Touched By You

Author: Janet (SkyGirl5)

Genre: S/V, AU

Summary: Similar to the movie Just Like Heaven...but with my own personal twists. Something very strange is going on in Sydney Bristow's new office...

Disclaimer: Sydney, Vaughn, etc are properties of JJ Abrams and ABC. Just Like Heaven is property of whoever made that movie & book.

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Chapters 1-10 // Chapters 11 - 18 +Epilogue

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Chapter 11

Michael and Sydney talked well into the early morning before Sydney finally fell asleep. She’d unconsciously hoped to sleep in the next morning, however it seemed Michael had other plans. “Sydney!! Sydney, wake up!!” she heard his voice distantly and began to grumble. “Sydney, come on, please wake up!! I can’t shake you, just wake up, please?”

“Wadaya want,” Sydney mumbled as she rolled over and smashed her face in her pillow.

“I remember something!! Come on, please get up,” he begged.

Sydney groaned and moaned for another minute before sitting up slowly and coming face to face with Michael, who was sitting at her feet. “I’m up,” she managed in a dull tone.

Michael laughed softly at her messy hair and puffy eyed expression before continuing. “I remember where I live. It’s a town house on Spruce Street. Can we go there, please?” he asked with a grin. She grunted and flopped back down against her pillow “Please? Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?” he begged, his hands clasped in front of him.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Just lemme shower so I can wake up and then we can frickin’ go,” she grumbled as she slid out of bed.

“Thank you!” Michael called after her.

~*~

Forty minutes later they were in Sydney’s car as Michael directed her towards Spruce Street. Once there, Sydney slowed her car down to a crawl so she could read the addresses on the houses. “There, that one,” Michael pointed up ahead and to the right. Sydney stopped her car in front of the red brick townhouse he pointed to. They’d only been sitting there for a moment when the front door opened and a woman with blonde hair stepped out. She was dressed in an ankle length skirt and a nice sweater, obviously church attire. She locked the door behind her before hurrying towards her car parked near where Sydney and Michael were.

“She your wife?” Sydney asked, trying to keep her tone as even as possible so as not to let the hurt show.

“No, no I’m not married…and look, see those curtains in the window? They’re white and lacy… they’re not mine,” Michael said with a slight hint of confusion.

Sydney couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit of hope at the fact that he said he wasn’t married. That was until she realized that married or not, it didn’t matter because he was dead. “So um… is this not the right place?”

“No, no it is…,” Michael said, now even more confused.

“Well, um, maybe your parents sold it, you know…after…,” Sydney offered as an explanation.

“Yeah…maybe…,” he sighed sadly.

“So um… do you want to go back or drive around or…,” Sydney asked cautiously.

“We can go back,” Michael said, though he didn’t look at her; he kept his eyes trained on his lap.

Sydney sighed as she pulled out into traffic once more; she couldn’t have felt worse for him. By that point, she wasn’t sure what she felt worse about: the fact that he was actually dead or the fact that eventually he’d be going away forever. The fact that he was a ghost was better than nothing, right? At least, that’s what she thought selfishly. As a ghost, Michael was still around for her to talk to, but she didn’t imagine until then how frustrating it must have been for him. He couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t touch her or anyone or anything else. He couldn’t pick up a book or a TV remote. He couldn’t feel the warm sun against his skin as they drove. Nothing.

“I’m really sorry, Michael,” Sydney told him as they walked from her car once back at her apartment building. “I wish I could-”

“Wait, wait is this your building?” Michael asked.

“Um…yes,” Sydney said, slightly confused as to why he was asking that.

“Eric lives here!” Michael exclaimed. Then he took off running towards the building and vanished through the front door.

“What?! WAIT!” Sydney shouted, trying to catch up with him. She struggled to catch up with him and unlock the door quickly. Once inside, she found Michael wasn’t in sight. “Great, I lost my ghost,” she muttered. “Michael… Michael!” she began to hiss quietly.

“Up here! Come on!” she heard his voice filtering down the stairwell. Quickly she hurried up the stairs and found him on the second floor standing in front of a door labeled 2C. “Eric lives here,” he smiled, pointing to the door.

“And…Eric…is?” Sydney asked slowly.

“My best friend. Come on, talk to him. I’m sure he’ll know what happened,” Michael told her.

“What?! I can’t talk to him. I don’t know him. What would I say?!” she hissed to him.

“That’s why I’m here – to help you,” Michael encouraged. Sydney stood firm a few feet away from the door until Michael stuck out his bottom lip and began begging her with a puppy dog face. Grumbling under her breath at how she was unable to resist him, Sydney stomped forward and knocked on the door. A few minutes later a very sleepy looking man answered the door. He was about Michael’s height, though his hair was much darker and his belly much rounder. “Can I help you?” he asked.

“Um, are you… Eric?” Sydney asked carefully. The man nodded. “Well, um, I’m a friend of Michael’s…”

“Oh really? What’s your name?” he asked.

“Sydney,” she mumbled, knowing that would have no meaning to him.

“Huh, Mike never mentioned you…”

“Yeah well, we were sorta new friends…anyway, I was wondering if I could just talk to you for a second, please?” she asked in the sweetest voice she could muster with her heart pounding in her chest out of nerves. Eric nodded as he yawned and ushered Sydney into his house. “Thanks…,” she said slowly. Then she turned back to Michael, looking for some assistance.

“Tell him about me,” Michael encouraged.

“What?!” Sydney hissed.

“What?” Eric asked.

“Um…,” Sydney hedged. “Okay, look, this is going to sound really weird but, um, Michael is here. Right here…right there actually,” she said pointing to where Michael was. Of course, to Eric, she was merely pointing to an empty space in his apartment beside a lamp.

“HUH?!” Eric asked.

Sydney groaned as she rubbed her head. “Look, I don’t really understand this either but he’s here, I swear! He’s been haunting my apartment and-”

“Hey! I wasn’t haunting!” Michael shouted.

“You were too,” Sydney retorted.

Upon seeing the strange woman in his apartment speaking to nothing at all, Eric took a step back. “Um…who did you say you were again…”

“I’m a friend of Michael’s,” Sydney told him. “Look um… maybe- maybe I can prove it- that Michael’s here, that is,” she said as she looked towards Michael, hoping he’d take her hint.

“Um…he sleeps with a teddy bear named Brownie,” Michael told her.

“You sleep with a teddy bear named Brownie?!” she repeated with confusion.

Eric turned slightly pale and took another step back. “Who told you that…?”

“I told you, Michael is here… look, why don’t you ask me something only Michael would know and then he’ll tell me and I’ll tell you and that’ll like prove he’s really here, okay?” Sydney offered. Eric looked suspicious so Sydney encouraged, “Come on, what could that hurt?”

“Okay…when did I lose my virginity, at what age?” he asked.

Sydney looked to Michael with a slight grimace. “Sadly, fourteen,” Michael sighed.

“FOURTEEN?!” Sydney repeated with horror.

Eric looked stunned but fired another question anyway, “How many sisters do I have?”

“None,” Michael said.

“None,” Sydney repeated.

“Um…what’s my real favorite movie?” Eric asked.

Again, Michael sighed and shook his head while answering, “Spice World…”

“The Spice Girls movie?!” Sydney laughed.

Eric turned paler, looking even more disturbed. “Okay, okay what’s the secret handshake from tenth grade,” he said.

Sydney looked to Michael. “I’ll have to talk you through it,” he said. “Put your right hand out, palm up to the ceiling, wiggle your fingers up. Good. Okay, now rub your head and then your stomach and then spit on your palm…”

“Ew, I’m not spitting on my hand!” Sydney exclaimed.

At that point Eric jumped back. “Holy shit, Mike!! Mike, whoa, this is so weird!”

“Um, he’s over there,” Sydney pointed towards the complete opposite direction Eric was looking.

“Oh… how long has this been going on?!” Eric asked Sydney. Sydney briefly explained to him the strange happenings in her office and the subsequent appearances of Michael’s ghostly form in her apartment. “Oh, that’s so – OH NO!” Eric exclaimed with horror.

“What?!” Michael and Sydney asked in unison, though obviously Eric could only hear Sydney.

“Oh my god, oh no… your mom, she’s going to pull you off life support today… oh shit, we might be too late!” Eric exclaimed as he ran into his bedroom in search for shoes.

“Life support?” Sydney and Michael asked as they looked at each other with confusion. “I thought I was dead,” Michael said.

“So did I…,” Sydney said.

“What?” Eric asked.

“We thought Michael was dead,” Sydney clarified for Eric.

“Well he’s gonna be if we don’t get there fast – come on, I’ll explain on the way!” Eric said as he hurried out of his apartment with Sydney and Michael behind him.



Chapter 12

“Okay, okay so you know about the couch, right?” Eric asked Sydney once they were in the car. She was in the front passenger seat as he drove and Michael was sitting in the back, leaning forward in his seat as if to participate in the conversation even though he was a ghost.

“Yes,” Sydney confirmed.

Eric began laughing. “That’s such a lame-ass way to die…”

“He’s glaring at you,” Sydney said, referring to Michael’s menacing look towards Eric.

“Right, sorry, anyway… so they took you to the hospital and you were in surgery for like ten hours and when you came out you were in a coma. The doctors weren’t overly hopeful about your recovery either…”

“Why not?” Michael asked.

“Why not?” Sydney repeated for Eric.

“Because like you know how couches have those wooden feet things? Well that sort of went into your skull,” Eric cringed.

“Ouch,” Michael said as Sydney grimaced.

“Anyway, so that was four months ago, right? Well, there hasn’t been any brain activity since then and the doctors kept telling your parents that you’d never wake up and… well, you know life support is really expensive so your mom finally made the decision a few days ago to take you off it. I’m really sorry man… she was real upset about it too… all cryin’ and stuff…,” Eric said sadly.

Sydney gave Michael a sympathetic look, though he looked more determined than ever. “Of course there’s no brain activity!! My brain is here!” he exclaimed, pointing to his head.

“I know,” Sydney sighed.

“What’d he say?” Eric asked.

“Oh, sorry, he said that of course there was no brain activity because his conscious activity is somehow in his ghost form,” Sydney told him.

“Right… that’s so weird, though. How’d he get to be a ghost?” Eric asked.

“I have no idea,” Sydney sighed.

“Wait a second… if my mom’s taking me off life support, why aren’t you there?” Michael asked Eric.

“He wants to know why you’re not with him when his mother takes him off life support,” Sydney told Eric.

“Oh well… sorry man, I just… I just couldn’t be there when you…you know,” Eric said in a rather guilty tone.

They were all silent for the rest of the few minute drive to the hospital. It was only when Eric pulled into a parking space that Michael spoke up. “Um, Syd, I feel kinda funny…”

When Sydney looked back to Michael she screamed in horror. For the first time she could see through him just like a real ghost; he was vanishing. “God Eric, he’s disappearing; we have to hurry!”

She and Eric bolted from the car and ran into the hospital. Sydney didn’t even bother looking to see if Michael’s ghost form was following them or not; she had to get to that hospital room. They waited impatiently for the elevator to take them up to the third floor and once the doors opened they took off running again. Eric skidded to a stop in front of one of the hospital rooms and Sydney burst inside, not even bothering to care that whoever was in that room would have no idea who she was. Luckily Eric was right behind her.

“Eric, what are you doing here?” someone in the room asked, but Sydney heard none of it. She didn’t notice the doctor in the white lab coat standing on one side of the bed. She didn’t notice the man and woman standing with their arms around each other, the man bearing a strong resemblance to the patient in the bed and the woman with a tissue clutched to her face. She didn’t even care to look at Michael’s live form in the bed. All she could see was the heart monitor on the wall showing a green flat line.

“No,” she whimpered as she rushed over to the bed. She picked up Michael’s limp hand, locked her fingers through his and pulled it up so the back of his hand was on her cheek. It felt so warm, so he couldn’t be… “No, please, please Michael,” she cried as she held tightly to his hand. She used her free hand to rub down his arm and onto his shoulder as she leaned over him. “No please come back, please, please, please come back,” she begged.

Her tears began to fall down from her cheeks. They landed on Michael’s polka dotted hospital gown, leaving tiny circular wet marks. “Please, Michael, please don’t leave me. I love you, please, please,” she continued to beg, holding his hand so tightly that had he been awake he probably would have been complaining that she was hurting him.

Her pleas continued for another minute with no change in the heart monitor on the wall, but Sydney refused to give up. She held tightly to Michael’s hand, refusing to let go, fearing that if she did he’d be lost forever. He looked just the same as he did lying there in the hospital bed as he did in ghost form. Ever inch of his face was the same and he’d just been talking to her a minute earlier in the car, right? So why couldn’t he just wake up.

Sydney felt a hand rest on her shoulder, but she wouldn’t move or stop her cries. Just when Eric was about to physically peel her hands away from his, they heard a beep. All eyes in the room turned towards the heart monitor where there was a tiny spike, and then another, and then a whole series of spikes that caused Sydney to break down into more hysterical tears. She turned her eyes back towards his face as she heard a soft, “Oh my god,” fill the room.

After only a moment, Michael’s eyes opened. He blinked a few times, focusing on the ceiling as though trying to regain his ability to see. Sydney continued to rub his arm until finally, he looked at her. She smiled softly at him, though she was still crying. When Michael began moving his fingers, Sydney loosened the death grip in his hand. Michael began stroking her cheek with a sloppy thumb. “Told you…I’d wipe…’em ‘way,” he managed though his speech was sluggish and his voice was harsh from the breathing tube that had been removed from his throat.

“You did, you did,” Sydney managed nodding with her head against his hand. Then she pressed a kiss onto his thumb and closed her eyes, loving the feel of his warm skin on hers. As she was doing this, Michael turned his head towards the other side of the bed where his parents were standing. He was met with smothering hugs by then and, as this was happening, he pulled his hand away from Sydney. She dropped it and took two steps back from the bed, nearly running into Eric. She watched Michael for a moment before the full awkwardness of the situation hit her and she began to walk quickly towards the hospital door.

“Sydney, where are you going?” Eric asked as he rushed to catch up with her. He caught her just as she was about to walk out into the hallway.

“Um,” she said, rubbing her cheeks free of tears, “I don’t want to intrude on Michael’s time with his family… tell him I’ll visit him later, okay?”

“Okay,” Eric said. Then he watched as she walked quickly down the hall, fresh tears beginning to spill down her cheeks.





Chapter 13

When Sydney arrived home, she was so deliriously happy she didn’t even know what to do with herself. Michael was alive; she’d spoken to him, touched him. He was no longer the ghost haunting her apartment; he was there, really truly there. She’d dreamt of that and wished for that for the previous few days, never knowing it could be possible, yet it was.

When she had seen the flat line on his heart monitor hours earlier in the hospital, she’d felt her entire body go weak as her heart shattered into a million pieces. Somehow, in that moment she knew she loved him, though she couldn’t for the life of her explain why. She’d always been a logical person, especially when it came to dating. Love took time and certainly would never happen in the four days she’d spent really getting to know Michael, or so she thought. In the hours she spent talking to him though, including seven the previous night alone, their conversation flowed so perfectly she felt like she’d known him her whole life. There was just something about him that made her feel good inside and utterly terrible when she thought he had gone forever.

That same feeling had caused her to go absolutely crazy, pleading with him to come back to her and, in the process, blurt out that she loved him. She didn’t even realize it at the time; she only remembered it once she was in the cab on the way home. Her face turned hot at the thought that Michael’s parents, who she’d never even officially met, and Eric, whom she’d known for twenty minutes, heard her admit her feelings to Michael. She was also slightly wary of the strength of her feelings, too. After all, she knew very little about him. Caution needed to be the key in their relationship from then on out, at least for a little while anyway.

At the realization she’d used the term ‘relationship’ when talking about the two of them, she stopped her thoughts abruptly. She barely knew him, how could they have a relationship? After all, for all she knew Michael could have a girlfriend; a very serious one. He was an amazing man, that she could tell easily, so the fact that he was most likely attached to someone was by far not a stretch. Feeling slightly defeated at her thoughts, Sydney walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Too much had happened emotions-wise in the past twenty-four hours as it was; she needed an evening alone with just her, the ice cream, and her TV trying not to think about Michael.

~*~

The following morning, a Monday, Sydney went to work just like she usually did. As much as she wanted to just go to the hospital and sit by Michael’s side all day long, she had very important client meetings that morning that could not be missed. She made a deal with herself though. She decided that as long as she got everything done she wanted to she’d skip out of work an hour early and go visit Michael at the hospital.

Her deal worked and she left her office around four. Instead of going right to the hospital, she went home to change first and found a very interesting surprise outside her door. Sitting with his back up against the door, his legs crossed out in front of him was Michael. When she approached, he looked up to her with a simple smile. “You never came and visited me,” he told her.

“I was actually going to visit you right now. That’s why I’m home early,” she told him.

“Suuure,” he said in a disbelieving tone as he stood up from the floor.

“So, um, how are you? I mean…are you okay?” she asked as she slipped past him so she could unlock her apartment.

“You mean aside from the permanent couch imprint in my head?” he asked with a slight grumble. “I’m fine; clean bill of health, thanks to you.”

“Me?! I didn’t do anything!” she insisted as she walked into her apartment, stripping off her jacket on the way.

Michael shrugged slightly with a soft smile. “Some would argue differently.”

Sydney couldn’t help but blush. “Do you really have a couch imprint in your head?”

“No,” he laughed, “but I’ve got a wicked cool scar from where they cut my head open.”

“Oh,” Sydney grimaced slightly at the thought of Michael’s head cut open. Then she looked down towards the ground as she folded her arms over her chest and hugged herself. She was desperately trying to fight the urge to pull Michael into a smothering tight hug.

“Hey Syd?” Michael said softly. She looked up and saw him only an inch from her. He placed his hands at her hips and drew her closer to his body, immediately wrapping his arms around her back. Sydney put her arms around his neck and sunk into his embrace. With his arms around her, feeling his soft breathing around her, she had never felt more complete. Suddenly, she was gripping him tighter as silent tears began flowing down her cheeks and onto the collar of his shirt.

“Shh, don’t cry,” Michael told her softly as he brought one hand up to stroke the back of her head. He could feel her body trembling next to his. “It’s okay; don’t cry,” he said soothingly. Then, he pulled back from her enough to look at her. He cupped her face in his hands and brushed her cheeks with his thumbs. “How many tears am I going to have to wipe away, hmm?” he asked with a soft smile.

Sydney shook her head softly and buried her face back in the crook of his neck. “I’m just glad you’re okay,” she cried. “I was so worried…”

“I know; Eric said,” Michael sighed.

Sydney pulled back and looked up at him. “What did Eric say?” she asked cautiously, wondering how much of her freak-out he’d revealed.

“Just that he’d never seen anyone more upset than you. He said you even looked more upset than my mom,” he told her. Sydney laughed and nodded her head gently; that was probably the truth. Michael brushed his fingers against her cheeks in a feather-light manner. Sydney shut her eyes and reveled in the feeling of the chills flooding down her spine. Before she knew it, his lips were touching hers. Their kiss was only gentle for a moment before the heat from four days of longing to touch one another took over.

Sydney broke their kiss gasping for breath as their noses bumped together. She opened her eyes slowly and tried to focus through the cloudy haze their kiss had put her in. “You, um, you don’t have a girlfriend, do you?” she asked breathlessly.

“Not unless I’m looking at her,” Michael smiled in return. An ear-to-ear grin spread across Sydney’s face as she kissed him once more, but only briefly before she turned around and tried to escape his embrace. “Oh no you don’t,” Michael said, looking his arms around her waist.

“I’m just going to change; I’ll be back,” she told him.

“Change, hmm? I can help you with that,” he said before popping the bottom-most button on her sweater.

“Hey,” Sydney swatted his hand away, “watch it, Mister.” Then she turned around and smiled at the sight of his cheeky grin. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be waiting,” he said.



Chapter 14

The whole time Sydney was changing her clothes, she wore a ridiculous grin across her face. Kissing Michael was a million times better than she’d ever dreamt it to be and she couldn’t wait to get back to the other room and find out in what other ways he was amazing. “So, dare I ask what the doctors thought of your miraculous recovery?” Sydney asked as she walked into the room to find Michael sitting on her couch. She sat down beside him with one leg underneath her and waited for him to answer.

“Oh, they had no answer,” Michael assured her. “As a matter of fact, they’d been in the process of declaring me dead when you and Eric burst into the room, or so my mother says.”

“Wow,” Sydney commented.

“Yeah, but I figure I never actually believed in ghosts until I was one, so nothing surprises me anymore,” Michael laughed.

“Well, you weren’t a ghost,” Sydney told him. He gave her an ‘oh yeah, really? Person-who-kept-calling-me-Casper’ look. “No seriously. I mean, I called you a ghost because I thought you were dead, but since you were never dead, you couldn’t have been a ghost,” she rationalized.

“I guess…well, whatever I was, it was very freaky. Of course I knew better than to tell the doctors what had happened because they would have put me in the psychiatric ward for sure. They were already suspicious enough of the crazy woman who brought me back to life,” he said, prodding her belly lightly.

“I did not bring you back to life,” she insisted.

“I think you did,” Michael smiled at her. Sydney’s face turned bright pink and Michael laughed softly. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing, nothing,” she shook her head. “So you remember it then? Being a ‘ghost,’” she said with air quotes.

“A lot of it… it’s sort of like remembering a dream, most of it’s there but some parts are a little fuzzy. Not you though,” he assured her as he reached over to stroke her face. “You’re crystal clear.”

Sydney smiled and held onto his arm with both of her hands. Then, after a moment, she laughed softly. “Sorry, I… I just want to touch you…make sure you’re real.”

“Don’t be sorry. I want to touch you too…come ’ere,” he said opening up his arms. Sydney slid her body closer to his and enveloped herself in his embrace, letting her legs dangle over his lap as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Perfect,” he sighed, placing a kiss on her forehead.

“So what’s going on with you now? I mean, you have to find an apartment and a job, right?” Sydney asked.

“Yeah… well, right now I’m staying with my parents, which I’m sure won’t last long. It’s only been twenty-four hours and my mother’s already smothering me…,” he sighed.

Sydney laughed softly. “Join the club.”

“Right,” Michael laughed as well. “Anyway, my parents had to sell my townhouse ‘cause they couldn’t pay the rent. See, apparently when you go into a coma and you don’t have a living will none of your relatives can withdraw money from your bank accounts.”

“Really? Not even your parents?” Sydney asked.

Michael shook his head. “Nope. So my parents could hardly afford the hospital bills, let alone the rent for my house, so they had to sell it. My mom’s just a pre-school teacher and my dad’s a mechanic; they don’t make that much money,” Michael explained. Sydney nodded in understanding. “Anyway… so they sold my townhouse the first month, my car the next and so now I have hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical bills, no house, no car, and no job…but yet I love life.”

“Yes, being alive is nice,” Sydney sighed.

“Yeah, that too,” he smiled down at her. She let out a soft giggle before kissing him sweetly. “Anyway, I think I’m going to move in with Eric for a while. He offered me the extra room in his place, plus that way I’ll be closer to you.”

“Sounds good to me,” Sydney said.

“I thought it would… then tomorrow I’m going to go beg for my job back…except I think that you might actually have it now, so maybe if they can’t hire me they can at least give me a really good recommendation ‘cause I need a job that pays really well.”

“Aw, you poor thing,” Sydney said, rubbing his chest gently.

“Yeah well, unfortunately there’s no idiot insurance that protects against morons who throw their couches out of their house,” he muttered. “I could sue them for damages like Eric suggested, but I’d probably only gain enough money to pay for my lawyer, so that’s pointless…”

“Didn’t you have medical insurance?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, but it only covers so much.”

“Well, if you moved in with Eric and got your old job back, I could take you to work so you wouldn’t have to get a car, at least for a little while,” Sydney told him.

“Thanks,” he smiled at her.

They sat in silence for a minute before Sydney’s stomach growled loudly and they both laughed. “I guess I should make some dinner. You hungry?”

“What, are you kidding? I’m starving. I haven’t eaten for like four months and lost ten pounds because of it,” he said, rubbing his belly.

“Really?” Sydney asked with surprise.

“Mmhm,” he sighed. “Eric says he wants to go into a coma because it’s the only diet he’d stick to.” Sydney laughed and shook her head as she walked into her kitchen to make them something to eat.

As they ate, they continued to talk. Michael told Sydney more about himself since his memory was regained along with his consciousness. He was thirty, single (before his accident anyway) and had grown a very strong hatred for couches, especially those plummeting from the sky. He’d been considered a jock in high school and college due to his participation on the hockey and baseball teams. He loved the outdoors, but he liked to balance out his outdoor time with some inside time, especially in the winter when it was cold out.

They laughed and talked for hours until yawns finally began to overtake Sydney’s part of their conversation. “Ohhh sorry, I think I’m still tired from staying up all night Saturday.”

“Ah yeah, that’s the other nice thing about comas – I’ve had enough sleep to last me a lifetime,” he laughed.

“Mm well you, um, wanna stay?” Sydney offered. Michael smiled broadly and nodded before asking to use her phone to let his parents know he would not be home that evening. They took turns in Sydney’s bathroom, exchanging soft smiles when they passed in the doorway before the two of them finally settled down beneath the sheets, Sydney with her body perfectly curled around his.

“What’s the matter?” Michael asked softly. He could feel her body tense and he knew she was about to cry again.

“I just… I’m scared you’re going to go away again,” she admitted quietly.

“I’m not,” he assured her, holding her a little tighter. “I promise to steer clear of couches from now on.”

Sydney couldn’t help but laugh softly as she leaned up and gave Michael a gentle kiss. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” he echoed.



Chapter 15

The next morning when Sydney’s alarm clock went off at a painful five minutes after six, she didn’t even groan and grumbled like usual. Michael’s arms were around her and that was the best way to wake up in the world, for her anyway. Michael, on the other hand, did the groaning as he released Sydney’s waist and crammed his face further down into the pillow. Sydney ignored his resistance as she slid out of bed and shuffled to her closet to find something to wear.

Forty-five minutes later when she was ready for work, she returned to her bed and sat down on the edge, running her hands through Michael’s hair as she did so. He grunted at her. “I have to go to work. Do I need to take you anywhere?”

“No,” he mumbled. “Gonna sleep some more, then Eric’ll take me home, ‘zat okay?”

“It’s fine. I’ll see you later,” Sydney said. She leaned over and placed a soft kiss on his forehead before leaving the bedroom.

~*~

“Look at you,” Mary laughed when Sydney walked into the office that day still wearing her ear-to-ear grin. “You look happy.”

“I am extraordinarily happy,” Sydney said with full confidence.

“Mmmhm, so either you won the lottery or you met a guy… so what’s his name?” Mary asked with a grin.

“Michael Vaughn; the same Michael Vaughn who used to work here,” Sydney told her with a smile.

“Um,” Mary began in an uncertain tone, “do you… volunteer at the hospital.”

“Well no, Michel’s out of his coma and…,” she let her voice drift off. How in the world was she going to explain the true reason behind how they met? “…and we sorta just connected,” she said with a shrug, going for the vaguest description possible.

“Wow, so he’s out of his coma? Is he alright?” Mary asked.

Sydney nodded, thinking how he was much more than just alright. She tried to hide the smile on her face as she said, “He’s great. Actually, I think he might be stopping in here later today.”

“Oh, that’ll be wonderful!” Mary smile. Then, she and Sydney parted ways to get down to work.

Sydney worked her way through the morning, meeting with clients, calling clients on the phone and writing up reports. Just as she was finishing up to take her lunch break, there was a knock at her door. She glanced up and saw Michael poking his head in the doorway. Immediately, her face lit up with a grin. “Free for lunch?” Michael asked, smiling as well.

“Absolutely,” Sydney smiled. She got out of her chair, walked over to him and greeted him with a kiss. “Oh, it’s so nice to have you in my office when you’re not haunting it.”

“Ha-ha. This is my office, Missy,” he pointed out.

“Was,” Sydney challenged.

“Nope, is,” he grinned. “You’re looking at your partner.”

“Serious?!” Sydney squealed happily. Michael nodded. She squealed again and gave him a tight hug. “Oh but wait, does Mr. Thompson know about our… situation.”

“You mean how I woke up in your bed this morning?” Michael said with a cheeky grin that earned him a playful punch on the shoulder. “Yeah, I told him how we’d be partners at work and not at work and he’s cool with it,” he told her while rubbing his shoulder gingerly.

“Great,” she grinned. Michael then put his arm around her and they walked out of the office together. On the way out they were intercepted by practically everyone who worked in the office, wanting to speak to Michael to personally make sure he was back from his coma. Twenty minutes later, they were finally in Sydney’s car driving in search of lunch.

“This is going to be fun, don’t you think?” Michael smiled over at her.

“What? Working together?” Sydney asked. He nodded. “Yeah it…it could be fun.”

“What was that?!” Michael asked, surprised.

“Hmm?”

“That… tone. You made it sound like you’d rather have a root canal than work with me…”

“No, no of course not,” Sydney told him. “I just… well, I don’t always do well working with partners…”

“Controlling?” he questioned.

“No,” she laughed. “Just… well, most of the partners I had in the past didn’t have the same work ethics I did. We clashed a lot and I usually got saddled with all of our work…”

“Well, I promise you I’ll do my half of the work,” Michael smiled at her. “But I’ll tell you what if we start to clash too badly we can split up our partnership, okay? I wouldn’t want fighting at work to lead to fighting at home,” he said.

“Sounds good to me,” Sydney smiled.

“Good,” Michael smiled back. “By the way, my parents want to have dinner with us tonight.”

“WHAT?!... Oh crap!” she shouted when, out of pure shock, she nearly hit the car they were driving behind. “What do you mean??”

“Um… dinner, it has like food and stuff and my parents, the people who raised me…,” Michael explained slowly. Sydney gave him a glare. “What?!”

“Well, it’s just… they probably think I’m a freak!”

“Well yeah, kinda… but only because you raised me from the dead…I’m KIDDING!” Michael insisted when Sydney squeaked. “Even if they did think you raised me from the dead, that would only make them like you more because I’m their son and they’re kinda fond of me. Please come? It’ll be fine, I promise.”

Sydney sighed and tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. She did want to meet Michael’s parents; that wasn’t the problem. She was merely concerned that they’d only be able to see her as the crazy strange person who rushed into their son’s hospital room and begged him to come back to life. Sydney glanced over, and saw Michael looking at her with a very hopeful expression that she could not turn down. “Yeah,” she sighed, “yeah, I’ll come.”

Michael waited until Sydney had stopped the car before leaning over and giving her a sweet kiss. “Thanks, Beautiful.”



Chapter 16

That evening, Sydney let Michael drive her car to his parent’s house since he obviously knew the way better than she did. There was, however, another reason for her relinquishing control of her vehicle. She was convinced that she wouldn’t have been able to drive even if she wanted to because of her extreme nervousness about meeting his parents. Something about the major step of meeting his parents after only knowing each other for essentially a week (and only half that time in the actual physical world) when combined with her other trepidations made her feel like she was going insane. She took deep breaths as much as she could, though they weren’t really helping all that much.

When they arrived at Michael’s parents’ modest one-story home, he made the introductions and Sydney exchanged handshakes with his parents before they made their way into the kitchen. “It’s so wonderful to finally meet you,” Michael’s mother Amelia said to Sydney as they walked. “We didn’t get a chance to see you at all at the hospital.”

“Oh yes,” Sydney said, blush beginning to creep into her cheeks. “Sorry about that, I just… I didn’t want to intrude on your family time together.”

“Oh well, that’s alright, Dear, we’re just so excited to finally meet you. We’re so anxious to hear your side of the story, you know, Michael only remembers so much…”

“So much?” Sydney repeated, glancing over towards Michael for clarification.

“You know the whole Casper haunting thing,” he smiled. Sydney swallowed hard as she felt her face flush in utter horror. How could he have told his parents or anyone that? It was bad enough that Eric knew and probably thought she was the most insane person on the planet, but everyone else too? That was definitely not happening.

“Well, um, I dunno,” Sydney began slowly. “I guess it started the first day I went into my office and everything was creaking and my chair was mysteriously pulled out from under me…”

“You pulled her chair out!” Amelia scolded her son by hitting him with a dishtowel.

“Um, OUCH,” Michael groaned. “And I did not!! I told you, I don’t remember.”

“Well, then he sorta appeared when I had my feet up on the desk, and he was yelling at me,” she laughed softly. “And then there was my apartment when he showed up after I got out of the shower and yelled at me for stalking him and I tried to hit him with a plunger, but the plunger went right through him and that’s how I figured out he wasn’t actually some freak who was stalking me…”

Amelia turned to her son and shook her head. “After she got out of the shower? Tsk,” she clicked her tongue disapprovingly.

“Again, don’t remember – not my fault,” he defended.

“Anyway, he appeared once more at my office and then another time at my apartment before we finally got to talking,” Sydney said.

“That’s the beginning part of what I remember,” Michael chimed in.

“Well, I must say that is quite a story,” Michael’s mother laughed along with his father.

“You’re tellin’ me,” Sydney sighed as she rested her head on her hand. “Sometimes I don’t even believe it myself…”

“Well, who would? But obviously you’re both living truth that things like this do happen,” Michael’s father said with a smile.

For the rest of their meal, Sydney didn’t speak much. If either of the Vaughn’s asked her a question, she’d answer it, but in the most concise manner possible. She just wasn’t in a talking mood. After they ate, she helped Michael carry some boxes of his things to her car so they could be taken to Eric’s, where he’d be staying from then on. It was only once they were back in her car headed towards home that Michael called her out on her strange behavior.

“What is with you? You’re being so… weird,” Michael told her.

“Well, it’s just… I didn’t know you were telling people about… you know, the whole ghost thing,” she sighed.

“Okay, first I’m not telling people I told my parents and second – do you have a problem with that?” he asked.

“Well, it’s just… it’s ridiculous. It makes it sound like we’re those people who swear up and down we’ve spotted a UFO flying over head. I just… I don’t know. It’s weird,” she sighed.

“Weird? Okay, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we were weird to you,” he said, slightly miffed.

“Michael, come on! What would you honestly say if someone came up to you and said, ‘Hi, this is my wife. You know how we met? Well, see, it’s a funny story. She was this ghost haunting my house and I put my hand right through her! We eventually found her body though…’”

Michael grumbled slightly. She did have a valid point. If someone had said that to him he would have smiled, nodded and then walked away, laughing and mocking them for being insane behind their back. People of the ‘normal’ variety had difficulty believing in supernatural tales.

“I mean,” Sydney continued with a heavy sigh after Michael had been silent for a significant amount of time, causing her to become nervous, “it not like I want no one to know… I mean your parents, Eric…special people. I just don’t think that should be our automatic response when people ask how we met.”

“No, you’re right; you’re absolutely right. We’d be sent to a psychiatric hospital immediately,” Michael said with a slight laugh. “I guess that means we need to come up with a better ‘how we met’ story.”

“How about um… I was at the hospital visiting someone I knew and you were there – it was shortly after you woke up and we bumped into each other… joked over jello and…that was it,” she suggested.

“I like it,” he smiled at her. It was simple. It was sweet. It was perfect.

After another few minutes of driving they arrived at Sydney’s, well their apartment building. Sydney helped Michael carry his boxes up to Eric’s apartment (Eric wasn’t home) before helping him settle in. “This is… unique,” Sydney commented on the area Michael was living in at Eric’s. Apparently, Eric’s version of an ‘extra room’ in his apartment consisted of putting a futon in one corner of the large sitting area and closing it off with some screens giving it the illusion of privacy (illusion being the key word).

“Well I’m poor, so this is the best I’m gonna do,” Michael laughed.

“Yeah, well maybe you won’t have to stay here for too long,” Sydney said. Though she sounded like she was just trying to be supportive, in her mind she had other thoughts. She was silently thinking (and hoping) that maybe after a little time had passed and they’d gotten to know each other better he could move in with her. After all, she had a feeling her apartment would start to seem a little lonely without her friendly ghost around, which was ironic considering she’d moved into an apartment by herself, happy not to have a roommate. Then again, a female roommate who simply shared living space was quite different than a live-in boyfriend.

“Well, I guess I should be going,” Sydney said as she took two steps towards the door. “Enjoy your futon.”

“Oh,” Michael rolled his eyes, “I will…not, most likely. Goodnight,” he said, giving her a sweet kiss.

“Night,” she smiled before walking out the door and up the two flights of stairs to her own apartment.



Chapter 17

Though Sydney was concerned about having Michael has her partner at work, she quickly discovered her worry was unfounded; they worked perfectly together. She’d always thought working with someone she was in a relationship with had disaster written all over it, but, as it turned out, their personal relationship only made them better colleagues at work. They knew each other well and could thus play to each other’s strengths and weaknesses when dealing with clients. After only two weeks, they’d practically become the stars of the office due to their working ethics and attitude.

During those two weeks their personal lives were going just as well. Even though they spent the entire day together, they still wished to spend time together in the evenings instead of spending time apart. Of course, they spent the day physically together in the same office for the most part, but they would never talk about their personal relationship at work. Here and there they asked about dinner plans, but for the vast majority of the time it was strictly work discussion only when at work. This not only helped to separate their personal and work lives, but helped them not get to the point where they were entirely sick of each other after spending essentially fourteen hours a day together and sometimes even twenty-four hours if Michael spent the night at Sydney’s.

Of course working in close quarters had caused a handful of tiffs between the two of them. Most of those were from stupid ‘you’re invading my space with your crap’ type arguments, though there was one true argument they had. Sydney did not wish to accept a client that Michael wanted. She felt the client was irresponsible and would end up not delivering payment to them, whereas Michael felt they should give the client the benefit of the doubt. This argument had escalated into Sydney accusing Michael that he was too casual about his amassing hospital bills and in turn Michael accused Sydney of being too strict with her money. After their argument, they didn’t speak for half a day until they finally made up, both of them apologizing for what they’d said. Aside from the occasional arguments, things between them were better than either one of them could have ever imagined.

One Saturday, Sydney was spending some time cleaning up the bathroom in her apartment, one of her least favorite tasks. She had made plans with Michael for that afternoon, but they were spending the morning apart. As she thought about what the two of them were going to do the next day, she couldn’t remember if they’d said they were going to meet at one or one thirty, since both times had been discussed when their plans had been made. Deciding it was best to call and ask rather then argue with herself in her mind, Sydney reached for the phone. Michael didn’t have a cell phone (he was going without every expense possible so he could devote as much free cash to the hospital bills as possible) so Sydney called Eric’s apartment.

“Yello,” Eric answered in his usual tone.

“Eric, it’s Sydney. Is Michael there?” she asked.

“Mike? Uh no, he’s not…I think he said something about going to the hospital…”

“HOSPITAL?!” Sydney screeched, her tone turning frantic. “What do you mean hospital?! Is he alright?! Why would he go to the hospital?! Did he say anything about a couch?”

“Sorry Syd, I really don’t know but I gotta go – I got a date here and she just invited me into the shower. YAY!” he said excitedly.

“No, Eric, wai-” but Sydney cut her voice off when she heard the dial tone on the other end of the phone meaning Eric had hung up on her.

Sydney slowly released her grip on the receiver, letting her wrist fall limp. The receiver slipped from her grasp onto the floor at her feet, landing with a soft thump on the carpet. Of course this meant the phone was not hung up properly, but Sydney didn’t even seem to notice; her mind was spinning. Michael was at the hospital. What did that mean? Did he wake up with a terrible headache? Was he having complications from his brain surgery? Was he relapsing into his coma? Was it even possible to relapse into a coma?

All these questions drove Sydney practically insane as she paced her apartment, debating whether she should rush down to the hospital or wait until one o’clock (or one thirty) to see if Michael contacted her. She practically wore holes in her floor from the circles she was walking around all her furniture. Every time she shut her eyes, horrible scenarios of Michael’s brain being cut open and chunks being removed filled her minds’ eye. All she could do was wonder what she’d do if that really happened.

When at one-fifteen there was a knock at her door, Sydney practically jumped out of her skin. She rushed over and opened it quickly to find Michael smiling, just as calm as ever. “Oh thank god,” she sighed as she fell into his arms.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Michael asked softly, hugging her tightly. Though he was glad to see her too, her reaction obviously displayed that there was something more wrong.

“Eric said… you were at… hospital,” Sydney managed through the tears of relief forming in her eyes.

“Yeah, he said you sounded a little freaked on the phone. I just went down to make sure they’d accidentally put an extra zero on the bill they sent me and thank god they did – I nearly had a stroke!” he laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Sydney obviously did not see the amusement in this. “Hey, Syd, come on… what’s wrong?” he asked as he pulled back some of the hair from her eyes, trying to see her face properly even though it was mostly buried in his chest.

“I was just…I just thought that maybe something had happened… that you had a relapse or something, I don’t know… I was just scared something happened to you and I … and I wouldn’t get to…,” she let her voice drift off.

“Aw Syd, honey, I’m fine,” Michael said, pressing a kiss into the top of her head. “Remember? I promised – no more couches.” This managed to make Sydney smile, but only for a moment. She lifted her head up and gave him a soft kiss before nuzzling her face against his. Upon feeling the wetness on her cheeks Michael combed his fingers through her hair. “Hey, this really upset you, didn’t it?”

She nodded her face against his before pulling back enough to look at him. “Would you mind if we stayed in this afternoon instead of going out to the mall?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “Of course not. What do you want to do instead?” he asked. Her answer came in the form of a sense-shattering kiss as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled her body close to his.



Chapter 18

“Just so you know,” Michael began softly as he stroked Sydney’s arm across his chest, “anytime you want to do this instead of going to the mall is fine with me.”

Sydney laughed softly and pulled herself close to him. “Somehow I can imagine it being okay with you.”

“Mmhm,” Michael said before kissing her gently.

Sydney propped her chin up on Michael’s chest so that she could look into his eyes. “Michael, I have to tell you something,” she said. He gave her a curious look. Sydney took a deep breath, readying herself for what she was about to say to him. “I-I love you. I didn’t think it was possible to love someone after only knowing them for a month – not even a month…but I do, I love you, I love you so much…”

After the words left her lips, her breath stood frozen in her chest as Michael was expressionless. The most painfully long moment of her life passed before a smile crossed his face and he admitted, “I love you, too,” before giving her a long kiss and rolling over on top of her. “That’s why you were so freaked out, huh?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said breathlessly, giving him another kiss. “I didn’t want anything to happen to you without you ever knowing how I felt about you…I… I just couldn’t stand that.”

“Well, now I know,” he smiled before lowering his head to place a soft kiss on the tender flesh of her neck. “And I’m very glad too.”

“Good,” she laughed softly. “And also I think… I think you should move in here…”

“Good lord Bristow, what has gotten into you?” Michael laughed as he rolled off of her and sat up on the bed.

“Well, I just… I dunno,” she shrugged slightly, sitting up as well with the sheet tucked around her. “Now that we’ve….,” her voice drifted off with a blush.

“…consummated our physical relationship…,” Michael continued for her.

“Yes, thank you,” she laughed softly. “Anyway, I just don’t want to spend a night apart from you and I figure as long as we’re going crazy we might as well go right to insane, right?”

“Right,” he laughed. “Traditional relationships are overrated, especially when they start so…ghostly,” he said with an eyebrow wiggle.

Sydney laughed. “We seriously need to come up with something else to describe that. You weren’t a ghost; ghosts are dead!”

“Okay, okay,” he sighed as he lay back down on the bed. “How about…spiritual being?”

Sydney wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Makes you sounds like some sort of religious thing.”

“True…hmm, spirit makes me sound dead as well… how about soul?” he offered. Sydney gave him a look as though she was thinking on that word. “Soul… soul… much better.”

“Definitely,” Sydney agreed before kissing him quickly. She sighed and lay her head down on his chest. “Oh Michael Vaughn, what you do to me…”

“You mean…,” he began, a disgustingly cheeky grin crossing his face.

“No perv, not that,” she rolled her eyes. “What I meant was… when I moved out here not quite three months ago I was done with men. Beyond done with men, in fact. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t even look at a man for six months and then – and only then – would I consider dating again… Now look at me. I’ve already asked a guy to move in with me…”

“So,” Michael began slowly, “are you saying this is a bad thing?”

“Oh no, no, no,” she assured him, “this is very good… I’m just saying that life comes with very unexpected, very good surprises.”

“Good,” he sighed, kissing her sweetly.

They were silent for a few minutes before Sydney asked, “Did you ever wonder why I was the one that was able to see you? I mean, yeah, I know I had your office but…”

“Well, actually I did have a thought on that…when I went in to talk to Mr. Thompson right after I woke up, you know? He reminded me that he’d actually asked if I wanted a partner shortly before my accident. Well, as it turned out, that partner was going to be you…”

“You’re kidding?” Sydney asked in surprise.

“Mm, no,” Michael shook his head. “So then I got to thinking… you know, you had your whole thing with that psychotic boyfriend of yours and then you were planning on moving out here. So what if you did move out here and become my partner – assuming I never had my accident that was. You would have met me that day and BAM!”

“What? Did a couch hit me?” she asked with soft amusement.

“Ha-ha,” he said dryly. “No. Bam you’d be head-over-heels for me and my irresistible charms.”

Sydney snorted. “What charms?”

“Hey,” he prodded her side in offense. “I’ve got my charming moments.”

“This is true…,” Sydney conceded.

“Anyway, you would have fallen for me, as I would have for you and we would have… you know, ended up right here, except maybe moved a little more slowly,” he winked down at her.

She laughed softly. “That does sound like a definite possibility… but, even if that would have happened, it still doesn’t explain why I could see you…you think it had to do with your watch?”

“Maybe, but I don’t think so…,” he let his voice drift off. Sydney wrinkled her brow at him, looking for a further explanation. “Well, you saw my soul, right? Well, what if that means we’re soulmates.”

“Soulmates… hmm,” she pondered aloud as she lay on her back in bed. She was silent for a moments before she rolled her head to the side and smiled at him. “I like that explanation.”

“Good, ‘cause I do too,” he smiled at her. Then, he rolled over on top of her and gave her a very long kiss.

~*~

“God, I’m starving,” Sydney groaned as she rubbed her rumbling belly.

“Well,” Michael grinned slyly, “we did use up a lot of energy this afternoon.”

Sydney giggled. “I’m going to go order us some dinner, okay? Chinese?”

“Oo yea, something with pasta,” he told her with a smile. She rolled her eyes and hit him in the face with a pillow (playfully) before getting out of bed.

She returned fifteen minutes later wearing a blue cotton robe with moons and stars all over it. “Dinner will be here in half an hour,” she told him as she sat on the bed, one leg tucked underneath her. “You know what I was thinking we should do? We should watch the sunset tonight.”

“Oh yea, definitely,” Michael smiled. “That’ll be perfectly perfect and romantic. You know what else we should do? Talk about marriage,” he said seriously.

Sydney’s jaw dropped slightly as her heart began to beat a thousand miles an hour. “Are you joking?”

He laughed softly. “Well yeah, I was – I think we should take this a little slower than that,” he winked.

She rolled her eyes and shoved him slightly. “You’re awful.”

“Don’t worry Bristow, it’ll happen someday…if you’re lucky,” he smiled. Sydney shook her head and laughed; he really was awful.



Epilogue

“Mommy, tell me a story,” four-year-old Elizabeth requested as her mother tucked her into bed.

“A story? What kind of story?” Sydney smiled, pulling the soft pink covers up to her daughter’s chin.

“Umm,” Liz though, tapping her tiny finger to her chin for emphasis. “A story about you and daddy!”

“Me and Daddy, hmm?” Sydney repeated. She glanced back at her husband in the doorway and he smiled at her. “What about your daddy and me? How we met?”

“Yeah,” Liz nodded.

“Well,” Sydney began with a soft smile, “when your daddy and I met, he was an angel.”

“A real angel? With wings?!” Liz asked excitedly.

“No, he didn’t have wings,” Sydney told her, “but he was an angel and he needed my help,” Sydney told her. When Liz first began asking questions about her parents, Sydney and Michael had decided on the angel version of their story, knowing that explaining the concept of souls to a three-year-old would have been much more trouble than they could have even imagined.

“Did you help him, Mommy?” Liz asked.

“Of course I did. And then we fell in love and we got married,” Sydney told her.

“And then you had me!” Liz grinned.

“Yes, and then we had you,” Sydney said. She lowered her head and nuzzled her daughter’s nose with hers before kissing her cheek softly. “Goodnight Lizzy. I love you.”

“Love you Mommy! And Daddy!” Liz called to her father.

“Love you too, Angel,” Michael said to her. Then, as Sydney left Liz’s room he put his arm around her and kissed her temple softly. “Remember what we were talking about last night?” he asked softly.

“You mean about trying for another baby?” Sydney asked. Michael nodded before giving her a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. “Slow down there, Mr. Vaughn, you know she’s going to get out of bed and you definitely wouldn’t want her seeing that.”

Michael shivered at the thought. “We should wait until she’s asleep then.”

Sydney winked. “Good plan.”

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