Perfect Romance

Author: Janet (SkyGirl5)

Genre: S/V, AU

Summary: Actress extraordinaire, Sydney Bristow, leads a lonely secluded life in Los Angeles. Except for her internet romance, that is. Then again, it's not and internet romance since she is dead set against them. Still, she feels connected to her online "friend" Michael more than she can describe and wonders if maybe, just maybe, the two of them would mesh just as perfectly in real life. If he didn't turn out to be an axe murderer, that is. [30]

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

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Chapters 1-10 // Chapters 11 - 20 // Chapters 21-30 + Epilogue

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Chapter 21



Romance on the Set!
Co-stars Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn in Atomic Winter

Well it’s happened again – two costars getting a bit too cozy on the set leading to the inevitable steamy offset romance. Except, this time, it did not happen in quite the usual fashion.

Sydney Bristow, undoubtedly one of the hottest female stars today, and Michael Vaughn, an equally hot (at least in the physique department) star, met on the set of their new movie, Atomic Winter or so it would seem. A close source reveals only to star that the duo actually met nearly a year earlier in the most unusual way – over the dating website PerfectRomance.com.

Now we’re all wondering why two gorgeous celebrities such as these needed to use the internet to find romance. Apparently, so is this source! “I have no idea why they did it, but they did. Here’s the kicker,” the source tells us, “they didn’t even know they were famous until they met! It’s totally a coincidence!” A coincidence indeed.

“It’s easy to tell how in love they are when they’re working together. Always laughing and kissing in between takes; they’re in deep,” the source tells us. You heard it here, ladies and gentlemen, keep your eyes peeled for something sparkly on Ms. Bristow’s left hand!

“This was inevitable, you know,” Michael sighed heavily before crouching down to scratch Leila’s ears. After a few day jaunt away from their reality, which, ironically, was other people’s normalcy, they arrived home to find this. Both their managers plus the publicist for Atomic Winter left messages on their phones while they were away, having gotten wind of the article before it went to press, but Sydney and Michael had a strict no cell phones policy while in Virginia, so they did not discover it until after they landed at LAX. By that point, the article was already circulating the country and was the talk of entertainment news programs alike.

“I know but… god this is just so awful! How did they find out about the website too!? We didn’t tell like anyone about that and oh my god its just so bad,” Sydney whined before cramming her face down into her couch cushions. Michael reached up and patted her back softly.

“It’s not that bad… I mean, wouldn’t you rather have it this way – the truth – then them saying we met on set and two days later, decided we were horny and jumped into bed,” Michael offered. Sydney gave an incoherent grumble. “This way is better,” Michael said factually. “I mean, they know we’re serious now.”

“Yeah I guess,” Sydney sighed, sitting up straight. “It’s just… they’re going to be hounding us to find out why and how we met over PerfectRomance.com. I never wanted that to get out. Oh god! What if PerfectRomance like…sues us because people keep going on their site to find more celebrities!!” she gasped in horror.

Michael laughed softly. “If anything they’ll want us to be spokespeople for the site since this will actually give them more business…”

“We’re not doing that,” Sydney told him seriously.

“I…hadn’t planned on it,” he said slowly. Then, he sat down beside her and put his arms around her shoulders. “Syd, I think you’re making too big a deal out of this; it’s really not going to be that bad. Besides, look at the bright side – at least this way we can leave the house without causing mass panic. Everyone already knows so it will be fine. C’mon, think how fun it was back in Virginia. Didn’t you have fun?” he asked, nudging her lightly.

Sydney smiled softly at him, recalling their perfect escape to the East coast. She did not know what was her favorite part – kissing under the fireworks display in the park, getting into a bit of mischief in her parent’s hot tub, or simply being with him in public, shopping and doing whatever they wanted. It was wonderful. “I had the best time in Virginia, but you’re forgetting one key difference. In Virginia there were no paparazzi; here another one is spawned every minute.”

Michael laughed. “That’s true… but you seriously need to have a positive attitude about this.”

“How about you be positive and I’ll be bitter?” she suggested. Grumbling, Michael reached behind him, grabbed a pillow, and smacked her in the face with it. “Hey!”

“Quit being insane,” he warned.

“Fine.”

“Good. Now I expect a positive attitude from you missy. And we’re going grocery shopping together,” he said firmly.

“You mean so the paparazzi can look in our cart and see what brand of condoms we’re using so they can broadcast it to the entire universe?! Maybe we can be spokes people for that too!” she said with sarcastic excitement.

Michael gave her a look. “First, I thought you were going to stop being bitter? Second, we’ll start buying them on Amazon.com.”

Sydney’s brow wrinkled. “You can buy them there?”

“You can buy everything there,” he told her simply. “We’ll get ‘em in bulk,” he added with a wicked grin. This succeeded in getting Sydney to crack a soft smile as she looked down to her lap. “There are those dimples,” he commented, poking his finger into one of them.

“Yeah, yeah… I’m sorry I’m being so weird; I think its PMS,” she told him seriously.

“That’s perfectly alright,” he laughed.

Just as they were beginning to forget about the tabloids and focus on each other’s lips, Sydney’s cell phone rang and she stupidly answered it. On the other end was Claire, wanting to drop by with some news she deemed to be very exciting. Reluctantly, Sydney agreed to the impromptu visit as long as it was quick.

“Oh my god this is just so awesome you’re going to love it! Oh hi Michael,” Claire beamed as she skidded into the sitting area and plopped down into a chair across from the couch, where Sydney and Michael were sitting. “It’s good you’re here; you should see this too,” she told them before handing over a sheet of paper obviously printed out from an email.

Sydney made no effort to reach out for it, so Michael took it and began to read. After just a minute he burst out laughing so hard he could hardly sit up straight. He clutched his side as he fell back against the couch, laughing. Intrigued, Sydney snatched the paper up and began to read it. “Holy shit,” she proclaimed. “PerfectRomance.com wants us to be spokespeople?!!?!”

“How great is that?!” Claire exclaimed. “You’d do commercials for them and billboards. I bet they’d pay you a bunch. You could help people become just as happy as you two are!”

“No, no, no, no, no!” Sydney exclaimed as Michael continued to laugh. “We were just discussing this – NO!!!!”

Claire’s face fell slightly. “Why not?”

“For like… a billion reasons. Number one being I don’t want to be a spokesperson for anything…not to mention the fact that I still think internet romances are skeevy. So no – N-O.”

“Fine,” Claire sighed sadly. “Boy my sister’s gonna be jealous when she hears about this…”

“Well then she should do the commercial with her husband – tell the PerfectRomance people that she has my highest recommendation,” Sydney said. Then, she glared over towards Michael, who was still laughing. Under her icy stare, he immediately stopped, cleared his throat and sat up properly. “That’s better.”



Chapter 22

The first few days back on set after a nice relaxing break from the world or memorization were rocky at best. Sydney, Michael, and the other actors continually flubbed their lines, aggravating each other and the director. Another problem adding tension to the situation was the constant paparazzi infiltration of their set. Practically every ten minutes security was dragging another man with a camera out of the off-limits area, kicking and screaming all the way. Sydney and Michael felt incredibly guilty for these disruptions since they were, in a way, their fault entirely.

In addition to the on-set madness, Sydney found day to day tasks becoming increasingly difficult since, apparently, she and Michael were the paparazzo’s flavor of the week. While exiting the grocery store, she could hardly push her cart past the men snapping her photograph and shouting questions about Michael, their relationship, and PerfectRomance.com. She encountered a similar problem while walking Leila at a dog park nearby her house.

Michael, too, had to face swarms of paparazzi for the first time in his life. When picking up a few of his suits from the drycleaners his picture was taken almost constantly through the glass windows of the shop. When he ran out to Starbucks to grab a latte, he could not even get back into his car since the photographers were blocking his path there. Puck, who was waiting for him in his BMW, was barking his head off, but that did not seem to faze any of the men with cameras; they just wanted to get their shots in so they could get paid.

By the end of the week, all Sydney wanted to do was curl up on the couch in her sweatpants and never move. Michael, it seemed, had other plans. While he was annoyed by the paparazzi, that annoyance was overcome by the desire to take Sydney out on a real date at an elegant LA eatery. Sydney was hesitant to agree to this at first, but Michael was so persistent she just couldn’t say no. She had to admit, though, it was rather adorable to see him so anxious to take her out for a nice meal, especially when it seemed most men had to be dragged out kicking and screaming to such an occasion.

On Saturday night, after arriving home from the set, Sydney changed into a nice black cocktail dress and fixed her hair and makeup so that she was ready when Michael came to pick her up at six forty-five. Their reservation was not until seven-thirty, which was a bit later than Sydney preferred to eat her dinner, but when going out at an LA restaurant, that time was concerned to be on the earlier side of things.

“You bought me a dozen roses,” Sydney laughed softly when she opened the door to find Michael and the bouquet.

“Of course – this is a real date after all and you’re looking extraordinarily beautiful tonight, might I add,” he grinned.

Sydney smiled as she took the roses from him. “Gee, Michael, you don’t have to try that hard – you’re already gonna get some tonight.”

“Good to know,” he laughed softly.

Sydney and Michael were pleasantly surprised to find there was no swarm of reporters waiting outside the restaurant. They were able to slip inside and wait patiently to be seated. Through their waiter, they discovered there were other celebrities in the restaurant that night, but neither Sydney nor Michael had met them before and decided not to interrupt their dinner.

After a perfect meal topped off with a delicious dessert, Sydney and Michael were preparing to leave the restaurant when they were warned by the hostess that a group of photographers were waiting outside the main entrance. Of course, this did not surprise either of them considering who was in the restaurant, but they were annoyed none the less.

Since the restaurant did not allow them to sneak out the back, Sydney and Michael were forced to go out the front and face the throngs of picture takers. Michael held tightly to Sydney’s hand as they pushed their way through the crowd, keeping their eyes trained on their feet. They ignored the questions they were bombarded with and focused on the task at hand: reaching Michael’s car unscathed.

“God they’re like rabid animals,” Michael muttered as he put on his seatbelt. The paparazzo’s camera lenses were practically pressed up against the car window as they tried to snap pictures of the new ‘it’ couple.

“Make sure you don’t hit one of them Michael,” she warned softly. Even if Michael’s bumper just tapped one of the men she had a sinking feeling they would sue for millions claiming massive internal damage.

“I know, I know,” he grumbled.

Once out on the main road, things were better for a little while anyway. After just a few blocks of driving, a black car with a photographer hanging out the window pulled up beside them. Michael tried to ignore them as they waited for the red light to turn green, but it was difficult.

When they were driving once more, another car pulled up on the other side of them with someone in the back seat behind the driver trying to snap pictures. Soon they were surrounded with cars full of paparazzi and they had little room to maneuver. “Michael watch out; you’re not in the lane!” Sydney cautioned, gripping the door handle a bit tighter.

“Well these guys are pushing me over! They’re not driving right either because of their damn cameras!”

“Michael slow down! This is really dangerous… you’re going to hit-”

“Oh shit!” Michael exclaimed as he slammed on his breaks. Luckily he did so just in time; instead of slamming into the light post on the side of the curved road with full force, he merely tapped it, causing a minor jolt.

“-something…,” Sydney let her voice drift off when the car finally came to a stop with an unpleasant crunching noise.

“Oh damnit,” Michael groaned, slamming his vehicle into park, which, at that point, was merely a formality since the car was not going anywhere with the pole in the way. “Are you alright?” he asked Sydney with a sigh.

“I’m fine; you barely hit it,” Sydney assured him.

“But look at my caaaaar,” he whined, staring pointedly at the crunched right corner which, undoubtedly had a broken light if not more. It was only then that he noticed the group of paparazzi photographing the incident, practically climbing on top of his car hood to get a better glimpse of the damage. “Great, next week’s star is going to read, ‘Vaughn drinks, drives, and has an accident,’” he grumbled.

With this comment, Sydney began to panic mildly, wondering what Michael’s blood alcohol level was just incase the police stopped by. Then she remembered that he had not even finished his glass of wine at dinner, and considering he was a good one hundred and eighty pounds, they were in the clear. “Let’s just get out of here, okay?” she suggested hopefully.

“Well we could, except they’re blocking us in,” Michael said, glancing behind him to see a paparazzo’s car right behind his.

“Well… should we get out and ask them to leave?” Sydney suggested hopefully. Michael gave her a look that made it clear he thought that was quite possibly the most absurd idea ever. “Right…”

After a few minutes of sitting there dumbfounded, a police officer arrived and the paparazzi scattered quickly. He asked if Michael and Sydney were alright, and they assured him they were fine, but forced off the road due to the photographers. The officer then offered to escort them home, but Michael refused; after being scared off he knew the paparazzi would not return. After all, they did have a very vital picture already in their possession.

“Oh god look at this! The entire headlight is busted and the bumper is dented… those assholes won’t even have to pay for this,” Michael growled as he inspected the damage to his precious vehicle once they were safe at Sydney’s home.

“Michael you can afford to fix the headlight,” she assured him calmly.

“But it’s the principle!! God these people...they don’t even care about our safety, just about getting their damn pictures,” he grumbled.

“Michael calm down; it’s over now,” she said. Then she took his hand and forced him away from his car and into the house, where Leila and Puck were waiting. Immediately the dogs went over to Michael, sensing his agitation, and nuzzled their noses into his hand. He knelt down and scratched them both, which made him feel slightly better about the situation.

Sydney knelt down beside him a moment later and kissed his cheek softly. “I’m sorry they chase us like that…”

“It’s not your fault Syd, they just…suck. I can’t wait until I can just get away from here and them…they make this whole acting thing not worthwhile,” he sighed sadly.

“Imagine how you’d feel if you had to deal with them for the past few years like me,” she sighed with a wry smile. He gave her a sympathetic look. “Seriously, though, when do you think you’ll be getting away from here? Anytime soon?”

“I dunno, I say I’m going to quit after every movie I do. One of these times I’ll make good on that,” he laughed softly.

“Yeah me too,” she laughed in return.



Chapter 23

As Michael predicted, their run-in with the lamp post and the paparazzi did make headlines, but not in the way they expected. True, Star did have a blurb about Michael being an alcoholic and endangering the welfare of not only himself and Sydney but the other innocent drivers as well. A different article appeared in the LA Times, though, asking the question: have the paparazzi gone too far? They cited Sydney and Michael’s treacherous accident along with many other occurrences, calling for better vigilance among the camera-toting slime. It was one thing to be sitting on a park bench waiting for a celebrity to jog by, but chasing them down in an SUV and literally running them off the road was quite another.

In the few weeks following the accident, Sydney and Michael were bothered less and less by the paparazzi. Whether it was the subsequent media firestorm from the first accident or the fact that Britney Spears was allegedly pregnant again, they weren’t sure, but they certainly were not going to question their streak of luck. They simply enjoyed the calm while it lasted and took Leila and Puck for an extra long walk on the beach while they were at it.

During the last week of June, Sydney was sitting home alone on a Saturday night debating what to do with her free time. She had spent practically every evening during the prior three months with Michael and was thus unaccustomed to entertaining herself. That particular night, Michael was out with a friend of his from a prior acting job attending a part or something-or-other; Sydney had not caught the detailed itinerary of their evening, but she trusted Michael enough not to need a play-by-play account of his whereabouts.

Sitting there with Leila at her feet, she cursed herself for not inviting Claire over to have a Girls Night In. Then again, she had not seen much of her assistant lately, aside from their time on set, since Claire was busy with her new boyfriend. Most of the time Sydney did not mind this one bit. After all, she had Michael, who was perfect company and more and more becoming the best friend she never knew she needed.

Oh a whim, she decided to check her email to see if one of her parents or aunts had sent her something amusing she could waste a few minutes on. In doing so, she found she had an email from Wire Image alerting her to new pictures of either herself or Michael. Being a mildly paranoid person especially when it came to paparazzi pictures of herself with a box of Tampax, Sydney had signed up for the alert emails so she could keep tabs on what sort of pictures of herself or Michael were floating around the web for purely damage control reasons, of course.

Following the link in the email, she found pictures of Michael surrounded by buxom, half-naked women. Utterly confused, she leaned forward to read the caption. Actor Michael Vaughn attending Spike Night at the Playboy Mansion, it read. “Playboy mansion?” she repeated aloud with horror. Well, at least that explained the bikini clad bimbos whose chests where infuriatingly pressed up against her boyfriend’s.

Livid, Sydney reached for her cell phone on a nearby table, aiming to leave Michael a very bitter, irate, threatening message. Before she began to dial, though, she stopped herself short. She took a few deep breaths and began to think rationally for a moment.

Maybe Michael did not realize his friend would be taking him to the Playboy Mansion. Perhaps this friend sprung that location on him when they were already en route, thereby making it difficult for him to refuse. Admittedly, this was not the most likely of scenarios but it was certainly possible.

Setting the phone down cautiously, Sydney decided to give Michael the benefit of the doubt. He had never lied to her before and thus never given a reason to be untrustworthy. Perhaps there was a perfectly rational reason as to why he was spending his evening surrounded by whores. Either way, Sydney was going to wait and see what Michael revealed to her about his evening. If he confessed, there would be no problem. Okay, there would be a little problem since he was actually there, drinking and apparently enjoying himself. If he did not, however, reveal his location to her, there would be hell to pay.

~*~

The next morning as planned, Michael arrived at Sydney’s armed with bagels and the appropriate amount of groceries to make them a nice brunch. Sydney greeted him at the door with a smile – not a kiss – and immediately asked how his evening was.

“Oh you know,” he responded casually, “fine…uneventful.”

“You didn’t have fun?” she asked, maintaining her calm exterior.

“Oh no it was fine…”

“Where did you go?” she asked, following him back into the kitchen.

“Just here and there,” he said with a casual shrug.

Now furious at his obvious deceit, Sydney breathed in sharply. “Oh yeah? So how was Heff? How about the bunnies?” she challenged.

“What?!” Michael asked, giving her a genuinely confused look.

“You. Last night. Playboy Mansion,” she grunted out. “So how was it, huh? How was the place of lies, deceit, and STDs!” she emphasized, hitting his arm with each word.

“Oh my god!! How did you know that?! Were you following me?!” he demanded.

Sydney gasped, even more furious that he had the nerve to raise his voice to her. “No I was not following you! Michael! You were at the Playboy Mansion with those…those women with their breasts the size of Rhode Island pressed all over you! Why would you lie to me about that?! WHY?” she demanded.

“Because it wasn’t a big deal alright? I just went to…hang out,” he defended casually.

“Hang out?! HANG OUT!? That’s like saying you went to the strip club just for the tasty peanuts on the bar!!!!” she spat. “What is the matter with you?! Why would you go there?!”

“Why do you have such a problem with the Playboy Mansion?” he challenged.

Sydney nearly exploded. “HELLO!! Naked women! You, my boyfriend, surrounded by naked women. How could I not have a problem with that?!!!”

“Okay first, no one was naked,” Michael clarified. “And second, it’s not like I find them attractive – I don’t!” he defended at the scoffing noise Sydney made. “I admit that they’re not the ugliest women in the world but I’m not attracted to them. They’re just people – hostesses - for a party I was invited too. Plus, frankly, some of them are a little scary. I mean, with the size of their chest it defies the laws of physics that they’re actually standing up straight!”

At this, Sydney almost cracked a small smile, but she managed to keep a firm scowl across her face. “Sydney,” Michael sighed in a softer tone, taking a step closer to her. “I don’t care about them – I love you. You’re a million times more beautiful and more perfect than they are, okay? I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I didn’t think it was a big deal since I wasn’t going with the intension to ogle the Bunnies, okay? I’m sorry.”

After a few minute silence, Sydney could not help but help but grumble at his perfect apology. “Fine,” she sighed, “but I really don’t want you going back there; it makes me uncomfortable.”

“Deal,” he laughed softly, opening up his arms to hug her. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his back. “You know what’s funny? I think that was our first fight…”

She laughed softly as she looked up to him, “Yeah I guess it was.”

A wicked grin crossed his face. “You know what that means don’t you?”

It took Sydney a moment to catch his implication, but when she did she rolled her eyes. “Terrible.”

“Hey! I was serious!”



Chapter 24

“Oh my god, it’s so freakin’ hot,” Michael moaned as he collapsed back into his designated chair on the set. Just a few days after their first fight and subsequent reconciliation, Los Angeles was hit with one of the hottest heat waves in years. With temperatures well above the ninety degree mark, the cast and crew of Atomic Winter were suffering greatly since all of their filming was done outside. Ironically, the scenes they were supposed to be acting out were to be taking place in very hot temperatures, but the actors had hoped they could act out the suffering instead of living through it.

“I know,” Sydney sighed as she fanned herself with a few script pages. “I think its only supposed to be eighty-nine tomorrow…”

“Oh? Only eighty-nine? How nice; I’ll bring my jacket,” Michael said dryly. Sydney rolled her eyes at him.

“Okay people let’s go. C’mon the faster we get this done the sooner we call all get into the air conditioning,” the director reminded them.

Groaning, Sydney and Michael forced themselves from their chairs and shuffled their way onto the set. After touching-up the makeup ruined by sweat, they continued on with the scenes they were trying to film. To make the heat seem even worse, one of the cast mates was continually flubbing up his lines due to a rumored hangover.

During one of their breaks between scenes, Sydney was standing and talking to Michael when she saw Claire waving rather frantically to her. Confused, Sydney hurried over to her, asking what was wrong. “I don’t know,” Claire said in a rather frazzled manner. “Your cell was ringing like every five minutes, so finally I answered it and it’s the police.”

“What?!” Sydney gasped. She quickly took the phone from Claire and held it up to her ear only to find the officer on the other end of the line had rather grim news. This information was immediately displayed in her facial expression, further concerning Claire and Michael, who had been right behind her as she left the set area.

“What’s wrong?” he asked once she lowered the phone from her ear.

“My house is on fire,” she said distantly.

“WHAT?!” Claire and Michael exclaimed in unison.

“My house… they said its on fire but under control… I don’t…,” she let her voice drift off, unable to process such information.

“Oh Sydney,” Michael sighed, putting his arms around her, “I’m sorry…but it’s going to be alright.”

“Michael I no longer have a house – how is that alright?!!” she demanded, pushing herself away from his embrace.

“Well,” Michael paused to think of that fact a moment. “At least Leila wasn’t there! She’s here with Puck so you don’t have to worry about them.”

“That’s true,” Sydney conceded softly.

By this point, the other people on set were alerted to the peculiar behavior going on off-set, so they began to gather around to investigate, asking if everything was alright. Sydney sadly informed them that the police called to tell her there was a fire at her house and she did not know how bad it was, though it was obvious that no fire could be good. Everyone was genuinely sympathetic to her situation and wished for the best possible outcome.

“I just don’t understand it… it was fine when we left the house this morning!” she insisted to Michael. He shifted nervously as a few of their cast mates cracked smiles at her use of the term ‘we’.

“Syd these things can start subtly without any warning; there’s probably nothing you could have done,” he told her with a sigh. It was true; short of leaving a candle burning (which they had not) or leaving a known faulty appliance unattended, fires were often just the result of accidents or electric shortages in equipment that gave no signs of malfunction.

“Yeah I guess,” she sighed.

“C’mon let’s just finish the day and then we can go back to my place and I’ll let you eat a whole tub of Ben & Jerry’s and pretend I ate it instead,” he smiled enticingly at her. Sydney couldn’t help but laugh and nod her head, agreeing to this plan.

For the rest of the day, Sydney was understandably distracted from her work. She managed to focus enough to say her lines, but every time someone else was speaking, visions of her charbroiled home would flash into her mind. She knew Michael was right in saying that the most important thing was that she, Leila and Puck were safe, but she could not feel sad about the things she lost that could not be replaced like pictures and some mementoes from her time in LA and back at home during her teen years.

Finally, at six pm, after nearly twelve hours of work, Sydney and Michael were done for the day. Michael promised to follow her home in his car so that he could be with her when she assessed the damage to her home. More than anything he hoped that something was left and not just a blacked frame either.

When they arrived at Sydney’s dwelling, a fire truck was still parked outside, blocking her driveway. So they had to park down the street a ways. Leaving the dogs in the car with the windows cracked, Michael took Sydney’s hand and walked with her towards the house, which was still not visible due to the other houses and a high wall blocking it from view. A few feet away from the driveway, a fireman stopped them and asked who they were. Sydney informed him that her house was the one that caught fire and then he informed her of the damage.

As fire damage went, Sydney’s house was a best case scenario. Apparently, something out on the back deck had been smoldering (they were not sure what yet) for quite some time, creating a significant amount of smoke. This alerted one of Sydney’s neighbors to call the fire department, so just as they were arriving, the large flames were beginning. All said and done Sydney’s garage was effectively destroyed but the opposite end of the house was virtually untouched. The fireman informed her that there was still an investigation and evaluation that needed to be done, but most likely she would be able to collect some of her non-damaged things at least from the first floor of the home.

This news was definitely a weight off both Sydney and Michael’s shoulders. They thanked the fireman for his assistance before walking over to Sydney’s driveway to examine the damage first hand. As the fireman said, not much of Sydney’s garage was left, and it was indeed a charred mess. While the windows were broken on the other end of the house, it appeared just like it had before any fire took place, which definitely was a positive sign.

“C’mon,” Michael encourage, wrapping his arm around Sydney’s shoulder. “Let’s take the dogs back to my place, get something to eat, and then go out to Home Depot to buy some plywood to nail those windows shut.”

“We’ll need a hammer and nails too,” Sydney suggested lightly before following Michael back to their cars.



Chapter 25

By the time Sydney and Michael had secured Sydney’s house from possible intruders, they were both utterly exhausted. Michael could hardly hold himself upright as he walked the dogs around his backyard before falling into bed beside Sydney. Luckily for him, he did not have any scenes to film the following day due to his supporting-cast-only role in the movie. Aside from sleeping, he presumed some of his day off would be spent shopping around for eventual items for Sydney, namely underwear, which she had none of save what she was wearing at present. That was probably the only item of clothing Michael could buy for her that she did not have to try on first and, clearly, it was one of the most important things she needed.

The next morning, Michael awoke at the same time as Sydney even though he did not have to. He had every intension of going to sleep after letting the dogs out, but he needed to speak with her and asked her what her plan was for getting new clothing to wear. Though Sydney appreciated Michael’s offer to go and buy her some necessary items and even joked about how he would have too much fun in Victoria’s Secret, she assured him it was not necessary. She planned on sending Claire out to buy her some necessities, and then use the day off she had in a few days to buy the rest of the things she needed.

After bidding her goodbye, Michael returned to bed, but he had trouble sleeping for more than half an hour. All he could think about was how terrible he felt for Sydney in her situation. He could not imagine losing all his belongings in a fire; it made him heartsick. He wished more than anything she had not lost her things, but sadly there was nothing he could do a bout it. They just had to hope that her remaining belongings were not too terribly damaged by smoke, water, and the fire itself.

~*~

Two days later, Sydney received a call from the fire department informing her that they were still uncertain of the cause of the blaze in her home. They did, however, evaluate the structure of the home and found there was no major damage, so Sydney could arrange a time when a fireman would be there to escort her into her home enabling her to collect her remaining belongings. She was concerned as to how she was going to accomplish that with a busy filming schedule, but the director kindly agreed to shut down production for a day since Sydney’s house fire was an extreme and unusual circumstance.

Sydney was not sure how many of her belongings were salvageable, but she wanted to go prepared just incase a lot of them were. Plus, she only had one shot at it. Between her own car, Michael’s car, and Claire’s car, she figured she would have enough room to collect everything and take it back to Michael’s, where she was staying temporarily.

Much to her disappointment, on the day she was to collect her things, there was a swarm of paparazzi outside her house. Not surprisingly, the news of the fire had been reported, not just in the tabloids, but practically every major news paper and station in the country. Sydney did not mind this too much; after all, house fires of any kind typically made the news in some shape or form. She simply did not want any more press than necessary. Clearly, that would not be happening.

Once, she, Michael and Claire backed their cars into her driveway and locked the gates behind them, keeping the photographers a safe distance away, they collected around Sydney’s car to wait for their firemen escort. “So how do you want to do this?” Michael asked, gesturing towards the remains of her home.

“Well I don’t know,” she sighed. Mentally, she was touring her house, trying to recall what items she wanted were where. Also, she was trying to figure out which rooms were undamaged. “I guess you could start downstairs. Get the things around the TV – CDs, DVDs… they should be fine. Then I guess go through the books and if they’re not too waterlogged take them. Claire, you can go up to my bathroom and just clean out the drawers. It doesn’t have to be neat; just dump everything into a box. I’ll work on my clothes,” she concluded. They all agreed to this plan just as the police and firemen arrived and rattled the gate, announcing their presence.

Before entering the rubble, the firemen gave the trio instructions to only walk where they were told and to be extremely careful, especially going upstairs. Then, they made their way inside through the front door, which luckily was still in the non-burned side of the house. Inside the foyer, not much difference could be seen between the house’s present state and its pre-fire one. True, their nostrils stung from the aura of burnt rubble and everything was much soggier than it was before, but at first glance not much difference could be seen.

“I’d like to go in there and pack up the things around the TV,” Michael said, pointing across the adjoining room, to the TV which could be seen from their vantage point. The firemen nodded and gestured for Michael to go ahead on his own, warning him to watch out for sagging drywall.

Upstairs, evidence of the fire was more prominent. Parts of the ceiling were falling down and charred roof rafters could be seen above. Also, the part of the upstairs closest to the garage was burnt and black, giving Sydney a very eerie feeling. Shivering slightly, she made her way into her bedroom which, again, aside from water damage, was looking just as it had before.

Claire immediately disappeared into the bathroom as per Sydney’s instructions, while Sydney went over to her chest of drawers. Not wasting any time with neatness since she did not want to take up any more of the firemen’s time than necessary, she pulled open the first drawer and proceeded to dump it into the box at her feet; she would sort through her things later.

Two boxes later, she was done with that area of her bedroom and moved on to the next. She stripped the sheets from her bed, took the rest of her linens and towels from a closet outside her bedroom and then proceeded to her clothes closet, where she was met with a very unpleasant surprise.

Apparently, in the back of her walk-in closet, the fire had begun to break through the roof, so many of her clothes were covered in dark soot and smelling terribly of smoke. She peeled the melted plastic cover off the dress she wore to the Oscars two years prior and sadly slipped the ruined garment into an empty box. Then, she continued on with the task at hand.

“Get everything?” Michael asked when Sydney emerged from the house covered in sweat and black soot.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I don’t know what to do with my furniture, though. I mean, I think some of it could be salvaged… do you think I should just donate it?”

Michael shrugged. “You don’t have to decide that now.”

She nodded and walked past him and towards her car so they could take all of her belongings to Michael’s house. Before she climbed into the driver’s side, she stopped short upon catching a glimpse of what was in the back seat of Michael’s car. “You took my TV!?”

“It was a fifty inch flat panel plasma screen!” he defended quickly. Sydney gave him a look. “What?! I think it’ll work fine….” Rolling her eyes slightly, Sydney climbed into her car and started the engine.

After fighting their way through the paparazzi swarm, Sydney, Michael, and Claire made their way to Michael’s house, where they unloaded all the boxes they had into Michael’s garage. Then, they bid Claire goodbye, and stared rather dumbfounded at the mass of filthy, smoked-scented items.

“I think,” Sydney began with a sigh, “I need a shower before I can deal with this…”

“Yeah sure,” Michael encouraged, nodding towards the house. She gave him a half smile before walking inside and shutting the door behind her. Michael waited a few minutes before going inside himself, bypassing the dogs panting and wagging their tails at him, and making his way back to the bathroom. There, he shed his clothes and stepped into the steaming shower only to find Sydney hunched over a she leaned up against the wall, crying.

Michael stepped directly behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. Sydney turned around and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, still sobbing. “It’s just so stupid,” she choked out. “I shouldn’t be upset… no one was hurt but…”

“It’s okay,” Michael assured her. “It’s okay.”



Chapter 26

After showering and cleaning the soot off of themselves, Sydney and Michael returned to the garage to sort through Sydney’s belongings. She decided that all of her clothes, towels, and bed linens would have to be washed before brought into the house due to the extreme smell of smoke they possessed. The other items could simply be wiped off with a damp cloth if necessary and placed into an appropriate position for the time being.

“So I was thinking…,” Michael began cautiously as he was helping Sydney sort her clothes into appropriate piles so they could be washed. “I know how we sort of have this unspoken agreement that you’re going to stay here for a while, but I was thinking that maybe you could stay here for good…”

“Really?” Sydney asked with surprise, her eyes snapping up to meet his. They had only been technically dating for a little more than three months. Was that too soon for them to move in together even if she really wanted to?

“Yeah. I mean, we’re spending so much of our time together now it seems ridiculous for you to get another house. Even if you did, you would probably only live there a few months before we moved in together anyway, so once again it would be pointless,” he smiled at his rationalization.

“But… you don’t think it’s too soon. I want to move in here,” she clarified, not wanting to make him think her excuses indicated she felt otherwise. “I’m just not sure if its too soon…”

“Well I don’t know,” he said, walking over and wrapping his arms around her waist. “I mean, okay, maybe we’ve only been technically dating for three and a half months – so what? We’ve known each other in some form for a year now…and dating at least six months so I think it’s a perfect time. Besides, even if we did wait a few more months to move in together it wouldn’t change the way I feel about you. I’d still love you just as much as I do right now…well maybe a little bit more,” he told her with a grin.

Sydney laughed softly, leaned up and gave him a sweet kiss. “Well how can I say no to that?”

“Um, I don’t think you can actually,” he laughed.

“No, you’re right; I can’t,” she said before giving him another kiss.

“Excellent,” he grinned. He gave her a brief forehead kiss before walking back to the boxes of clothing he was sorting. Meanwhile, Sydney carried a load of whites into the house to throw into the washing machine. When she returned a few minutes later, she walked over to Michael and rubbed his back lovingly.

“You know what I was thinking? It’s a good think I’m not moving all my stuff in here because there wouldn’t be room for it. I guess that’s one good thing about a fire; it causes you to purge all of your things and get new,” she said.

“Yeah but didn’t you like some of your stuff?”

She shrugged slightly. “Yeah I guess, but I wasn’t in love with anything in particular.”

“Well then it’s okay I guess,” he said with a slight shrug.

A moment later, Sydney excused herself to answer her ringing cell phone, which according to the caller ID had her parents on the other end. As she walked into the house, Leila made her way out into the garage. She walked over to Michael and nudged his leg ever so slightly, obviously wanting attention. “Hey girl,” Michael said with a soft laugh. He crouched down to her level so he could give her ears a good scratching. “Are you gonna have fun staying here with Puck and I? Well don’t have too much fun; we don’t need any half lab-half retriever puppies running around here,” he cautioned her.

A few minutes later, Sydney returned with a rather unhappy expression. “Well, my parents aren’t very happy, but that’s to be expected when their daughter is shacking up with her boyfriend…”

“You told them?!” Michael asked with mild shock.

“Well I figure they’re gonna find out anyway…I mean, those paparazzi people practically followed us from my house to yours. Unfortunately, they’re not stupid and they’ll put two-and-two together soon enough,” she pointed out. Michael gave a conceding cringe. “Yeah well it doesn’t matter… I mean, I’m twenty-eight years old; I can do what I want.”

“Very true,” Michael smiled. “Just as long as they’re not, like, disowning you…”

“No,” she laughed softly. “Nothing that drastic…they just sounded disappointed and said in a rather begrudging way that they want me to be happy, which is code for they’re not happy.”

“Right,” he laughed softly, being familiar with such conversations with his own mother. “My parents will be thrilled – or at least my mother will. She’ll see it as a sign that I might one day become married and thus not die alone, plus give her grandchildren.”

Sydney laughed softly. Then, she brought up an interesting point. “You… you don’t mention your family much. Is there a reason for that?”

Michael shrugged. “Not really… being a twin was pretty hard growing up since we were both in the same grade and stuff. My parents always had to choose between going to one of Luke’s things or my things… most of the time I didn’t have things, though, being the shy person I was. So, since they did everything with Luke, they focused on Luke and I kinda disappeared into the shadows. They love him more than me.”

“Oh Michael I’m sure that’s not true!” Sydney insisted.

“Well it’s easier for them to be proud of him. He went to med school; he is an actual doctor. Me? I’m just some actor….”

“WHAT?!” she practically screeched. “You’re insane! You could never be just some actor. You won a Golden Globe for heaven’s sake!”

“Well, yeah, but my parents made up their minds about my acting career long ago. They’re southern remember? It’s damn near impossible to change their minds. Until the day they die they will believe two things: acting is a worthless career, and the south should have won the Civil War…”

Sydney laughed softly. “They don’t have a confederate flag hanging outside their house do they?”

“Um, I don’t think you want me to answer that…,” he cringed.

She laughed again. “Well I think you’re a fantastic actor and it would be damn near impossible to change my mind about that.”

“Good to know,” he smiled before giving her a quick kiss.



Chapter 27



Movin’ In!
Sydney and Michael from friends to costars to roomies

After a tragic fire destroyed a significant part of her LA mansion, it appears things are looking up for Sydney Bristow. On Tuesday of last week, firefighters stood by as she examined what was left of her home, removing some of the non-damaged items in the process. Along with her boyfriend, Michael Vaughn, and her assistant, Sydney carted boxes full of books, CDs and clothes out of her now charred former residence.

Boxes packed in their cars, the trio then headed over to Vaughn’s home where – Surprise! Surprise! – Sydney was moving in! Star brings you exclusive shots of Bristow and Vaughn unpacking boxes from their cars and moving them into Vaughn’s garage. It appears these two lovebirds are making their own little love nest in the valley with their two pooches. Are wedding bells next for these two stars in love? Possibly.

“Do you ever wonder if we can even breathe without it being recorded by someone’s camera?” Sydney grunted at a commercial for Entertainment Tonight, which promised a cover story on Sydney and Michael’s cohabitation later that evening.

“Sometimes, yeah,” Michael laughed softly. He slid onto the couch beside her, pulled her feet up into his lap and began to massage them. Sydney let out a long, low relaxed moan before sinking back onto the couch even further. “Relaxing after your long day?” he asked teasingly.

She groaned. “Oh it was so long…why did we have to do that one part so many times?! Those lines will now be forever engrained in my mind; I’ll never forget them.”

Michael laughed softly. “I know, I know. You ready to go to bed?”

She sighed as her body went even limper. “Michael I’m too tired to have sex tonight…”

He rolled his eyes slightly. “I assumed as much, thanks. I actually meant bed.”

“Then yes,” she clarified. “You go ahead… I’ll come once I get up the motivation to move.”

“Okay,” he laughed softly.

After letting the dogs back inside, Michael went upstairs and straight into the bathroom, where he began to brush his teeth. He was finished by the time heard the bed creak loudly, signaling that Sydney had finally made her way upstairs. Stepping out into the other room, he found her collapsed face first into the mattress with her feet hanging off the edge of the bed. “Pathetic,” he proclaimed.

“Yeah…probably,” she grumbled as she attempted to roll over by throwing her body towards the other side of the bed. Once on her back, she opened her eyes and groaned slightly. “I can’t believe you put that thing in our bedroom,” she sighed, referring, of course, to the television Michael salvaged from her home and subsequently mounted on the wall of their bedroom so they could watch it from bed.

“Why wouldn’t I? This is a perfect piece of wonderful machinery that should be used to the fullest extent,” Michael said before walking over to give the screen a loving pat.

Sydney rolled her eyes. “It’s just a TV.”

“Shh it’ll hear you!” Michael hissed to her. She shook her head at him as she walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

A few minutes later, after changing into her pajamas (boxers and a t-shirt she stole from Michael) Sydney slipped in to bed beside him. She was just about to roll over, give him a kiss, and fall immediately to sleep when she noticed he had a very peculiar expression, almost as if he was waiting for her to ask what was going on. She did ask, and he responded, “When was the last time you did something impulsive?”

“Um… I don’t know, but I don’t know that I like the direction this conversation is going,’ she told him seriously.

Michael gave her a ‘humor me, would you?’ look. “I’m serious. Tomorrow is the last day we’ll be filming for almost a whole week. So I was thinking…,” he paused to turn away from her and pull something from the end table beside their bed. He then thrust the envelope into her hands.

“What is this…,” she said slowly, taking it from him. Opening the envelope she found forms printed off the internet confirming two plane tickets two Hawaii and a hotel reservation. “Michael,” she laughed, half from shock, half from disbelief. “This is a trip to Hawaii!”

“I know,” he smiled. “You ever been?”

“No…”

“Good; then it’s a perfect time to go,” he concluded with a smile.

“Michael,” Sydney began warningly. “We cannot just go to Hawaii!”

“Why not?” he questioned. He had thought the situation through himself and could not come up with a good reason not to go. “It’s not like we don’t have the money. If you don’t spend your millions now when are you gonna spend ‘em?”

“Well no but… you only gave me thirty-six hours notice!!” she exclaimed with frustration.

“I’m sorry,” he beamed at her, secretly proud of his devious plan. “Next time we go to Hawaii I’ll give you plenty of notice.”

“You’d better… what am I going to wear huh!? I need a new bikini!” she grumbled, throwing back the covers of the bed. Though she was exhausted, packing took precedence. She needed to find the items she did not have so that she could buy them the following day.

“Or we could go to the nude Hawaii beaches,” he suggested with a cheeky grin. Sydney gave him a pointed look before disappearing into her closet. “I was just kidding! I don’t even think they have nude beaches in Hawaii.”

“Good because nude beaches gross me out.”

“Good to know,” he laughed softly before laying down against his pillow. He was silent for a few moments before he sat up once more, propping his head on his fist. “So, I assume you have this more-than-twenty-four-hours-notice policy about all trips you go on?”

“Yes.”

“In that case… how about in a few weeks, after Atomic Winter is finished filming, we go out to Georgia…”

Sydney poked her head out of the closet. “To visit your parents?” He nodded and shrugged slightly. “I’d love to go. I really want to meet them and I’d love to see Georgia; I’ve never been there either. Actually, when I was younger, I always wanted to live in the deep south and be like…a southern debutante or something, sitting on my big ol’ wrap-around porch and sipping on mint tea…”

“You are aware that this is the south in the year 2007 not the south in 1967….”

“Yes,” she laughed, walking back into the closet. “It was just my stupid girlish dream, you know? But I really want to go and see Georgia… you lived in like a small town right?”

“Yeah, kinda. It’s not too small, but not too big either. They’ve got some of them fancy houses that you were talkin’ ‘bout too…”

“Oh my god Michael,” she laughed loudly at his speech. “You totally just spoke in a southern accent…”

“What?! No I didn’t!” he squeaked out.

“Yes you did!” she accused, laughing so hard she could barely stand up at that point. It was adorable, yes, but also hysterical.

Michael turned pink all the way back to his ears. “You’re hearing things…”

“NO I’m not,” she giggled. “You’re all southern.”

“Shut up!” he snapped, throwing a pillow at her.



Chapter 28

Though she complained at first about the sudden notice of the trip, Sydney ended up having a fantastic time in Hawaii, as did Michael. Amazingly, the islands had not yet been inhabited by the paparazzi. Or perhaps they had, but Sydney and Michael were lucky enough to escape them. Either way, their Hawaiian escape was photography free, except for those pictures they took themselves, of course.

After they returned, more tanned and much more relaxed than they had been when they left, they were forced to return to fourteen hour filming days working on the final shots of Atomic Winter. Of course, considering their vast paychecks for the job, they probably should not have been as unhappy with their working hours as they were. Then again, working from five o’clock in the morning to seven o’clock in the evening was difficult no matter who you were. Also, the final scenes were some of the most action-packed and grueling shots, making it all the more exhausting.

Each night, Sydney and Michael went home looking like zombies. They could hardly stay awake long enough to feed their dogs and get everything settled in the house before collapsing in bed. Despite this, though, they were energized when looking forward to their trip to Georgia during the first week of September, after filming Atomic Winter was wrapped. Unfortunately, this trip did not happen as planned.

Just days before the film’s wrap party, the director confronted them with rather disheartening news. Some of the film, that from the first days of shooting, was unusable and they needed to re-shoot those scenes, which meant relearning those lines and refitting the costumes designated to them. It also meant refurbishing some of the sets, which had since been removed or altered. Because of these setbacks, filming was not finished until almost the middle of September, at which point Sydney and Michael immediately began packing their things for Georgia.

“Syd, your phone has been ringing constantly for the past hour… don’t you think that you should answer it at some point?” Michael asked her in a very serious and yet equally annoyed tone. They were in their bedroom packing their suitcases while Sydney’s phone was lying on the center of their bed. Each time it would ring, Sydney would act as though she was deaf and had not heard it at all. Frankly, that was driving him insane.

“Um, no, I don’t think so,” she responded simply.

“Why…”

“Because its just Claire or my manager. I told them I didn’t want to see any more scripts, but they won’t take no for an answer. They keep pushing this ridiculous idea about the two of us doing a romantic comedy together,” she said, her tone indicating what an awful idea she thought it was.

“You… don’t want us to work together again?” he asked carefully, trying not to sound hurt.

“No it’s not that,” she promised him quickly. “It’s just… I don’t know I think it would be really cheesy. We’d be like all those real-life couples who try to make romantic movies together and end up getting ripped to shreds by the critics,” she explained. Michael nodded slightly; that was definitely a valid point. He preferred not to get ‘ripped to shreds’ as she put it as often as possible.

“Plus,” she continued. “I’m not even sure if I’m going to do another movie again – ever.”

Michael’s eyes widened with great surprise. While he was aware Sydney would not pursue acting for the next decade of her life, he did not know of her plans to quit so abruptly. “Really? Ever?”

“Well I don’t know,” she sighed, flopping down on the bed. “I guess never say never, but I’m not really interested in acting anymore to be honest. The thrill is kinda gone. I’ve been doing this for a decade of my life now and I’d kinda like a change, you know?”

“Yeah I know what you mean,” he smiled at her. “Maybe going to Georgia will give you a chance to do some soul-searching, hmm?”

“Yeah maybe,” she smiled back.

~*~

After packing their own clothes and belongings, Sydney and Michael set to work on packing things for the dogs. Then, they headed out to the private airport from which their private plane would be taking off. While neither of them liked to waste the money they had on such frivolous things as a private jet, they did not want their dogs to have to travel down in the cargo area of the plane as so many large pets did, so they split the expense of the flight. Plus, with a smaller plane, they could land at an airport closer to Michael’s hometown, cutting down even more of their travel time.

When they arrived in Georgia on that Friday afternoon it was already getting dark outside. Glancing down at his watch while balancing all of their luggage in his arms, Michael saw that it was after seven. “Hmm, my dad should be here soon; I told him to meet us at seven.”

“Here’s a question,” Sydney grunted, tightening her grip on the dogs’ leashes as they tried to drag her across the tarmac. “How are we all going to fit in your dad’s car?”

“It’ll be a bit tight,” he said with a slight cringe.

“Ya think!? We’ve got two dogs as big as people!”

He laughed. “Yeah but my dad has an SUV; they’ll fit in the back.”

“They’d better,” she grumbled.

A few minutes later, a large green SUV pulled up at the front of the airport entrance. A tall man greatly resembling Michael stepped out from the vehicle, a huge smile on his face. He immediately went to walk towards his son, but was intercepted by the two dogs rushing towards them. Sydney was completely unable to hold them back with their combined weight dragged against her, so she was stuck helplessly sliding along while trying to command Leila to stop.

“It’s alright,” Michael’s father, Bill, assured her as he gave his hands to both of the dogs to sniff. “They won’t bother me. It’s nice to meet you Sydney.”

“You too,” she forced a smile in a rather frazzled manner.

“Michael you’re looking well,” he smiled, taking one of the bags from Michael’s weighted down arms.

“Thanks; you too,” Michael said. Their conversation was cut short as they forced their dogs into the back of Michael’s father’s car and loaded their own luggage in there as well. Apparently, Puck and Leila were not thrilled at all about crammed into the back of a car, since they proceeded to bark constantly in chorus for the majority of the ride.

“At least it’s a short drive,” Michael joked to Sydney.

“Yes,” she said while giving Leila a sideways glare.

“So are you two all through with your movie?” Bill asked.

“Yep all done – finally,” Michael told him.

“That’s good…Luke said he and Amy would stop by tomorrow around lunch if they had time,” Bill said.

“Oh good, then you’ll get to meet them,” he smiled to Sydney, who nodded her head.

At the Vaughn residence, the introductions continued as Michael’s mother became acquainted with Sydney and the two dogs. Though Leila and Puck were sniffing everything in sight, Michael penned them up in his parent’s laundry room so that they would not run amuck in the new surroundings. Once this was done, the four adults sat down to share dinner.

As they ate, Sydney and Michael did most of the talking on subjects relating to their lives out in LA as well as their acting careers. All this chatter caused Michael’s mother, Amelia, to comment by the end of the meal, “My goodness Michael, I think this is more than I’ve heard you speak in thirty-one years.”

Michael blushed slightly and looked nervously towards Sydney. “Told you I was shy,” he defended.

“Yes and it appears someone has finally removed you from you shyness bubble,” Amelia said with a smile towards Sydney, who smiled softly back.

Once dinner was through, Michael led the way upstairs along with their luggage. “So this is my room…,” he said with a soft laugh, walking into his former place of residence. “As you can see it hasn’t changed much since I was fourteen…”

“I can see that, yes,” she laughed. Setting down one of her bags, Sydney walked over to the small desk in the room to admire the photographs on it. There, she found a picture of Michael when he was around eight years old with another boy of the same age who she presumed to be his brother. “Boy you weren’t kidding when you said you and Luke looked nothing alike.”

“No, I was quite serious,” he sighed. “So anyway you can stay in here and I’ll sleep in Luke’s room; it’s right next door,” he informed her.

“I wish we didn’t have to sleep apart,” she frowned.

“I know, but if we both slept in one of these beds we’d fall out,” he said, referring to the single bed in the room.

“True,” she laughed softly. Then she walked over and gave him a long kiss. “Goodnight, I guess.”

“Sleep well,” he told her before picking up his bag and disappearing from the room.



Chapter 29

The next morning, Sydney awoke with a peculiar weight on her feet. It felt almost as if Leila was lying there, but it was not quite that heavy. Plus, she knew Leila was downstairs in the laundry room. Upon opening her eyes, she found that it was not Leila, but a different furry creature entirely.

Balanced between her ankles and the tips of her feet sat a very fluffy tortoiseshell colored cat. When she looked at it, the cat looked back to her and blinked her eyes. “Hello,” she said in a groggy voice. “Who are you?” Of course, she did not expect the cat to respond verbally, yet, surprisingly, the cat did respond by getting up from its position and walking towards her head. Sydney put out and arm and the cat rubbed up against her hand before settling down resting up against her side.

A few minutes later, as Sydney was still stroking the feline, she saw Michael appear in the doorway. “Oh no, it found you,” he emphasized the word it with a tone of disgust.

Sydney laughed softly. “Not a fan of cats?”

“Oh I don’t mind cats but this one is evil. Mom got it to keep her company when Luke and I went off to college, but its just an evil little ball of fur that gets waited on hand and foot… honestly, my mother treats Precious better than she treated us…”

“Precious?” Sydney laughed when the cat’s ears perked. “Oh you poor thing your name really is Precious.”

“Yeah that may be the most tragic thing of all,” Michael laughed softly. “Ready for breakfast? Although I suppose its brunch at this hour…”

Sydney nodded in agreement before carefully sliding from bed, being mindful of Precious. She followed Michael downstairs, where the house was seemingly empty. On the fridge, there was a note from Michael’s parents stating that they had run out, but would be back soon. After reading this, Michael gestured for Sydney to sit down while he found bowls, spoons, and cereal for them.

“So I guess we’ll have to get cleaned up pretty quick then since your brother is coming soon with his wife…,” Sydney commented.

“Guess it means we’re showering together then,” he told her with a wicked grin.

Sydney laughed. “No, I believe that would make us get ready slower.”

“Mm good point,” he commented. After setting the items he collected on the table, he walked over to the laundry room door and pulled it open, allowing their canines roam to the room.

“Hey sweet girl,” Sydney said, holding out her hand for Leila to examine. “Did you have a nice night with Puck in the laundry room?”

“Oh I’m sure they had a blast,” Michael commented.

Just then, Precious sauntered her way into the kitchen on her way to her food bowls. When she saw the dogs, though, she stopped dead. While Puck merely looked at her, uninterested, Leila had other plans. She bared her teeth and began to growl menacingly. Terrified, Precious skittered from the room, all of her fur standing up on end. Meanwhile, Michael was laughing hysterically.

“Good girl Leila! That cat finally got what she deserved!”

“Michael!” Sydney scolded, feeling bad for poor little Precious.

“Sorry that was awesome,” he insisted. Sydney gave him a look of disapproval, but he was entirely unfazed.

~*~

Later that morning after showering (separately) and getting dressed, Sydney was making her way downstairs when she heard voices emanating from the kitchen area of the house. She knew Michael was already downstairs waiting for her and presumed that either his parents had come home, his brother and sister-in-law had arrived or both. Walking into the kitchen she found the whole Vaughn clan there, all of them speaking with southern accents, including Michael.

“Hi…,” she said slowly, alerting them to her presence.

“Oh Sydney great,” Michael smiled. “I’d like you to meet my brother, Luke, and his wife Amy.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sydney smiled at them as she extended her hand. While Luke shook it with a steady head nod, Amy took her hand with a bit of a giggle.

“I would just like to say that I was such a fan of yours! Then when we found out that you and Michael were dating I nearly died,” she gushed.

“She’s serious too,” Michael pointed out.

“Oh,” Sydney said, blushing slightly. “Well thanks…”

“Do you have your Oscar with you?!” she asked, sounding rather excited. Her husband gave her a warning glare, but she did not even seem to notice.

“Um, no,” Sydney said slowly. “My parent’s have it…in Virginia…”

“Is that where you grew up, dear?” Amelia asked her. Sydney nodded. “Oh wonderful! Another southerner!” she exclaimed. Everyone laughed softly.

Through lunch, Sydney chatted cordially with the Vaughn family, trying to feel a part of their already well established family clique. She did manage to get a few embarrassing stories from Michael’s childhood out of the meal, though, much to Michael’s utter mortification. Also, Amy continued to treat her as though she was an angel who had descended directly from heaven which was, needless to say, the strangest part of her trip thus far.

When the meal was over, Michael insisted that he and Sydney needed to do some sight-seeing and that they would catch up with the family later. Then, he leashed the dogs and took them out to his father’s SUV, which he would be borrowing. Once again, they barked during the whole trip.

“Why are they doing that?” Sydney groaned, covering her ears with her palms.

“I don’t know,” Michael laughed, “but we’re nearly there…”

After a fifteen minute drive, they arrive at a large park filled with large trees, swing sets and slides, and many people on that beautiful afternoon. Michael climbed out of the car before walking around to the passenger side and opening Sydney’s door. Then, they both went to the back of the car and pulled out their dogs.

“This is a nice place,” Sydney commented as they walked side by side, their dogs trotting along in front of them.

Michael nodded. “I played here practically every day when I was younger. Not so much as I got older, but I always loved this place. I want to show you something,” he said. Sydney nodded encouragingly, showing that she was willing to follow him wherever he took her.

Michael led the way through to the other side of the park, where there was a path leading towards a wooded area designated for hiking. Instead of going down this hiking path, he followed it to a point before veering off to the left and walking towards a steadily flowing stream, by which there was a platform over looking the valley it flowed into.

“Wow,” she sighed at the view, which truly was magnificent. “This is beautiful.”

“I know. I love this place; its just so… peaceful and I’ve wanted to show it to you ever since I saw you standing on that beach back in May,” he told her. She smiled softly and looked down towards her feet. “You were so beautiful,” he continued, “and I just knew at that moment that all those months of internet conversations, worrying whether or not I was actually talking to a man, were totally worth it. I knew you were the last first kiss I would ever have.”

With this comment, Sydney looked up to him as her heart took a flying leap into her throat. He wasn’t doing what she thought he was doing…was he?

“Sydney,” Michael said, reaching out for her right hand, the one not holding Leila’s leash. “I know our lives have been kind of crazy with photographers following us around…and I know we didn’t meet in a traditional sense, but maybe PerfectRomance.com had a point, pairing us together. I mean, for me, this has been a perfect romance. I love you so much, and I want us to be together, forever. So…will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she nodded her head vigorously before leaping into his arms, practically tripping over Puck in the process. She gave him a long kiss before practically hanging all over him, giving him a hug. “Oh I wish we could go celebrate somewhere,” she sighed.

“I’ll rent us a hotel room – I’ll rent us a hotel; we can do it in every room,” he said in a dead serious tone.

Sydney laughed loudly. “That won’t be necessary.”

“Yeah I thought that may have been a bit much…”



Chapter 30

“Oh my god I just… I can’t believe you did that!” Sydney gushed as they walked back to their car. Sydney would have lingered at that magnificent spot by the stream for a while longer, but Michael insisted there was something else he needed to show her.

“You can’t believe I proposed? You mean you didn’t see us going in this direction?” he questioned slightly concerned.

“No, no I did,” she assured him with a smile, looping her arm through his. “It was just… unexpected at that exact moment. You definitely surprised me – in the very, very good way.”

“Good,” he beamed. “Hopefully this other thing will surprise you too.”

“What is it?”

He laughed. “Then it wouldn’t be a surprise!”

After loading their dogs into the car, which was easier said than done, Sydney and Michael were on their way once more. That time, they drove for almost half an hour in a direction away from Michael’s parent’s house. Occasionally, Michael would glance down at the tiny scrap of paper he held in his left hand, mutter something, and then turn the car in the other direction. Presumably, he was reading directions and realizing he had taken a wrong turn, but this behavior had Sydney completely perplexed.

If he wanted to show her something special she would have guessed it was a place he had been before, like the park. If, however, he was reading directions, he had not been to this place before causing her to wonder even more where they were going. Soon enough, though, she found her answer.

As Michael turned into a large neighborhood featuring old fashioned style houses, he glanced sideways to gauge Sydney’s reaction. Her expression was not telling of any particular feeling beyond general interest as to where they were going. Smiling softly to himself, he continued driving, his heart beating rapidly in anticipation of the surprise.

A minute later, he pulled their car to a stop in front of an elegant white house with a two-story wrap-around porch supported by white columns. The grass was a perfect crayon green and neatly trimmed around all the shrubbery and trees in the yard. Out front, there was a sign that, amazingly, read SOLD. “What’s this?” Sydney questioned, having not yet noticed the sign.

“Get out and take a better look,” Michael encouraged. She did as he asked and, only then did she notice the sign. Utterly confused, she looked to Michael for an explanation. “It’s got that porch like you wanted,” he told her with a knowing smile.

Her jaw dropped. “Michael, did you buy this house?!”

“Maybe…,” he laughed softly.

“Oh my god!” she squealed. “Shut up! Tell me you did not buy this house!”

“I did buy it…but I can un-buy it if you don’t like it,” he told her. Once again, she squealed and rushed over to give him a bone-crushing hug. Locking her arms around his neck, she pulled herself up eye-level with him and gave him a long kiss.

“I love it, I love it, I love it,” she repeated, giving him more kisses. “But…what does this mean?” she questioned, allowing herself to slide to the ground. “Are we moving to Georgia?”

“If you want,” he smiled. “You said yourself that you weren’t sure if you were going to continue acting. ‘course that was after I bought the house figuring we’d just use it as a summer home…or winter home, whatever,” he laughed softly. “But now that you’re not sure if you want to continue acting and I’m not sure I want to continue acting I was thinking… I dunno that maybe we’d get married, move here and start a nice, normal little family… or as normal as a family who has fifty million dollars between them could be… Does that sound insane?”

Sydney shook her head. “No, it sounds perfect,” she said before giving him a quick kiss. “Oh, and just so you know – we have more than fifty million dollars…not that it matters.”

“Right,” he laughed softly. “So how about we go back home and I give you your ring.”

“Ring?” she asked with an ever-growing smile. “There’s a ring?”

“Of course!”

“A ring and a house? Mr. Vaughn you are gonna get some lovin’ tonight,” she smiled playfully.

“Good to know,” he laughed.

~*~



Engaged!
…and on the rocks?

Just two days ago Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn announced their engagement via People magazine. Across the cover is a picture of the two of them smiling and looking blissful, but are they really as happy as they seem? Maybe not.

An exclusive source tells Star that the acting duo are only engaged as a last resort effort to save their rocky relationship. “Oh yeah, they may look happy, but they fight constantly! They’re always threatening to break up with each other yet somehow mange to just barely stay together. Getting engaged was Michael’s last attempt to keep Sydney with him, but I doubt it will last very long,” the source tells us.

Vaughn also purchased a $1.2 million dollar home nearby his hometown in Georgia for the two of them. “They want to be normal, but I think they’ll realize once they’re alone with each other that they’re really bored and don’t love each other as much as they though,” the source says. I guess that means a break up is immanent.

“Are you freakin’ kidding me. We finally give an official story and they still twist it and make us look like psychotic stuck-up celebrity losers!” Sydney exclaimed with frustration. “We can’t win!”

“No, you can’t,” Michael’s mother sighed as they all sat around the kitchen table in the elder Vaughn’s home. “That’s the point of moving here, isn’t it? So they’ll leave you alone?”

“They’d better,” Sydney muttered bitterly.

“Aw Syd,” Michael sighed, reaching over to rub her back lovingly. “They will leave us alone once they forget about us and focus on the new celebrities out and Hollywood; it would be too much of a bother for them to come all the way out to Georgia just to take a picture of us mowing the lawn.”

“Yeah I guess so,” Sydney smiled softly. Then she glanced down at her hands, which were folded on the table, and spotted her perfect and sparkling diamond engagement ring. This sight succeeded in making her smile even larger; it still gave her tingling feelings even a week after the event.

“Is that what you two are going to do now? Mow the lawn?” Michael’s father asked.

“In the summer,” Michael responded cheekily. Then he laughed softly. “No, seriously, I don’t know what we’re gonna do… we’ll come up with a plan eventually.”

“I want to start working on getting a college degree. That’s one thing I truly regret not having,” Sydney said.

“Oh that sounds nice. What are you going to major in?” Amelia asked.

“I have no idea,” Sydney laughed. “But I’ll figure it out.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Michael corrected her with a wink.



Epilogue

“Oh my god, Sydney, if you freakin’ adjust my bowtie one more time I’m goona choke you with it,” Michael told her seriously. They were in a limousine on the way to the Academy Awards and she would not quit fixing his appearance. It was driving him insane!

“I’m sorry it’s just… you know, you’re a nominee so I want you to look perfect,” she insisted.

“You’re a nominee too and I don’t see you fixing your hair constantly,” he said, raising a hand to touch her perfectly hairspray coiffure. Before he could, though, she grabbed his arm so hard he winced.

“Touch it and I chuck you out of this limo,” she threatened.

“Touchy, touchy,” he muttered, folding his arms across his chest so as not to be accused of trying to touch her hair again.

The movie they were jointly nominated for supporting actor (actress) was none other than Atomic Winter. The movie came out the previous December, two years after its production, and was immediately met with critical acclaim. In addition to Sydney’s and Michael’s nominations, the film itself was nominated for Best Picture and the director for Best Director.

In the two years since filming Atomic Winter Sydney and Michael had been residing in Georgia and loving every minute of it. They were married in February a few months after their engagement and had been happy in their celebrity-free lives ever since. They had no intentions of returning to the Hollywood-ized world, but both of them being nominated for Oscars was too much of an opportunity to pass up. They were in no way returning to acting, but they saw no reason not to attend the ceremonies; it would have been rude not to.

“Ready to go Mrs. Vaughn?” Michael asked teasingly when their car pulled up at the beginning of the red carpet.

“I am indeed,” she smiled, taking his extended hand.

~*~

After making their way down the crimson path past all their former celebrity acquaintances, avoiding almost all interviews along the way, Sydney and Michael were finally seated in their assigned seats inside the auditorium. As they sat there, different actors whom they had worked with in the past came up and greeted them, asking where they had been for the previous two years. Sydney and Michael happily responded that they were retired from acting and living a life they had always wanted to; one free from camera lenses.

The beginning of the ceremony was amusing, as it always was with a comedian making fun of the celebrities. Thankfully, Sydney and Michael were not on his agenda, making it even more enjoyable to them. One of the first awards to be given out was for Supporting Actress, which Sydney unfortunately lost. She did not mind, though; she already had an Oscar. She was really rooting for Michael to earn himself a golden statue.

“Here it is!” she whispered to him when they came to the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama category.

“I’m not going to win,” he insisted back to her. She simply smiled; she had faith in him.

After a solid minute of holding her breath, she finally had her answer. “…and Best Supporting Actor goes to… Michael Vaughn for Atomic Winter!”

For a moment, Sydney thought Michael actually died from the pale, utterly stunned look on his face. Then she noticed his very shallow breathing was getting faster and faster as he began to panic. “Oh my god…there must be a mistake!” he insisted.

“There’s no mistake!” Sydney insisted with a laugh. Then she kissed him and shoved him out of his seat, forcing him up to the stage.

Michael’s speech was bumpy at best. He used the word ‘um’ more than any other words combined and stammered a lot, obviously displaying his truly shy exterior. He did manage to exit the stage without falling, though, which Sydney considered to be a good thing. It took a few minutes for him to return to his seat, but when he did he was looking equally as dumbfounded.

“Now we have matching ones,” Sydney smiled at him.

“Yeah…,” he said distantly, obviously still shocked.

Figuring he may as well have all the shock at once, Sydney leaned over and whispered in his ear, “By the way, I’m pregnant.”

“WHAT?! Oh shit,” he hissed when he dropped his golden statue from his lap. It nearly clattered to the floor but, luckily, Sydney caught it in time. “What?! You’re pregnant?! Oh my god?! Really?!” Michael squeaked.

“Yeah,” she laughed softly. “I found out before we came…”

“Oh my god! This… this is the best day ever!” he exclaimed happily.

Sydney laughed once more. “Yeah I guess it is.”

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