appreciative of my ridiculous questions as you were,” she told him.

“Ahh yes, well I am known for my patience,” he smiled.

“Right,” she laughed. “You were probably patient enough to hold in your laughter while you showed me how to turn my computer off and then went back to your office and laughed, calling me a freak.”

“Hey, now that is completely untrue,” he said in a very serious tone. “The word ‘freak’ was never used. I only called you a pathetic loser,” he grinned. She laughed loudly. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Trust me, you’re a computer wiz compared to the questions my mom calls me with.”

“Really? There’s someone worse than me?” she asked hopefully. Michael nodded. “Ah well then I guess I don’t feel so bad.”

They continued their walking and talking for almost an hour before Sydney noticed what time it was and realized she was going to be late for her lunch date with her parents and sister. “I’m sorry to run like this…”

“It’s fine,” Michael assured her. “I had a nice time… and I hope your ankle feels better soon.”

“Thanks,” she smiled. She was about to walk away, when she stopped herself and looked up at him. “You wanna maybe grab some dinner sometime? Or lunch… coffee…whatever?”

“Um…,” Michael sighed. He wasn’t sure what their jog-turned-walk had been classified as but hat was definitely a date invitation. Did he really want to do that to himself? After he was silent for a few moments, Sydney’s hopeful expression turned to one of obvious disappointment, which made his heart twinge. “Sure. Coffee… tomorrow?”

She nodded. “Eleven at the Starbucks right over there?” she asked, gesturing towards one end of the park. Michael nodded in confirmation. “See you then,” Sydney smiled softly at him before walking towards her car.



Chapter 6

“Jeez Syd look at you – why so smiley?” Nadia asked her sister when she arrived at their parent’s house for lunch. Sydney gave a noncommittal answer with a slight shrug, though the grin never left her face. “Spill, sis, spill. Is it a guy? Huh? Huh?” Nadia enticed while elbowing her sister playfully.

“Well yes,” Sydney laughed slightly. “I’m having coffee with him tomorrow, but I think I’m getting too hopeful about it…”

“Why?”

“Well,” she cringed slightly. “I was a real bitch to him and he probably hates me and is trying to get rid of me or something…”

“Why would he do that?” Nadia asked, confused.

Sydney cringed again. “It’s Michael…”

“The IT guy?”

“Uh huh.”

“Oooooooh,” Nadia sighed knowingly. She had only heard her sister talk about the Michael situation daily in the past year. Well, not daily but it was painfully frequent, especially right after it happened. Sydney wanted to call Michael and apologize for being so bluntly honest and borderline cruel, but Nadia told her not to waste her time. After all, in her opinion, after the incident, Michael either hated her and cursed her memory daily or was utterly crushed and heartbroken and neither situation would improve because of a phoned-in apology from her. “Mmm yeah, you’re screwed.”

“Thank you,” Sydney said in a dry, unappreciative tone.

“Well, Syd, come on. You did call the guy a fat, ugly, loser nerd,” Nadia pointed out.

“SYDNEY!” their mother, Irina, gasped upon hearing this. “Why would you say such a thing?!”

“I didnnnn’t,” Sydney whined while glaring at her sister. “I mean, not that harsh anyway. I kinda implied he was a nerd though,” she cringed. Her mother gave her a disapproving look. “Well I was having a really bad day. Remember? It was the day I had my tooth filling and my tires were slashed. I was really harsh and I’ve felt bad about it for a year, okay? But I apologized to him.”

“Well that’s good,” her mother said. “In what context was this exactly?”

Sydney cringed again. “He asked me out on a date.”

“Oh dear…,” Irina sighed. Sydney moaned and covered her face with her hands. “Wait, so, why are you going out with him then, if he’s…”

“…a fat loser freak nerd?” Nadia finished for her.

“Well, he’s not. He got rid of his glasses and lost, like, twenty pounds and he’s really hot and OH GOD, oh god, oh god, I’m a shallow horrible evil pond-scummy person!” she exclaimed with a slight whimper. Then, she turned to her sister in horror, “Even worse – I’m you!”

“HEY!” Nadia screeched in offense. “Just because I have standards doesn’t make me shallow.” Sydney and her mother exchanged glances, but said nothing.

“Sydney, why exactly did you turn him down before when he asked you out?” her mother asked.

“I dunno… I guess I didn’t really know him, you know? But he went running with me last weekend and we talked a bit and this morning we talked for over an hour and he seems like such a great guy… I mean, not that I thought he was some innately cruel person before, I just, didn’t really know him at all, you know?”

“Face it Syd, you just want to do him,” Nadia said with a smirk. Her mother hit her in the face with a dishtowel and she whined.

Sydney flopped down at the table in defeat, hiding her face in her hands once more. “Sydney,” her mother sighed, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “All I can tell you is to be honest with him; that’s really all you can do… and I hope it works out.”

~*~

“Mornin’,” Michael greeted Sydney at eleven am the next day with a yawn.

She couldn’t help but laugh slightly as the two of them got in line at the already busy Starbucks. “Did you just get up?”

“Not exactly… I didn’t sleep much last night; I was up because of my roommate,” Michael explained.

“Oh no, was he sick?” Sydney asked with concern.

“I wish! He had a… lady friend over,” Michael said with a slight grimace. Sydney cringed slightly. “Yeah… apparently, she liked to scream…loudly.”

At the expression on his face and the tone of his voice, Sydney snorted so hard she nearly choked. “That’s terrible – funny and terrible and… actually reminds me of a rather embarrassing story,” she said with a slight laugh.

“Oh well now you have to share,” he told her with a grin. She blushed softly and shook her head. “Come on, yes you do; you can’t leave me hanging.”

“Fine,” she sighed. They paused their conversation to order and receive their drinks. Once they were sitting at a table in the back corner, Sydney continued with her embarrassing tale. “Well, I had been seeing this guy for a while and it was the first time we were… you know. Anyway, apparently, he enjoyed shouting when he…um,” she blushed even more and cleared her throat. “Anyway, I was so startled by it, not expecting it, that I jumped and smashed my head into the headboard, which resulted in me biting my tongue really, really badly – seriously, it was like bleeding profusely.”

“Oh no!” Michael exclaimed with a laugh.

“Yeah it was bad and then, of course, to make matters a bit worse he dumped me afterwards, well not immediately afterwards – he at least waited until the bleeding stopped,” she sighed.

“Aww,” Michael said with a slight laugh.

“Okay now you share,” she told him.

“Um, I never bit my tongue and made it bleed,” he said with a slight laugh.

“Nooo, nooo I mean share a slightly embarrassing or break up story – it’s only fair. Please, come on, then we’ll be even,” she smiled.

Michael groaned slightly, not exactly sure how they’d be ‘even’. “Well… um…in high school I had a dog – well, actually I had her most of my life so by high school she was really old and getting sick so we had to put her to sleep and it was really sad… well, anyway when I told my girlfriend at the time about it she was all ‘oh that’s sad… we should break up.’”

“OUCH!” Sydney winced.

“Yeah, it was mean… but it was only the timing that made it sting a bit – I was planning on breaking up with her anyway so I wasn’t too devastated,” he shrugged.

“But still that’s like really cruel,” Sydney said.

As they continued to drink their coffee, they shared a few more amusing stories. Begrudgingly Michael admitted to himself that he was having a nice time which meant he needed to make a fast escape. When Michael finished his cup, he slid off his chair, trying to make his way to the exit as quickly as possible. He needed to get out then, he knew it; otherwise Sydney’s smile was going to suck him back in once more.

“So, um, did you want to have dinner sometime this week?” Sydney offered as they were walking out. What was she doing? She saw the look in his eyes - that ‘Must. Escape. Now,’ look. So why was she being so persistent? Guilt? Perhaps. Mostly, though, she genuinely liked him.

“Sydney,” he sighed, looking away from her. “I’m sorry I…”

“Michael, can I just say something? Please?” she asked. He turned back to look at her and nodded slightly. “I’m just going to be honest with you here…okay, I know I was a jerk – worse than a jerk actually. I’m scum, I know that. I’ve known that for a year now because that’s how long I’ve regretted saying those things to you and I swear to god I’m not as vain as I appear to be. The truth is I didn’t know you then. I just knew you were Michael the IT guy who played video games in his office when no one was looking. If I had known you this way I wouldn’t have said no to you, I swear it, because you’re a great guy.

“I realize I probably don’t actually deserve a second chance but…but incase you feel the need to be a better person than I was… well, I just thought I’d ask. If you still want to say no, I’ll understand,” she told him.

After she finished speaking all Michael could do was stare at her. She was literally making it impossible for him to say no to her. He felt like if he said no to her, it would only be out of spite or revenge for her doing the same thing to him a year earlier. He wasn’t a spiteful or revengeful person so he only had one thing left to do.

Just as Sydney went to walk away, thinking he was going to turn her down, he reached out and touched her hand gently. Using her hand, he pulled her close to him, lowered his lips to hers and gave her a gentle kiss before saying softly, “How’s Wednesday?”

One of the corners of her lip pulled up slightly as she said, “Wednesday’s good.” Then, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a tight hug. “Thank you,” she sighed into his neck.



Chapter 7

When Sydney arrived at Antonio’s, Michael’s designated location of their first official date, she was trembling with nerves. She knew that that date wasn’t just any first date; it had much higher stakes. That date was her one and only second chance to prove she wasn’t the shallow witch she appeared to be but, in fact, was her sweet-natured self who genuinely had an interest in being Michael’s significant other.

Michael, too, was nervous for their date. He was putting himself out there and hoping that he wouldn’t crash and burn when falling for Sydney the second time around. Knowing how easy it was for him to fall for her when they weren’t even speaking, he was concerned he’d fall even harder when talking to her and, most importantly, kissing her. At the same time, a smaller part of his mind wondered if his prior crush on her would prove detrimental to their relationship if the real Sydney didn’t hold up to the pedestal of standards Michael had painted constructed for her in his mind. Then again, if that scenario came true, though it would be disappointing, it would also be much easier to deal with than if Sydney had stomped on his heart for the second time around.

“Hey,” Sydney exhaled a long breath when she saw Michael approaching, nervous smile across his face.

“Hey,” Michael exhaled as well as his eyes traveled up and down her body. She was wearing a form-fitting navy blue dress that fell right above her knees, a pearl necklace and her hair was curled and swept back away from her face with a few pins. “You look beautiful,” he told her, brushing his lips gently against her cheek.

“Thanks,” she giggled and blushed softly. Michael opened the door to Antonio’s for her and placed his hand against the small of her back as she passed by him, guiding her into the restaurant. Once inside, he gave the hostess his last name for their reservations. Then, as they were walking to their table, Michael kept his hand on Sydney’s back, not quite on her hip, but not quite on the small of her back either; somewhere in between. Sydney wasn’t sure of its exact position; all she knew was that it was sending tingles up and down her spine.

“So… what’s good here? I’ve never been here before,” Sydney asked as she picked up her menu.

“Oh, um, I like just about everything here. I mean, obviously I haven’t tried everything,” he laughed. “But I’m getting some ravioli; it’s my favorite thing here.”

“Well then I’ll get that too,” Sydney smiled.

They ordered their meals and chatted for a few moments about that day’s strange meteorological events which had resulted in freezing rain in the morning and a brilliant, hot sunshine by four pm. “Listen I, um… I wanted to apologize again for being so jerky and saying all those things I-”

“Sydney,” Michael cut her off. “Seriously, you don’t have to apologize anymore. In fact, I think you’ve apologized enough for every person who has ever made fun of my formerly geeky exterior. So,” he paused to reach across the table and take her hand, “why don’t we just start over, okay? We’ll pretend we never met before running into each other at the park.”

“Seriously?” she asked with a hopeful smile.

“Seriously,” he confirmed with a smile, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. “So, tell me – what’s your family like?”

For the rest of their meal, Sydney and Michael swapped stories about their families and personal lives. Sydney told Michael about her younger and slightly insane sister, Nadia, who had recently graduated and was trying to find direction in her life. In addition to Nadia, Sydney’s family consisted of her mother, Irina, who was a high school English teacher and her father, Jack, who worked for an international company and traveled almost constantly, meaning he was rarely home and a frequently absent figure in the lives of his daughters. On top of that, Sydney told Michael about her original desire to be an elementary school teacher, which had been quickly dashed within one semester full of classes in that particular major.

In turn, Michael told her about his rather boring family life. His father passed away when he was fifteen from a heart attack and, since he had no siblings, ever since then it had just been him and his mother. And Eric, of course, who had become like a brother to him in their ten years of knowing each other.

Their fascination with each other’s life stories was cut short by an unfortunate sauce incident. Not realizing she had placed her forearm in a spot of sauce on the edge of her plate, Sydney then put her arm in her lap, which resulted in sauce covering part of her dress. Luckily, on the navy blue color it didn’t show too badly, but it still concerned her since it was one of her favorite dresses.

“So… this was a good date, right?” Sydney asked cautiously as they were walking hand-in-hand out to their cars.

“Very good,” he smiled at her. “Wanna do it again on Friday? Something less fancy though… maybe mini golf?”

“Mini golf?” she laughed. Michael shrugged slightly. “You know, I’ve never been mini golfing.”

“Seriously?!” Michael gasped in pure shock. Sydney nodded. “You freak!” he exclaimed.

“Hey!” Sydney giggled loudly.

“I’m serious. You have to go mini golfing its like… some sort of unwritten law,” he told her.

“Alright, alright we’ll go,” she laughed. Sydney led Michael in the direction of her car and, once there, paused and turned to bid him goodnight. “Thanks for… giving me a second chance,” she smiled softly at him.

Michael placed one hand on each of her hips before leaning down and giving her a long, sweet kiss goodnight. “Anytime.”

A soft giggle escaped Sydney’s lips as she pulled back and smiled up at him. “So… Friday?”

“Yes, Friday,” he grinned. “How about that bowling-slash-mini-golf place over on East End Avenue? You know what I mean?” he asked. Sydney nodded and confirmed their plans for seven Friday evening. Then, with one more kiss, they bid each other goodnight.



Chapter 8

“Where the hell are you going dressed like that?!” Eric demanded of his roommate, blocking the way to the exit before Michael could slip past. With a grimace, Eric surveyed Michael’s wardrobe which consisted of a blue plaid button up shirt and very baggy khaki cargo pants with a brown belt.

“I’m going on a date and what’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Michael asked, looking down at himself.

“You’re wearing your fat pants, aren’t you?” Eric asked.

Michael rolled his eyes slightly. “Yes they’re my ‘fat’ pants, but they’re all I have clean; I forgot to do my laundry yesterday night.”

Eric chuckled with laughter. “I cannot believe you’re going on a first date in your fat pants! You must really not like this chick, huh?”

“Okay, first, it’s not a first date… it’s like our third and second, I really like her,” Michael informed him. Besides, there was nothing wrong with his “fat” pants, as Eric dubbed them. They were simply a year old, thus from his heavier days and two sizes larger than he would have purchased at a store just then. As long as he wore a belt, aside from being slightly baggy, there was really nothing wrong with them at all.

“Suuure whatever, just lemme know what she says about your fat pants, okay?” Eric laughed. Michael grumbled at him before quickly leaving their apartment so he’d be on time to meet Sydney for mini golf.

~*~

“Hey,” she greeted him with a smile. “I’m ready!”

“Good,” he laughed at her almost child-like enthusiasm. “So, okay, I have a serious-yet-strange question to ask you…”

“Serious-yet-strange question?” she raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah sorta… just, what do you think of my pants?...Be honest,” he told her.

“Your pants?!” she asked with confusion; he nodded once. Looking slightly confused, Sydney circled Michael once, scrutinizing his pants from every angle. “They look fine… I mean, they look a little big for you, but fine… why?”

Michael let out a combined grumble and sigh, “Eric. He calls them my ‘fat’ pants because they are a little big and he also said they’re unsuitable for a date.”

“They’re fine,” Sydney assured him with a smile. Then, looped her hand through the crook of his elbow and smiled up at him, “Now teach me how to play mini golf, please.”

Michael laughed, “Well, it’s really not all that difficult…, but I suppose I could teach you,” he added at the slightly disappointed look on her face. She smiled and they continued walking towards the mini-golf entrance.

After paying and receiving their balls and clubs, Michael handed Sydney one of each and directed her towards the first hole. The course was moderately full of patrons, but not full enough that there was a line waiting at each hole. “Okay, so you set the ball down on one of those little marks right there, aim towards the hole and just… hit,” Michael said, shrugging with a slight laugh, unsure of exactly how to explain something seemingly so simple.

“Okay,” Sydney sighed. She set her red golf ball down on the tee spot and then stood, readying her club beside it. When she noticed there was a small lump before the hole, she thought that applying firm pressure to the club would be enough to make the ball pass over the lump easily. Unfortunately, she applied a bit too much pressure, for when the ball hit the lump, it jumped up in the air, ricocheted off a rock and came flying back towards them, smacking Michael square on the forehead. Completely stunned by this event and by both the impact and the pain, he stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over a bench behind them.

Sydney didn’t even realize what happened until she heard Michael moaning slightly, at which point she gasped, “Oh god! Michael I am so sorry!! Are you alright?!” she asked, bending down to where he was sitting on the bench, rubbing the red mark on his forehead.

“Fine,” he sighed. “Jesus woman, why’d you hit it so hard?!”

“I dunno… this would probably be a bad time to mention I used to play regular golf…,” she cringed slightly.

Michael couldn’t help but laugh. “Well just pretend like you’re on a green, alright? You… you go ahead and try again, I’m going to stand over there,” he said, pointing to a spot far behind her with a slight smirk. She gave him a very unappreciative look before picking up her red ball and trying once more, making sure to hit very, very gently.

Sydney and Michael managed to make it through the rest of the course without any major injuries. If they had been keeping score (which Michael decided against around the third hole) Sydney would have lost miserably. Due to the fact that she was so afraid she’d hit the ball too hard once more she’d only tap it lightly, meaning it only managed to roll a few inches each time. Sydney seemed to be so focused on trying not to smack Michael in the face again she didn’t seem to be having any fun, which made Michael feel slightly guilty. After all, he didn’t blame her for hitting him in the face; it was an accident and he was fine, no harm done.

“How about some ice cream? My treat – it’s the least I can do for giving you a golf ball imprint on the middle of your forehead,” Sydney said with a slight nervous laugh.

“Um, I dunno… I’m not all that hungry. Wanna share one?” he offered. Sydney nodded and told him to pick the flavor. “Oh, I don’t care… vanilla, chocolate, whatever I’m not picky.”

Sydney settled on half vanilla, half chocolate soft serve ice cream. After she bought it and picked up two spoons, she and Michael sat atop a nearby picnic table to eat their ice cream. “So… you wanna go running tomorrow? Or…no, maybe not – I mean, at the rate I’m going I could break your leg or something,” Sydney said in a rather self-defeating manner. Then, she couldn’t help but laugh out of pure mortification as she covered her face with her hand. “God, I’m such a train wreck – I swear, I’m usually more normal.”

“You’re not a train wreck,” Michael assured her. She gave him a ‘yeah, right’ look. “You’re not! And I would love to go running tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure – and I’ll make sure to bring my cell phone just incase I need to call 911…kidding!” he laughed at the slightly fearful look on her face. She grumbled and looked down at her lap. Michael leaned over and tapped his ice cream filled spoon on the tip of her nose, which left a drip of vanilla ice cream on the end of it.

“Hey,” she laughed, wiping off the tip of her nose with a napkin and looking up at him.

“Got you to smile, didn’t it?” he grinned. She grinned back at him.



Chapter 9

For the next two weeks, Sydney and Michael continued their dates and occasional jogs together. Thankfully, after the mini-golf incidents, Sydney didn’t do anything to hurt Michael accidentally or otherwise. In fact, as their dates increased Sydney cursed herself even more for not saying ‘yes’ to Michael’s date invitation a year prior. Of course, there was nothing she could do to change that; she was simply happy that she received a second chance to see what a wonderful man Michael was.

By the third date with Sydney, Michael could stop himself from falling head-over-heels once more no longer. He was well on his way to being in love with her after only a month of dating. The ironic thing was that the reasons why he loved her during the years they were together turned out to be completely unlike the reasons why he loved her then. Sure, she still ate her yogurt with a fork (even she couldn’t explain why she did it) and read sappy romance novels, but there was just so much more to her. She wasn’t as he had pictured her, but that was alright, because the real Sydney was a thousand times better.

In Michael’s mind, there was only one teeny, tiny problem with his relationship with Sydney. The problem lay in the fact that he had yet to inform Eric or… anyone, for that matter, that he was dating Sydney. Eric knew that he was dating someone, of course, but Michael had yet to tell him just who that ‘someone’ was. Partly, he was concerned Eric would rant off about how Sydney was, well, Sydney and getting involved with her would only bring him more heartbreak, but Michael truly didn’t believe that. He truly believed the Sydney he had seen on the day she turned him down a year earlier wasn’t the true Sydney but a manifestation of the bad day she had been having. The other reason Michael didn’t want to tell Eric too much detail about his new girlfriend was that Eric had a tendency to be… well, Eric.

One Friday, just a day shy of their one month meeting anniversary and thus their one month anniversary celebration, Sydney invited Michael over to her apartment for dinner. She was planning on cooking her extra special meal for him to ‘wow’ him with her cooking talents, so to speak anyway. Truthfully, her cooking talents were very minimal, but she could manage to make a few edible things that didn’t make anyone gag when they attempted to consume them.

“Happy day before our anniversary,” Michael greeted Sydney with a smile and a bottle of wine when she opened her apartment door that evening.

“Thank you,” she said, taking the wine. After giving him a quick kiss, she returned to the kitchen where she was carefully watching the food being cooked so it wasn’t burned at the last moment.

“Mm smells very good… what are we having exactly?” Michael asked. Sydney had kept a very tight lip about what top secret meal she’d be making that evening, so he was curious, especially since he couldn’t identify their meal by its smell.

“Pizza macaroni,” she gave him a slightly sheepish smile. He laughed. “It’s all I can make really… is that okay?!”

“Its fine,” he smiled. “I haven’t had that since I was… thirteen years old probably. It was all my dad could make too… well that and stuff on the manly, manly grill,” he winked.

She laughed. “Well I hope the pizza mac comes with good memories then.”

“Funny ones actually,” Michael said with a pensive smile. He was silent for a few moments, recalling the different times his father would make them the pizza macaroni when his mother was going to be away over the dinner hour and thus be unable to prepare their meal. Each and every even came with some hilarious kitchen accident or an amusing dining location, like up on the porch roof so they could watch something going on in the neighbors yard Michael didn’t even remember.

Upon realizing he had been silent for quite some time, Michael shook his head, causing his thoughts to disappear. Then, he flashed Sydney a smile before sitting down at the kitchen table. “You miss him, huh?” Sydney asked softly.

Michael gave a slight nod. “Some days more than others. I mean, it’s been almost fifteen years, but, yeah, some days I wish I had a father to call up and talk to or hang out with or something.”

“Yeah, so do I,” Sydney said under her breath as she turned back to the stove. “Oh, so Nadia finally got a job,” she said a few moments later.

“Oh yeah? As what?” Michael asked casually.

Sydney spun around, folded her arms over her chest and said in an annoyed tone, “Take a wild guess.”

“Um…,” Michael paused to laugh. Judging by the look on her face and her tone Michael knew Nadia’s job couldn’t possible be of high standards or at least not something Sydney would have chosen. “Waitress at Hooters?” he suggested jokingly.

Sydney tilted her head to the side and nodded with a disgusted expression. “Close actually… she’s the manager of a ‘Gentlemen’s Club,’” she said with air quotes.

Michael stared at her, his mouth agape. “You’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I wish,” Sydney groaned. “My mother nearly shot her and then my dad found out yesterday when he came home from his latest business trip and I think it was the first time he talked to her in years and he yelled at her about her choices in life and apparently it was ugly so Nadia’s moving out tomorrow.”

“Um… so… just out of curiosity – why exactly did Nadia choose this over a more respectable job at say… Wal-Mart?” he asked, completely baffled.

“Apparently the whores make good money,” Sydney told him. “Really, I have no idea why she took it except that – shockingly – it does pay somewhat decent and she desperately needed a job.”

“Ah well isn’t that…”

“Lovely…”

“Yes, lovely,” Michael laughed.

Michael and Sydney talked through dinner but not about Sydney’s sister or family, which was obviously a touchy subject for her. After dinner, as they were doing dishes, Michael interrupted them for a few minute long make-out session before they returned to the task at hand. Once everything in the kitchen was put away, the two of them watched a movie on Sydney’s couch but, half way through, Sydney noticed that Michael was completely asleep. Smiling softly, Sydney snuggled up against him and turned down the sound on the TV.

Just as the movie was ending, Michael awoke, completely groggy and confused. “Was I ‘sleep?” he mumbled.

“Uh huh,” Sydney nodded.

“Oh… sorry,” he yawned.

“It’s okay, you looked sleepy during dinner.”

He nodded and yawned again. “Long day at work.”

“You… wanna stay?” Sydney offered with a slightly nervous smile. “To sleep, obviously.”

“You sure?” he asked. Sydney nodded. “Okay,” he agreed with a smile. Then, he roused himself enough to shuffle his way to the bedroom before collapsing down onto Sydney’s bed and falling back to sleep almost immediately.

Laughing softly to herself, Sydney slipped in beside him and pressed a gentle kiss onto his forehead before curling up and falling asleep beside him.



Chapter 10

The next morning when Michael awoke, he was slightly confused as to why there was a soft, warm, breathing thing in his arms. It took him a few moments to recall in his sleepy state that he had spent the night at Sydney’s. Slowly, he opened his eyes and found Sydney lying on her back, her head beside his on the pillow, still asleep. With his free hand, Michael carefully brushed some hair from Sydney’s eyes before snuggling closer to her and shutting his eyes once more.

A little over an hour later, Michael awoke when Sydney tried to slide out of his embrace. He released his arms so that she could slip away and lay there with his eyes still closed and listened to her pad her way into the bathroom. After a few minutes, she returned and, when she tried to crawl back into bed, Michael opened his eyes and sighed, “’morning.”

“Morning to you too,” she said softly. Then she gave him a gentle kiss before asking, “Did you sleep alright?”

“Sure… except for being woken up in the middle of the night by somebody’s ice cold feet against my leg,” he said with a playful smile. She blushed furiously and he laughed softly, kissing her pink cheek. “I’m kidding. Well, your freezing feet did hit my leg but they didn’t wake me up.”

“I have poor circulation in my feet,” she mumbled, as if that was an excuse.

“Uh huh… well, I hate to run but I’ve gotta go do laundry and pack for my overnight conference thingie,” he told her.

“Oh right! So… when will I see you again?”

“Tuesday night dinner?” Michael asked. Sydney nodded and gave him a kiss before they parted.

~*~

“Duuuuuude!” Eric greeted his roommate with a hard smack on the back. “Just coming in I see,” he said with a suggestive eyebrow raise.

“Eric, I didn’t have sex with her so you can save the celebratory beer toast,” Michael rolled his eyes slightly.

“Michael, Michael, Michael,” Eric shook his head in an obviously disappointed manner. “Why are you such a chick?! Seriously, be a guy! First, no guy spends the night. Second and most important no self respecting guy would even consider spending the night without at least getting somethin’ out of it!”

“Well, then I guess I’m not a self respecting guy,” Michael beamed. Eric rolled his eyes dramatically. “Eric, chill. While I don’t mind spending the night without ulterior motives, I was actually too asleep to walk to my car let alone drive home.”

“Oh… so who is this chick anyway? You never told me her name,” Eric said in a half offended tone.

“Sydney,” Michael mumbled casually. “I met her running at the park remember?”

“Sydney?” Eric laughed. “That’s ironic. Is she hot?”

“Yes,” Michael laughed, purposely ignoring his comment about irony.

“Oh, then I approve,” Eric smiled. Michael rolled his eyes.

~*~

A week later, on Saturday night, Michael invited Sydney over to his apartment for the first time. It had taken him the majority of the day on Saturday to clean up the debris left by Hurricane Eric, but, he’d finally managed it and invited Sydney over to hang out and have some pizza.

“This is nice… very bachelor pad-ish,” Sydney smiled when she walked inside and observed Michael’s living quarters.

“Yes well with Eric… what you see is basically what you get,” Michael laughed slightly. He gave her a brief tour of their less-than-expansive quarters before the two of them sat on the newly cleaned sofa.

“Wow you guys have a lot of video games,” Sydney commented with a slight laugh at the shelves of equipment surrounding the TV.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Michael cleared his throat rather nervously. “Well I don’t really play them anymore….”

“It’s okay,” Sydney smiled. He looked slightly wary. “Really! It’s okay,” she assured him. “I mean, it’s cool that you can actually play them where as I suck painfully – I mean, really it’s just sad.”

“I’m sure you’re not that bad – or you’re playing the wrong game,” he told her.

“I bet you I just suck. Wanna play to prove it?” she smiled.

Michael laughed loudly. “Okay you seriously do not want to play a video game.”

“Yes I do. Come on this is something you’re interested in so I wanna see what it’s all about,” she smiled at him. He grumbled slightly and reluctantly got off the couch and walked over to the TV to find an easy game for Sydney to try. He knew she only wanted to play to patronize him, which he partly felt bad for since she hated it so much, but there was nothing he could do.

He and Sydney settled down on the couch with an easy Mario Brother’s game and, like Sydney had expected, she was a dreadful player. Despite the fact that her player kept dying, she seemed to be enjoying herself and was laughing wildly by the time Eric arrived home.

“Eric,” Michael laughed nervously. “What are you doing here?” he asked through gritted teeth, knowing his roommate had promised to be gone all night.

“Date got sick – who’s this? Oh are you Sydney?” Eric asked.

“Sydney Bristow, it’s nice to finally meet you,” Sydney said, extending her hand to Eric. Michael cringed inwardly and tried to shrink at the look of utter shock on Eric’s face.

“Sydney Bristow, really…interesting,” Eric said in an intrigued tone, staring his friend down.

“You’ve, um, heard of me?” Sydney laughed nervously.

“Oh yeah, Mike told me all about how you two used to work together. Michael, could I have a word in the kitchen?” Eric asked, fake grin spread across his face.

“I’ll be right back,” Michael said quietly to Sydney.

“It’s fine, I’ll just run to the bathroom if you don’t mind – where is it?” she asked. Michael directed Sydney down the hallway before sheepishly walking into the kitchen.

“DUDE! What. The. Hell?” Eric asked, emphasizing each word.

“It’s not what you think Eric,” Michael said in a weak attempt at self-defense. Eric gave him a look. “It’s not! That whole thing last year was just a misunderstanding. She apologized and it’s fine now.”

“Oh yeah its fine just perfectly perfect and fine, I’m sure. Dude – hello! Did you forget how she ripped your heart out and stomped on it with her mondo-bitch attitude?!”

“Eric,” Michael hissed, but Eric didn’t stop.

“I mean what the hell are you doing? Seriously, she’s always going to be that girl Mike – always. Unless…oh are you gonna dump her after you get some? Because you totally should. OH! No! Better! You should find all kinds of flaws in her and point them out as you dump her,” Eric laughed.

“Eric, incase you failed to notice a) this isn’t the first grade and b) she is like ten feet away!” Michael hissed, completely annoyed. Eric shrugged, unfazed. Michael grumbled and walked out of the kitchen hoping that Sydney couldn’t hear Eric from the bathroom. Unfortunately, she had heard and Michael found her standing by the couch, putting her shoes on and sniffing back tears.

“Sydney…,” Michael began, though he wasn’t sure quite what he should say.

“’s fine… I should go,” she said quickly, her voice crackling.

“Sydney please, wait I-”

“Goodbye Michael,” Sydney said quickly before practically running to the door of his apartment and slamming the door behind her.

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Chapters 11 - 20 + Epilogue