Author's Note: Thanks to all of you for reading! You guys are the best. I'm currently working on something else. It is something that I wrote a long time ago. It has to be at least a year. It has to do with Syd being captured and then tortured and found. (Believe it or not, I wrote this before "The Telling".) Tell me if you want a PM for it. It should be up in about two weeks. I'm going back to edit it, because quite frankly, its really bad, so I'm going to edit it, and then finish it this time.
Thanks for your support! On with the chapter!
Chapter 21
The afternoon after Michael’s proposal, Sydney called Angela.
“I’m getting married!”
~*~
Sydney’s smile faded. She was being woken by violent shaking and a little voice calling her.
“Mommy! Mommy! Wake up!” the little girl cried. Sydney turned over to face her. She could see the tears on her cheeks. Her big brown eyes shadowed with fear.
“What is it, Emma?”
“I had a nightmare. The big monster one,” the five-year-old cried, “Can I come sleep here with you and Daddy?” Sydney smiled. She loved that term, even after five years.
“Yes, honey,” a male voice said. It was Michael. He had woken up. Emma climbed into bed. Sydney held her close. Michael wrapped an arm protectively around them, resting his hand on Sydney’s.
“I know what you were dreaming,” he whispered.
“You do?”
“You still talk in your sleep.” Sydney laughed quietly.
“What did I say?”
“It was from the argument at Marshall and Carrie’s wedding, then I heard you say you were getting married, so I’m going to assume that you were talking to Angela.”
“Michael, I-“ she was interrupted.
“Mommy, can you talk to Daddy in the morning? Please?”
“Sorry, honey,” she whispered. The family fell asleep, quickly.
Early the next morning, Sydney woke up. She smiled at the normalcy of her situation. She hurried to the bathroom, after carefully crawling out of bed. She got herself ready for the day, showering and applying light make-up.
She walked to the kitchen and began to make breakfast.
About half an hour later, Michael came into the kitchen, and wrapped his arms around Sydney’s waist. He kissed her neck. She turned to face him and gave him a quick kiss.
“Morning.”
“Morning,” she replied and went back to her cooking. “So, are we going out to dinner tonight?”
“Yeah. I have the reservations made for seven.”
“Okay. Can you wake up Emma? Breakfast is ready and she’ll be late for school soon.” Michael nodded and left. Seconds later, he returned with a sleepy little girl in his arms.
“Breakfast time.” The Vaughns ate their breakfast together.
"Mommy, can I have some more strawberries? Please?”
“Not this morning. You already finished all of the sugar to dip it in. You can have more tomorrow. Finish your sausage.” Emma finished her food.
“Time to go get ready for school. You are going to the zoo today!”
“To the zoo!” Emma repeated. She laughed. She quickly scurried down from the chair and ran to the stairs. She tried to climb them as quickly as possible. Sydney laughed and followed her up the stairs to help her get dressed.
A few minutes later, Sydney and Emma came down the stairs to find Michael waiting at the bottom.
“Time to go to the zoo, Emma.” Michael said. This was Sydney’s least favorite part of the day. She loved her students- they were 3rd graders, but she didn’t like being away from her family.
Michael worked for a prominent law firm. They left the CIA after they had gotten married. Now, every morning, he would take Emma to school because it was closer to where he worked than Sydney.
Emma was smarter than the average five-year-old. She went to a magnet school.
“Are you picking up Emma tonight, or do you want me to?” Michael asked.
“No, I will. I will take her to Eric and Angela’s. I’m sure she’d love to play with Lindsey and Jacob.”
Lindsey was their babysitter. Jacob, who was only four, was Emma’s best friend, after Samantha, her imaginary friend, and Emily, her doll, of course.
Angela and Eric had gotten married about two months before Emma was born. Sydney and Michael were the maid of honor and best man, respectively, at their wedding.
Michael kissed Sydney and said ‘goodbye’, took Emma’s hand and left. Sydney put the remainder of the dishes in the sink- the maid would do them later, and left for work.
She went through her day, distractedly. She had a few conferences, and watched the kids play at recess. Her thoughts were on the plans she and Michael had this evening.
After school, she rushed across town and picked up Emma. She didn’t want to be late for she and Michael’s dinner date.
“Did you have fun at the zoo?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“What did you see?”
“A big giraffe, and some tigers. Some monkey’s were really loud and hurt my ears, and I saw some big birds, but they weren’t yellow, they were ugly and brown.” Sydney nodded.
“What else did you do today?”
“We learnt minus today. And I took a nap. I wasn’t tired though, and I played with Emily at recess, but George took her away and made fun of me. And made me cry, but Ms. Anna got him in trouble and he had to sit in time-out.”
“Did he apologize?”
“No, ma’am. Ms. Anna told him to, but he wouldn’t.” Sydney pulled in Angela’s driveway and stopped the car.
“Oh. Well, we’re here. You want to go play with Jacob?” Emma nodded. She tried, as best she could, to get out of her car seat. Sydney unbuckled the last buckle and helped her out of the car. She ran to the door.
Emma rang the doorbell- it was one of her favorites in town. Lindsey opened the door.
“Mrs. Vaughn! How are you?”
“Good, thank you. Thanks for taking Emma.”
“Not a problem.” She bent down to Emma’s height. “Do you want to come play with Jacob? He is in the game room watching a movie.” Emma ran past them, without answering.
“Sorry to drop her and run. I have to be ready for tonight.” Lindsey was almost always at Angela’s with Jacob. Sydney had become close to her. Lindsey was about twenty-five, so Sydney thought of her as a younger sister that she never had.
Sydney hurried home and got ready. Tonight was going to be very special. Sydney curled her hair, and put it up. It was long again. She put on Michael’s favorite red dress and went off in search of her shoes. At precisely six-thirty, Michael drove in. He brought in a bouquet of roses, and took out one. He went to the bedroom, in search of Sydney.
“Hi,” he said. His mouth had gone dry, when he looked at her. His heart was pounding. She still had that affect on him.
“Hi.”
“You shouldn’t have worn that dress. I might not be able to make it through dinner,” he said, huskily. She giggled.
“Then we should go, to hurry back.”
“Yes. And this rose is for you.” He said, finally handing it to her.
“Thank you.”
About halfway through dinner, they decided to dance. While they loved Emma, they missed nights like this. Nights with no worries. Sydney rested her chin on his shoulder.
“Vaughn.” Michael knew she wanted his attention. She never called him that anymore.
“Vaughn, I’m pregnant.” Michael stopped. Sydney backed away a step, to look in his eyes. He was shocked, and thrilled. “The doctor told me a couple days ago.”
“We’re going to have another baby?” Sydney nodded.
“Yes, one more for the hockey team.”
"I love you, Sydney Vaughn." Vaughn brought her closer to him and he gave her a sweet, gentle kiss.
~*~
Edited because: I'm just stupid and can't type today.
cant wait for more 
