Chapter 2

            Sydney awoke to the insistent sounds of someone knocking on their hotel room door. She groaned and squinted against the bright sunshine slipping in through the tall, floor length windows. It felt like she had just fallen asleep, and when she glanced at the courtesy digital alarm clock on the bedside table she had been correct. Only three hours since they had arrived from Heathrow and booked into their room. They hadn’t been able to sleep on the plane because they were seated to a chatty Cathy on one side and a fellow drowning out the engines with his snoring on the other.

            She glanced at Nigel sleeping beside her, who had managed to ignore the knocking and was still out cold, then she tossed the sheets aside and reached for her robe.

            “I’m coming!” she snapped as she stumbled over where the suitcase at the end of the bed and grabbed a white terrycloth robe from the bathroom. She ran a hand through her hair, tied the sash of her robe and threw open the door. “What the hell do you…” she paused at the startled look on Preston ’s face. “Oh, it’s you.”
            Sydney , you’re a vision, even in the morning.” He paused at her appearance and the sleepiness still in her gaze. “Oh no! Did I wake you?”

            “Yes, you did. We only got in this morning.”

            “I am so sorry. I misunderstood. I’d asked the desk clerk to tell me when Nigel checked in and he’d said he got here last night.” He looked at the door number. “He said this was my brother’s room. I do apologize for disturbing you. If you could just tell me where Nigel is…”

            Sydney left the door open and moved back to the bed. She tossed off the robe, giving Preston a quick view of her emerald green night dress, and climbed back into the bed, nudging the lump beside her. “It’s for you,” she mumbled and snuggled back into her pillow.

            Nigel sat up reluctantly, but the look on Preston ’s face was well worth losing some sleep over. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

            Preston gapped at him like a fish for a few moments, but made no movement to enter the room. “I…I….well, I wanted to…to…um…give you the itinerary for the reunion.” He quickly moved forward enough to set the pamphlet on the bureau close to the door. “I…I’ll just leave it here, shall I? Yes, I…I can see you’re…um…busy. They’re serving breakfast in the dining room if you’re interested…” His eyes widened as Sydney pulled her head out of the covers long enough to glare at him. “Which I can see you’re not. So…um... I’ll be going then. Cheers.”

            Nigel grinned as he watched his brother stumble over himself to close the door. He glanced down at Sydney who was watching him intently.

            “You look pleased with yourself.”

            He snuggled beneath the covers again, turning to face her. “Come on, the look on his face was priceless.”

            “And I am sure it will be just as priceless when you explain to him that what he thinks he is seeing isn’t what he is seeing.”

            “Do I have to? He’ll just get on me about it.”

            “Nigel.”

            “Yes, yes. I know you’re right. We can’t have people thinking we…are, when we’re not.”

            Sydney turned away on her side. “I’m glad we agree.”

            “Yes, dear.” Nigel turned his back to her, his lips turning up in a smile again. He didn’t have to tell Preston anything if he didn’t see him, however. And even if he did see him, it was hardly something one would discuss in public.

            He tensed a little when he felt Sydney ’s arm slide around his waist as she pressed her body against his.

            “Cold,” she murmured into his back.

            He smiled and patted her hand, then closed his eyes. He wasn’t cold, that was for sure, with her body pressed close to his. Unfortunately, now that he was awake, he didn’t think he could go back to sleep.  His bladder was feeling rather full and the idea of breakfast was suddenly appealing. He started to sit up and was held in place by Sydney ’s arm.

            “Sleep!” 

            “I can’t, I’m awake now.”

            “I’m not, so sleep.”

            “You can stay in bed, but I have to get up.”

            “Why?”

            “I have to go to the loo.”
            “Hold it.” She growled when he slid away from her. “I was comfortable!”

            “I’ll come back, I promise.”

            Sydney punched his pillow then settled upon it, moving into the warm space his body had vacated. “Better,” she muttered even as she started to drift off again.

            Nigel tried not to think how intimate their conversation was, how it was something a couple would say. He and Sydney were not a couple and he needed to ignore thinking that way or reading anything into their conversations and occasional flirting.

            He hurried into the bathroom, took care of his needs, then brushed his teeth and hair and ran some water over his face. He was surprised that he wasn’t more tired, but then his body had adjusted to going on little and sometimes no sleep, while on a hunt.

            He returned to the bedroom and crouched down beside his side of the bed. “Syd? Syd, I’m going to get something to eat, I’m famished. Shall I bring you back something?”

            She didn’t answer and her eyes didn’t flicker. She was out cold.

            He smiled and pulled the covers a little higher around her, then turned to close the drapes so the sun wouldn’t continue to bother her. He quickly dressed, and was just pulling on his watch and sliding his wallet into his back pocket when Sydney murmured something.

            He moved over and crouched down again. “What was that, Syd?”

            “Waffles,” she murmured.”

            He grinned. “Okay, I’ll bring you back some waffles, with extra strawberries.”

            “Coffee.”

            “Of course coffee.” He automatically put out his hand to brush her hair, then realized what he was doing and quickly pulled it back. “Go back to sleep, Syd.” He rose, grabbed the itinerary Preston had left, and quickly left the room.

            Sydney slowly let her eyes flicker open. Now she was awake. She lay there awhile longer on his side of the bed, inhaling the familiar scent of him that lingered on the pillow beneath her head and considered what had just happened.

            She wasn’t overly concerned about Preston seeing them in bed together and if Nigel wanted his brother to think they were a couple, she wasn’t really opposed to it. It would give Nigel a little step up on Preston , but she didn’t like to be part of their insane competition and she didn’t like living a lie either.

            She rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. But hadn’t she been doing that, living a lie? For the last two years she had kept her feelings for Nigel hidden. Encouraged him to date other women, teased him about being irresistible, and kept him at arms length romantically. Why? Because she didn’t want to hurt him, because she didn’t want to be hurt herself.

            She’d let herself fall for her assistant once before and it ruined a good working relationship. She couldn’t afford to ruin the relationship she had with Nigel, she refused to. He was too important, too special. Nigel had been the only man to ever truly accept and understand her. He was her best and truest friend and she wouldn’t ruin that with sex.

            She sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees. Only, it wasn’t just the idea if sex with Nigel. She fantasized about more than that, wanted more than that. She lived for the times like today, where they shared a bed and bantered back and forth like a real couple. She let herself pretend, just for awhile, that she and Nigel were married and were living a perfect life of companionship and love.

            Then, she’d be ripped from her fantasizes by his refusal to take the bait, his deliberate avoidance of her teasing or temptation. He may want her physically, she was sure he was attracted, but then she remembered what he’d said about Karen. He wasn’t a one night stand sort of fellow. He’d want more and if he didn’t think he could get more, he wouldn’t encourage the relationship at all.

He never encouraged her, never even tried, and she didn’t know if that was because he wasn’t interested or because he was afraid. She certainly didn’t allow him many options, shutting down the idea of it the few times it did come to the surface. But what about the other times? What about the times she did encourage and didn’t shut him down and still he maintained a delicate distance?

He’d been concerned about asking another woman to this reunion because it would be like a mini-break, which according to him was a big deal. Why then, hadn’t he been concerned that she might read more into it as well? Wasn’t she just another woman, with the same feelings and needs?

She tossed back the covers and stood up. Sitting here brooding wasn’t helping. She was here for Nigel. He needed her here so she would be here for him, but first, she’s shower.

She found him in the hotel restaurant, alone at a table and eating a traditional English breakfast. He smiled and rose when he saw her coming towards him.

“Syd! I thought you were going to go back to sleep?”

She settled opposite him and shrugged. “I did,” she lied. “But I started dreaming of waffles.”

Nigel settled back in his chair and waived at the waiter. “Then let’s work on making that dream come true,” he said as the man approached. “Could we have an order of waffles, extra strawberries and a cup of black coffee, please?”

Sydney grinned at how well he knew her tastes and as the waiter wandered off she reached for Nigel’s orange juice. She took a sip and handed it back. “Any sign of Preston ?”

“No. I’m sure he’s out preaching his greatness to the masses. You know, shaking hands and kissing babies, that sort of thing.”

“Are you two going to be bickering the whole time we’re here?” Sydney asked as Nigel smothered one piece of his toast with jam and offered it to her. “Because that isn’t what I came here for, to listen to the two of you argue.”

“I plan to avoid him for most of the trip, so if that works out then no, we won’t be bickering.”

Sydney took a bite of toast and then reached for the itinerary that Nigel had brought down with him. “So, what’s on the agenda?”

“Well, there’s a luncheon here at the hotel later this afternoon and apparently they have some sort of activities at the school for those who wish to attend after.” He finished off his eggs and sausages and pushed the plate aside. “The dinner and dance is at the school tomorrow night.”

“And what are we going to?”

“The dinner and dance I suppose we have to go to, the rest we can skip.”

“Why? Don’t you want to see some of your old school friends?”

“No, not really.”

“Well, I’m interested in meeting them.” She smiled at the waiter as he placed her food on the table and wandered off. “I want to hear all their stories about what kind of boy you were.” She was startled when Nigel paled and sat back in his chair. “Nigel, I’m only kidding. We don’t have to go.”

He shook his head and suddenly looked away, as if trying to hide. “No, it…it isn’t you it’s…”

“Nigel Christien Bailey,” a firm, disapproving voice suddenly announced as a shadow fell over their table. “Well, I certainly never expected you to be here.”

Sydney glanced up at the scowling, white-haired woman with wrinkled, pale, pinched cheeks and dressed in an ankle length black dress with the smallest of white lace about the cuffs and collar. “Nigel wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” she defended, instantly disliking the disapproving way the hag was staring at her friend. “And you would be?”

The woman ignored her, her rigid eyes on the hunched Englishman on the other side of the table. “Is that how we taught you, Bailey? To cower in your seat when a lady approaches you?”

Nigel scrambled to his feet, but kept his eyes lowered. “No, Mum. I…I’m just surprised to see you again, Miss. Cawvers.”

“I’m sure you are.” She regarded him, thoughtfully. “Well, you’ve lost some weight, perhaps too much. You’re almost scrawny now, Bailey.”

Sydney couldn’t take anymore. Why wasn’t Nigel standing up to this woman? She rose, blocking the woman’s direct sight of the Englishman. “Is that how a lady behaves?” she challenged. “To walk up to someone she hasn’t seen in years and insult him?”

Finally, Cawvers focused on Sydney . “Who might you be?”

I might be the woman who is about to kick your ass all over this room, you frigid old goat, Sydney thought silently, but aloud she said. “Professor Sydney Fox. Nigel is my colleague and I think you owe him an apology.”

The woman looked past her to Nigel. “Do I owe you an apology, Bailey?”

“No, mum.”

Cawvers smiled and it wasn’t pretty. “There now, you see? Everything is just fine. I’ll look forward to seeing you at the banquet, Bailey.” With that the woman turned and walked off.

Sydney spun around to face Nigel and found his face had turned green. Before she could say anything he was excusing himself and pushing past her.

Sydney chased after him, concerned when she saw him dart into the men’s room. She almost started to go after him, but was given a suspicious look by a man exiting. She waited a second or two and then barged in, regardless. “Nigel?” she checked under the few stalls for his shoes. “Nigel?”

“Go away, Sydney , please!” He moaned and started to wretch.

Sydney didn’t leave, but she remained silent and her heart went out to him as she waited for him to finish.

Finally he opened the stall and moved past her to the sinks, where he rinsed his mouth and splashed his face with water. Sydney waited until he turned and leaned against the sink to look at her.

“Sorry.”

She walked over and handed him a piece of gum from her pocket. “Are you okay?”

“No, not really.”

“Who the hell was she?”

“Satan.” He took a few deep breaths and then realized where they were having this conversation. “You shouldn’t be in here, Syd.”

A man came in, gave them a curious look and Sydney took Nigel’s arm and led him out into the hall. “Do you want to tell me what that was about?”

“Um…can we do it up in the room, please?” He didn’t want to take the chance of running into anyone else from his school just now. He remembered her breakfast as they returned to the table. “Oh, Syd, your waffles.”

She shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll go upstairs and talk.”

They returned to the room and Nigel walked over, sat on the bed and lay back, leaving his feet on the floor. Instead of pressing him, Sydney walked over and mimicked his position.  She turned her face toward him and linked her fingers over her stomach, waiting for him to begin.

When Nigel saw her watching him he turned away and sat up, dropping his head in his hands. “I’m so embarrassed.”

Sydney sat up. “Why?”

“I…I never expected to react…like that. I’m sorry you were witness to it.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t kick the old bat in the head, but regrets aside, you have nothing to be ashamed about, Nigel. Not with me.” She rubbed his back. “Never with me.”

Nigel knew that. He knew she would never be disappointed or ashamed of him, but it didn’t help that he was ashamed of himself. He let himself enjoy the soothing feel of her palm sliding up and down his back as he stared at his feet. “She was the headmistress from my school. She…” He released a shuddered breath. He could not believe that after all these years that woman still affected him so badly.

“Did she hurt you? When you were at school? Did she…was she one of the people that made you feel like nothing?”

“No, God, no…not like that. I wish…I wish I had been nothing to her.” He shook his head as he considered his past encounters with the woman, most of them still fresh in his memory. “Syd, I…I know you won’t believe me, I find it hard to believe myself, but I…there is something about her, something…evil.”

“Evil?”

He rose suddenly and started to pace. “I know it sounds crazy but she was the first person I have ever been afraid of, well and truly terrified of.” He ran a hand over his face and then shoved his hands into his pockets. “You must think me an idiot, but even now, she…I’m afraid of her.”

“Why? What did she do to you?”

“She didn’t really do anything to me, except talk to me in that disapproving tone or the occasional cane across the back…”

Sydney rose. “She beat you?”

“It was the punishment then and it only happened twice,” he assured startled by her anger. “That was nothing. I got far worse from my brother and the bullies at the school.”

“Then what did she do to make you afraid?”

“It…it’s her eyes, Syd. Did…did you look into her eyes? They’re like….like dolls eyes, black and glassy and devoid of feeling.”

“Nigel, look, maybe you’re just imagining...”

“Don’t tell me what I imagine, Sydney !” he snapped. “I know what I saw, what…what she made me see.” He shook his head and dropped back onto the bed. “Look, perhaps it isn’t rational and I pride myself on being rational, but don’t you see that’s just the point. There was always something…off with her. And then there was the crying.”

Sydney settled beside him. “Crying?”

“I used to think the dorms were haunted, only I didn’t believe in ghosts. Yet, late at night sometimes I’d wake up and hear this gentle crying, like a child sobbing in pain or fear.” He caught her look. “I didn’t imagine it.”

“I believe you, Nigel.”

 “I heard it many times when I was there, right up until my thirteenth year.” He paused and folded his hands together. “Then I moved to the dorms on the opposite side of campus, where the high school kids stayed.”

“And you didn’t hear it after that?”

“No, no I didn’t and I stayed away from those dorms after that, but it wasn’t just the crying, Syd. There were other things.”

“Like what?”

“I’d see her walking, Cawvers, late at night. She’d always be walking through the grounds to the lake. She’d be wearing this long black cloak and…and once…” He shuddered. “Once she caught me watching her from my window and she looked up at me. I was on the forth floor but she knew I was there and she…she looked at me and I remember being so afraid at that moment.”

“So, you think the headmistress of your school is a demon?”

“No! No, of course not, I just…” He growled. “I’m trying to explain to you why…There is just something about her, when she comes around me I…I can’t breathe I can’t talk. After she caught me watching her she always seemed to be hanging around, watching me, and studying me. She was just always there, criticizing me, hounding me, making me feel stupid, but that, that I could handle it was the staring. I couldn’t cope with the constant staring.” He shivered as if someone had opened a window and a cold breeze and blown across them. “One night, just before I graduated, I dreamed that she was standing over my bed, watching me sleep. I woke up in such a fright that I couldn’t go back to sleep for the next two days.”

Sydney considered how sensitive Nigel was to her looks of disapproval and she felt horrible for causing him further trauma. If what he said was true, it was no wonder he got so easily flustered, even with her. “So…what can we do about it?”

“Do? What do you mean?”

“Well, Nigel, this woman has had a hold over you for what, a decade now? Don’t you think it’s time to face up to her, to face your fear and put it behind you?”

He bolted from the bed. “You can’t be serious! Sydney ! That isn’t why I’ve come here at all!”

“Why isn’t it? You wanted to show these people you’re not nothing, you wanted to get rid of that feeling they caused in you, right? What better way than to face the demon from your dreams?”

“I can’t!”

“Nigel, you’ve faced far worse than that ignorant witch of a headmistress. She’s human, she’s not a demon or a murderer or a witch of any of those things you’re thinking she is. She’s a bitter old woman who has obviously been teaching way too long and she enjoys taking out her misery on others.”

Nigel stared at her. “Don’t ask me to do that. I didn’t come here to do that.”

She moved forward and caught his hands between hers. “Look, we’ll face her together. At the dinner, we’ll march up to her and show her how wonderful and remarkable you are. The only thing that will happen is that she will be shamed by her own behaviour and you’ll see her for exactly what she is. You can’t let her have power over you anymore.”

Nigel nodded. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I…I feel so foolish talking like this, but I can’t help it.”

“Don’t feel foolish. This woman traumatised you when you were a child, but you’re not a child anymore, you’re a man. An intelligent, successful and courageous adult and we’ll make her see exactly that.”

“Syd…” Nigel paused. He wanted to tell her how much her support meant to him. How much he appreciated that she wasn’t calling him an idiot and berating him for hanging on to childhood fears. Unable to find the words, he simply wrapped his arms around her for a hug. “Thank you.”

She smiled and hugged him back. “What are friends for?” She lingered for another minute or so, and then pulled back. “I’m going to take a shower, and then we’re going shopping.”

“Shopping?”

“Yes, shopping, and no complaints. I told you that you’d owe me big.”

Nigel grinned. He didn’t mind shopping with Sydney . He just knew that she expected him to complain. “Not that big, surely?”

“Oh yes, and we’re shopping for shoes,” she taunted from the bathroom doorway. “And then you’re taking me to Harrods.”

Nigel groaned and flopped down on the bed in defeat. Harrods was a seven floor department store that covered several city blocks and had something for everyone. “Oh God! There goes the day.” He heard her laugh as she closed the door and allowed himself to smile. He pulled his arms up to rest beneath his head and stared up at the ceiling. He would have a whole day with Sydney without people chasing them or trying to kill them. What could be better?

--------------

Nigel followed Sydney down the street back towards the car they had rented, his arms full of packages. He assumed she was about to hail a cab, but instead she suddenly spotted something in a shop window.

“Ohh, look at that!” She pointed to the mannequin wearing a calf length black leather jacket. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”

Nigel peered into the window. “It would look great on you, Syd.” He glanced at the long black leather she was already wearing. “But do you really need another one?”

She nudged him towards the doorway with her elbow, as her hands were also full of purchases. “Not for me, for you.”

“M…me?” He stumbled inside and managed to keep hold of the bags he was carrying. “Now wait just…”

Sydney had set her purchases down and was pulling the bags out of Nigel’s hands. “We’d like to see the black leather in the window, please.”

The salesman nodded eagerly. “Most certainly, madam, you have a very good eye for quality.”

“Syd, I don’t...” Nigel began and was suddenly being turned around so the salesman could pull off his green coat and fit him with the leather. “Syd…”

Sydney stood back and put her finger to her lips as she studied the impression he made in the coat. “Oh yeah. That is perfect.” She twirled her finger. “Turn around.”

Nigel felt like a fool but did as was told and couldn’t help but be impressed by the way the coat flowed with his movements. The scent of genuine leather was intoxicating and the lining was surprisingly comfortable and warm. The sleeves even fit him, which was unusual as most were too long because he was a smaller size than other men.

“Oh, Nige.” She pulled him over to the full length mirror. “Look at you. That coat was made for you.” She pulled his sunglass from where he’d slipped them inside his rounded shirt collar and slipped them onto his face. “Wow! James Bond, look out!”

Nigel pulled off the shades and glared at her. “Oh, stop it!” He did have to admit the coat did look very good on him. It gave him a very mysterious, almost dangerous feel. 007? Yes, he could feel a sense of international intrigue in this coat. “It is rather nice.”

“We’ll take it,” Sydney told the salesman whose eyes lit up with pleasure.

“An excellent choice, madam!”
            “Hang on!” Nigel protested and turned to the salesman. “How much is it?” A figure was named that made Nigel weak in the knees. That was a month’s salary, possibly two! He started to shrug off the coat. “I don’t need another coat, thanks just the same.”

Sydney pulled the coat back over him. “But it’s perfect for you, Nigel!”

“ Sydney ! I…I can’t afford to pay that much for a few strips of hide, no matter how it makes me look. I may look the part but don’t have the salary of a Bond man.”

“We’ll take it,” Sydney told the salesman and handed over her credit card, watching as the man hurried off to ring up the sale before another protest was sounded.

“ Sydney !”

“I’ll buy it for you.”

“It’s too much…”

“I don’t mind and I really love it on you.” She ran her hand down the leather as she pulled it back over his shoulders, where he had started to pull it off. She straightened the collar, pleased. “Think of it as an early Christmas and birthday present if you’re that worried about the money.”

“It would have to be those two plus every other holiday combined, Sydney . From every other culture.”

“So what?” She grinned. “Nigel, let me buy it for you. I want to. You can pay me back if it’s so important to you, at ten cents a week or something.”

“You’re being ridiculous…”

“And you’re being ungracious,” she retorted smiling as she signed the receipt the salesman brought her. She accepted her credit card back and turned him back to the mirror so that both of their reflections were portrayed. “See, now we’re twins.”

Nigel laughed and ran his hands down the leather. It was a very nice coat. “Oh, very well, if you insist.” He’d have to buy her something very nice to make up for it, or perhaps take her somewhere really special to show his appreciation. “It will do to keep the rain off, I should imagine.”

Sydney grinned and for a moment allowed herself the pleasure of imagining that they were on their honeymoon and were dressing alike because they were soul mates, not just friends and partners. “I’m sure it will,” she retorted, dryly as she retrieved their packages and handed him several of the bags. “I figure you deserve something for watching me buy five pairs of shoes.”

“And a pair of boots,” Nigel reminded as he indicated the black calf boots she currently wore. “Which are very fetching, by the way.”

“Thank you, Nigel.” The stepped outside and Sydney waved to a passing taxi who quickly pulled up to the curb.  The driver stepped out and opened the trunk for her to put her packages in. “We should have just enough time to…” She realized that Nigel was not next to her anymore, he was still on the curb by the coat shop, staring past her. His face was almost translucent as a sheet against the new black coat. “What’s wrong?”

She followed his gaze and was startled to see a dark figure staring at the Englishman from across the street. She scowled and started across the street as she realized who the woman was, but then Cawvers got into a black car and drove away.

Sydney turned back to Nigel and was alarmed to find him unconscious on the street, her purchases strewn about him, his new black coat folded about him like a cape. “Nigel!”

 Continue to chapter 3