Title: After the Weekend
Author: Jillian R.
Genre: S/V Romance/Angst
Rating: PG-13
Summary: After an incredible weekend together, Sydney and Vaughn return to L.A. -- and the real world.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to J.J. Abrams and ABC, but I'm willing to sue for custody of Vaughn.
Note: This is a sequel to "The Long Weekend." I thought it would be interesting to explore how Sydney and Vaughn deal with their new relationship now that they are back in L.A. There's more fluff, but also some angst. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading.
Chapter 1: "Back Home"
Michael Vaughn unlocked the door to his condo and set his bags and skis in the entry hallway. Immediately he sensed that something was amiss. He heard the faint sound of the television in the next room and instinctively reached for his gun, which was tucked into the back of his jeans. He was just about to enter the living room, gun drawn, when he heard the jangling of dog tags and saw a little bulldog running towards him. "Donovan!" he cried with surprise. He crouched down to pet him and laughed when the dog jumped on him and licked his face. "What are you doing here?" he asked affectionately.
"Hey, Mike!" Vaughn looked up to see Eric Weiss standing over him. "I knew you were coming back this afternoon, so I thought I'd bring Donovan back over and we'd wait for you."
"I see you found the beer," Vaughn said with a laugh. He stood up and slapped Weiss' outstretched hand. "Thanks for taking care of him," he said with a nod to Donovan, who was still excitedly jumping up and down.
"My pleasure. He's my little buddy, you know. And did you notice how nice and svelte he looks?" Weiss asked with a proud grin. Hey, you got back just in time. The Kings game is on in a few minutes, and I ordered pizza."
Vaughn had to laugh at his best friend. "You've taken care of everything, huh?"
"Always. So how was Tahoe? How's Peter?" Weiss asked as he and Vaughn walked over to the couch and sat down in front of the television.
"Tahoe was great, and Peter's doing well. He said to tell you hello."
"How many women did he pick up last week?" Weiss asked with a laugh. On the occasions when Peter had visited Vaughn in L.A., he had proven himself to be quite the ladies man.
Vaughn laughed. "A lot, but not as many as he wanted to. He got called back to the office, so he had to leave on Thursday."
"Oh, too bad for him. So what did you do after he left? Did you pick up the slack for him?" Weiss asked with a grin.
"Come on, Eric. You know that's not my style -- anymore," he hastily added when he saw the dubious look on Weiss' face. "I just, um, hung out, went skiing, relaxed. Nothing special."
"Uh huh." Weiss said disbelievingly as he studied Vaughn. Vaughn wasn't exactly the easiest guy to read, but after eight years, Weiss could tell when he was holding something back. "Did you meet someone?" he asked with interest.
Yeah, you could say that, Vaughn thought to himself. Weiss' innocent questions were starting to make him sweat. He desperately wanted to tell his best friend the truth about his vacation, but he knew that he couldn't. Vaughn trusted Eric with his life, but didn't trust him with his feelings for Sydney, at least not since Weiss had betrayed his trust before he went to Taipei. Vaughn understood Weiss' actions and had long since forgiven him, but he'd also decided that the topic of Sydney was off-limits unless they were discussing her in a purely professional capacity.
"Come on, man. You can tell me," Weiss cajoled.
Vaughn rolled his eyes. "There's nothing to tell, Eric. I didn't meet anyone. Did you really think I would go on vacation and have a random hook-up?"
"Isn't that what you're *supposed* to do on vacation?" Weiss asked with a chuckle.
"No, that's what *you* would do on vacation," Vaughn said with a raised eyebrow and a knowing laugh. "Believe me, the last thing on my mind last week was meeting someone."
"Yeah, I should've known. I forgot you're saving yourself for Sydney Bristow. But you might as well live a little in the meantime, Mike. You're a good-looking guy, smart, successful. You could have your pick of women instead of pining for the one you can't have, and you know it's gonna be a long time before you can make a move on her," Weiss said as he stood up. "I'm going to get another beer, you want one?"
"Sure." Vaughn sighed as he leaned his head back on the sofa cushion and closed his eyes. He imagined how much Weiss freak out if he knew the truth -- that he and Sydney had already made their move on each other, several times. A smile played on his lips as he thought about Sydney. Beautiful, smart, amazing Sydney. He still couldn't believe that they had finally admitted their true feelings to each other. Amazingly, even though he had been aware of his feelings, it had taken the weekend for him to realize the true depth of them. He had struggled so hard to keep his feelings in check that he had never allowed himself to feel the full magnitude of his love for Sydney. In Lake Tahoe, however, it was as if a dam had burst, and he was finally able to admit the entire truth: he was so in love with Sydney that he could barely see straight. She had his heart in a vice grip, and probably knew it. That fact left him both scared and exhilarated. It was an amazing act of faith to put your heart in someone else's hands and trust her not to break it, but he was willing to take the risk with Sydney. Now he just had to figure out a way to balance his personal feelings for her with his professional responsibility towards her. He knew it was going to be the toughest challenge of his life.
"So did I miss anything interesting at work last week?" Vaughn asked as Weiss returned from the kitchen and handed him a beer.
"Nope. The coffee still sucks, Derevko is still being secretive, and Kendall's still an ass. It's almost enough to make me want to get shot again," Weiss joked. "I guess it's true what they say -- the more things change, the more they stay the same."
Vaughn laughed softly and shook his head. Weiss couldn't possibly be more wrong. Over the course of one weekend, both his life and his relationship with Sydney had changed irreversibly, and he was sure that nothing would ever be the same again.
*****
"So I want to hear *all* about your trip." Francie said excitedly as she followed Sydney into her room. "Did you get my bottle of champagne?"
"Yes," Sydney said with a laugh. "Thanks for that, by the way."
"Oh, it was my pleasure. Did you find a hot guy to drink it with like I told you to?" Francie asked with a knowing laugh.
The hottest, Sydney thought to herself, as she fought to suppress a smile.
"No, I just drank it by myself and had my own little party," Sydney lied. She desperately wanted to tell Francie about Vaughn, but she knew that she couldn't. Francie would be full of questions that Sydney couldn't answer right now. So for the time being, she would have to pretend that she hadn't just spent the weekend with the most wonderful man on earth, which was difficult, because she wanted to shout it from the rooftops. She wanted the whole world, especially Arvin Sloane, to know that she was in love with Michael Vaughn.
"Bummer," said Francie with a disappointed shrug. "You'd think there would be a lot of hot guys at a ski resort. I was hoping you'd meet someone."
"Well, I still had a good time," Sydney shrugged. It was time to change the subject. "So how was *your* weekend?"
"It was okay. I spent most of it at the restaurant. I had no idea how much work it takes to get a restaurant off the ground. Fortunately, Will's been a huge help. Speaking of, you didn't forget that we're going out for his birthday tomorrow night, did you?"
Sydney gulped. Actually, she had forgotten. Over the past few days, she had blocked everything from her mind but Vaughn. Luckily, she had bought Will's gift weeks ago, just in case Sloane sent her on a last minute mission right before his birthday. "Tomorrow, right. Yes, we're still on," she assured Francie.
"Good. I was just about to order Chinese, do you want something? Moo shoo pork and an eggroll?" she asked with a smile.
Sydney grinned. "You know me too well. I'm gonna unpack, and then I'll be out in a few minutes, okay?"
"Sure," said Francie as she left the room. As Sydney began to unpack, memories of the weekend came flooding back to her. Her parka reminded her of skiing with Vaughn, and how she couldn't stop staring at him as the rode the ski lift to the top of the slopes. She unpacked a sweater and remembered the romantic sleigh ride he had surprised her with, and how warm she felt snuggled up next to him despite the bitter cold. She pulled out a red dress and smiled, remembering that she hadn't actually gotten to wear it to dinner because she and Vaughn had gotten . . . distracted.
Sydney glanced over at the phone next to her bed. She desperately wanted to call Vaughn and hear his voice, but she didn't want to seem overeager. She shook her head ruefully. She couldn't believe that, after everything they had been through, she was actually worried about appearing to be overeager. She couldn't help it, though. Vaughn made her feel like a teen aged girl with her first crush. She prayed that the feeling would never go away.
*****
Later, just as she was about to climb into bed, Sydney heard a faint ringing sound. Her heart began pounding a mile a minute as she frantically looked around her room and tried to remember where the sound was coming from. As the symbolic start of her brief vacation last Wednesday, she'd buried her CIA phone and SD-6 pager in a drawer underneath her clothes. Only now, she couldn't remember *which* drawer as she scrambled over to her dresser and listened for the sound of the ring. On the sixth ring, she finally located the phone, and pressed the talk button.
"Hello?" she said breathlessly.
"Hi, it's me." She didn't need to ask for further identification. "Are you alright? You sound like you just ran a marathon," Vaughn chuckled.
"I'm fine," she said as a grin broke out on her face. "I just forgot where I put my phone before I left last week, and I was trying to find it."
"Oh. Sorry to call you so late. I just wanted to make sure that you made it home safely."
Sydney closed her eyes and happily sighed as she climbed back into bed. Vaughn was the sweetest man alive. "Yes, I'm fine. And in the words of a very amazing man, you don't ever have to apologize for calling me," she said with a smile.
He laughed, and even though she only heard it through the phone line, it made her feel warm inside. "I figured you probably wouldn't be too put out. I just couldn't go to sleep without knowing that you were safe."
"I am," she said softly. "Are you okay? How was your flight?"
"Short and uneventful. It wasn't even long enough for me to have a decent fantasy about you."
"Funny, I had *plenty* of fantasies about you during *my* flight, which I assume was the same length as yours," she teased. She reached over to turn out the light on her nightstand, then snuggled down into her bed. It was crazy, but she thought she could better picture his facial expressions in complete darkness.
"What were we doing in those fantasies?" Vaughn asked, an amused expression in his voice.
"Well, one of them involved the desk in Devlin's office and your gun holster . . ." her voice trailed off. "What do you suppose that was all about?" she asked innocently.
"I don't know, maybe you should discuss it with Barnett." He loved joking around with her like this. "So you like the gun holster, huh?" He laughed, but his voice was low and seductive.
"The gun holster," she said slowly, "is *very* sexy."
"I'll store that away for future reference. Listen, I should probably go. We both have early days tomorrow."
"I know," she sighed. She would have gladly stayed on the phone all night long talking to him. "Hey, now that we're back home, and things have to return to normal -- whatever that is -- can I still tell you that I love you?"
"You'd better. I wouldn't want to be the only one saying it. I love you, too. Sweet dreams, Sydney."
"You too," she said before she hung up the phone. She didn't have to guess what her dreams would be about tonight and every night for the foreseeable future.
TBC . . .
Author: Jillian R.
Genre: S/V Romance/Angst
Rating: PG-13
Summary: After an incredible weekend together, Sydney and Vaughn return to L.A. -- and the real world.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to J.J. Abrams and ABC, but I'm willing to sue for custody of Vaughn.
Note: This is a sequel to "The Long Weekend." I thought it would be interesting to explore how Sydney and Vaughn deal with their new relationship now that they are back in L.A. There's more fluff, but also some angst. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading.
Chapter 1: "Back Home"
Michael Vaughn unlocked the door to his condo and set his bags and skis in the entry hallway. Immediately he sensed that something was amiss. He heard the faint sound of the television in the next room and instinctively reached for his gun, which was tucked into the back of his jeans. He was just about to enter the living room, gun drawn, when he heard the jangling of dog tags and saw a little bulldog running towards him. "Donovan!" he cried with surprise. He crouched down to pet him and laughed when the dog jumped on him and licked his face. "What are you doing here?" he asked affectionately.
"Hey, Mike!" Vaughn looked up to see Eric Weiss standing over him. "I knew you were coming back this afternoon, so I thought I'd bring Donovan back over and we'd wait for you."
"I see you found the beer," Vaughn said with a laugh. He stood up and slapped Weiss' outstretched hand. "Thanks for taking care of him," he said with a nod to Donovan, who was still excitedly jumping up and down.
"My pleasure. He's my little buddy, you know. And did you notice how nice and svelte he looks?" Weiss asked with a proud grin. Hey, you got back just in time. The Kings game is on in a few minutes, and I ordered pizza."
Vaughn had to laugh at his best friend. "You've taken care of everything, huh?"
"Always. So how was Tahoe? How's Peter?" Weiss asked as he and Vaughn walked over to the couch and sat down in front of the television.
"Tahoe was great, and Peter's doing well. He said to tell you hello."
"How many women did he pick up last week?" Weiss asked with a laugh. On the occasions when Peter had visited Vaughn in L.A., he had proven himself to be quite the ladies man.
Vaughn laughed. "A lot, but not as many as he wanted to. He got called back to the office, so he had to leave on Thursday."
"Oh, too bad for him. So what did you do after he left? Did you pick up the slack for him?" Weiss asked with a grin.
"Come on, Eric. You know that's not my style -- anymore," he hastily added when he saw the dubious look on Weiss' face. "I just, um, hung out, went skiing, relaxed. Nothing special."
"Uh huh." Weiss said disbelievingly as he studied Vaughn. Vaughn wasn't exactly the easiest guy to read, but after eight years, Weiss could tell when he was holding something back. "Did you meet someone?" he asked with interest.
Yeah, you could say that, Vaughn thought to himself. Weiss' innocent questions were starting to make him sweat. He desperately wanted to tell his best friend the truth about his vacation, but he knew that he couldn't. Vaughn trusted Eric with his life, but didn't trust him with his feelings for Sydney, at least not since Weiss had betrayed his trust before he went to Taipei. Vaughn understood Weiss' actions and had long since forgiven him, but he'd also decided that the topic of Sydney was off-limits unless they were discussing her in a purely professional capacity.
"Come on, man. You can tell me," Weiss cajoled.
Vaughn rolled his eyes. "There's nothing to tell, Eric. I didn't meet anyone. Did you really think I would go on vacation and have a random hook-up?"
"Isn't that what you're *supposed* to do on vacation?" Weiss asked with a chuckle.
"No, that's what *you* would do on vacation," Vaughn said with a raised eyebrow and a knowing laugh. "Believe me, the last thing on my mind last week was meeting someone."
"Yeah, I should've known. I forgot you're saving yourself for Sydney Bristow. But you might as well live a little in the meantime, Mike. You're a good-looking guy, smart, successful. You could have your pick of women instead of pining for the one you can't have, and you know it's gonna be a long time before you can make a move on her," Weiss said as he stood up. "I'm going to get another beer, you want one?"
"Sure." Vaughn sighed as he leaned his head back on the sofa cushion and closed his eyes. He imagined how much Weiss freak out if he knew the truth -- that he and Sydney had already made their move on each other, several times. A smile played on his lips as he thought about Sydney. Beautiful, smart, amazing Sydney. He still couldn't believe that they had finally admitted their true feelings to each other. Amazingly, even though he had been aware of his feelings, it had taken the weekend for him to realize the true depth of them. He had struggled so hard to keep his feelings in check that he had never allowed himself to feel the full magnitude of his love for Sydney. In Lake Tahoe, however, it was as if a dam had burst, and he was finally able to admit the entire truth: he was so in love with Sydney that he could barely see straight. She had his heart in a vice grip, and probably knew it. That fact left him both scared and exhilarated. It was an amazing act of faith to put your heart in someone else's hands and trust her not to break it, but he was willing to take the risk with Sydney. Now he just had to figure out a way to balance his personal feelings for her with his professional responsibility towards her. He knew it was going to be the toughest challenge of his life.
"So did I miss anything interesting at work last week?" Vaughn asked as Weiss returned from the kitchen and handed him a beer.
"Nope. The coffee still sucks, Derevko is still being secretive, and Kendall's still an ass. It's almost enough to make me want to get shot again," Weiss joked. "I guess it's true what they say -- the more things change, the more they stay the same."
Vaughn laughed softly and shook his head. Weiss couldn't possibly be more wrong. Over the course of one weekend, both his life and his relationship with Sydney had changed irreversibly, and he was sure that nothing would ever be the same again.
*****
"So I want to hear *all* about your trip." Francie said excitedly as she followed Sydney into her room. "Did you get my bottle of champagne?"
"Yes," Sydney said with a laugh. "Thanks for that, by the way."
"Oh, it was my pleasure. Did you find a hot guy to drink it with like I told you to?" Francie asked with a knowing laugh.
The hottest, Sydney thought to herself, as she fought to suppress a smile.
"No, I just drank it by myself and had my own little party," Sydney lied. She desperately wanted to tell Francie about Vaughn, but she knew that she couldn't. Francie would be full of questions that Sydney couldn't answer right now. So for the time being, she would have to pretend that she hadn't just spent the weekend with the most wonderful man on earth, which was difficult, because she wanted to shout it from the rooftops. She wanted the whole world, especially Arvin Sloane, to know that she was in love with Michael Vaughn.
"Bummer," said Francie with a disappointed shrug. "You'd think there would be a lot of hot guys at a ski resort. I was hoping you'd meet someone."
"Well, I still had a good time," Sydney shrugged. It was time to change the subject. "So how was *your* weekend?"
"It was okay. I spent most of it at the restaurant. I had no idea how much work it takes to get a restaurant off the ground. Fortunately, Will's been a huge help. Speaking of, you didn't forget that we're going out for his birthday tomorrow night, did you?"
Sydney gulped. Actually, she had forgotten. Over the past few days, she had blocked everything from her mind but Vaughn. Luckily, she had bought Will's gift weeks ago, just in case Sloane sent her on a last minute mission right before his birthday. "Tomorrow, right. Yes, we're still on," she assured Francie.
"Good. I was just about to order Chinese, do you want something? Moo shoo pork and an eggroll?" she asked with a smile.
Sydney grinned. "You know me too well. I'm gonna unpack, and then I'll be out in a few minutes, okay?"
"Sure," said Francie as she left the room. As Sydney began to unpack, memories of the weekend came flooding back to her. Her parka reminded her of skiing with Vaughn, and how she couldn't stop staring at him as the rode the ski lift to the top of the slopes. She unpacked a sweater and remembered the romantic sleigh ride he had surprised her with, and how warm she felt snuggled up next to him despite the bitter cold. She pulled out a red dress and smiled, remembering that she hadn't actually gotten to wear it to dinner because she and Vaughn had gotten . . . distracted.
Sydney glanced over at the phone next to her bed. She desperately wanted to call Vaughn and hear his voice, but she didn't want to seem overeager. She shook her head ruefully. She couldn't believe that, after everything they had been through, she was actually worried about appearing to be overeager. She couldn't help it, though. Vaughn made her feel like a teen aged girl with her first crush. She prayed that the feeling would never go away.
*****
Later, just as she was about to climb into bed, Sydney heard a faint ringing sound. Her heart began pounding a mile a minute as she frantically looked around her room and tried to remember where the sound was coming from. As the symbolic start of her brief vacation last Wednesday, she'd buried her CIA phone and SD-6 pager in a drawer underneath her clothes. Only now, she couldn't remember *which* drawer as she scrambled over to her dresser and listened for the sound of the ring. On the sixth ring, she finally located the phone, and pressed the talk button.
"Hello?" she said breathlessly.
"Hi, it's me." She didn't need to ask for further identification. "Are you alright? You sound like you just ran a marathon," Vaughn chuckled.
"I'm fine," she said as a grin broke out on her face. "I just forgot where I put my phone before I left last week, and I was trying to find it."
"Oh. Sorry to call you so late. I just wanted to make sure that you made it home safely."
Sydney closed her eyes and happily sighed as she climbed back into bed. Vaughn was the sweetest man alive. "Yes, I'm fine. And in the words of a very amazing man, you don't ever have to apologize for calling me," she said with a smile.
He laughed, and even though she only heard it through the phone line, it made her feel warm inside. "I figured you probably wouldn't be too put out. I just couldn't go to sleep without knowing that you were safe."
"I am," she said softly. "Are you okay? How was your flight?"
"Short and uneventful. It wasn't even long enough for me to have a decent fantasy about you."
"Funny, I had *plenty* of fantasies about you during *my* flight, which I assume was the same length as yours," she teased. She reached over to turn out the light on her nightstand, then snuggled down into her bed. It was crazy, but she thought she could better picture his facial expressions in complete darkness.
"What were we doing in those fantasies?" Vaughn asked, an amused expression in his voice.
"Well, one of them involved the desk in Devlin's office and your gun holster . . ." her voice trailed off. "What do you suppose that was all about?" she asked innocently.
"I don't know, maybe you should discuss it with Barnett." He loved joking around with her like this. "So you like the gun holster, huh?" He laughed, but his voice was low and seductive.
"The gun holster," she said slowly, "is *very* sexy."
"I'll store that away for future reference. Listen, I should probably go. We both have early days tomorrow."
"I know," she sighed. She would have gladly stayed on the phone all night long talking to him. "Hey, now that we're back home, and things have to return to normal -- whatever that is -- can I still tell you that I love you?"
"You'd better. I wouldn't want to be the only one saying it. I love you, too. Sweet dreams, Sydney."
"You too," she said before she hung up the phone. She didn't have to guess what her dreams would be about tonight and every night for the foreseeable future.
TBC . . .