1Sydney Bristow had been waiting for the perfect proposal her entire life. Some women imagined a romantic evening, with her man popping the question in a very fancy restaurant with half the city of Los Angeles looking on or having "Will You Marry Me?" flash across the Jumbo-Tron at Lakers game with more than half the world looking on. Other women preferred a quaint proposal, maybe a spur of the moment kind of thing over coffee, or being given that special gift of an engagement ring on Christmas morning.

Sydney had already been proposed to once in her life, and although it was meaningful and she had loved the personal touch Danny had given to it (Remember the bowling alley? The loud guy?), the second time around was exceedingly better.

Sydney and Vaughn had been talking about getting married ever since their daughter was born. Vaughn had initially planned to do it years before, but nothing he ever thought of seemed good enough for Sydney. He had just put it out of his mind, until, that is, Sydney told him she was pregnant and that she wanted to be spiritually and legally joined, so their child could enjoy the perks of having a some-what normal family. Vaughn hadn't exactly seen the point. They each reciprocated each other's feelings of undying love, so why the need to be legally married? But, Vaughn knew one day that he would propose, and the perfect situation just happened to present itself on Valentine's Day, 2005 . . .

Sydney had been out all day, shopping, Vaughn presumed, and he knew she wouldn't be home until late. That left he and little Izzy (his pet name for Isabel), all alone to set up what would hopefully be one of the most memorable days in Sydney's life.

He had it all planned out . . . roses; check. Candles; check. The ring; check and double check. The t-shirt; no check. Crap, where was the t-shirt? Although to most, a t-shirt seems to be a fairly unimportant item when one's proposing, to Vaughn, the t-shirt was the proposal. It was for Izzy, and without it, everything would fall apart. He searched high and low, under sofa cushion, atop bookshelf, but alas, no t-shirt.

There was only one thing to do . . . go and get another one printed. So, he grabbed Izzy, threw her in the car-seat, and took off to Rick's Clothing Customization. There, he wasted precious minutes of the day waiting for "Rick" to imprint the t-shirt for the little baby. After what seemed like eons, the t-shirt was finally ready, and Vaughn was able to pay for it, get Izzy into the car and leave within 47 seconds.

Once home, Vaughn finished setting up his carefully laid out plan, and when he to grab Izzy and change her into the new t-shirt, he realized, she was already wearing it — actually, she was wearing the one he'd searched everywhere for. So, cursing to himself, he trudged up the stairs and set Izzy on his bed. All that was left to do was light the candles and turn out the lights. Sydney should be home any minute now, and Vaughn was incredibly nervous. He ran back upstairs to the bedroom, made sure Izzy was sitting upright (although she had learned to sit up unassisted a month ago, she still tilted over sometimes) and hid behind the door.

When he heard the jingling of keys downstairs, he nearly wet himself.

"Vaughn, I'm home!" Sydney cried out cheerfully. "Vaughn, where are you?"

The house was dark, and considering the field she worked in, Sydney assumed the worst. She unholstered her gun, and crept silently into the living room. There, she found a note. She reholstered her gun, and read it.

Sydney,

Come upstairs into the bedroom. I hope you will find a very pleasant surprise waiting for you.

- V -

"Oooh, what did you do today Mr. Vaughn?" Sydney giggled delightedly to herself. She headed for the stairs, and saw that they were lined with candles, and that there was a rose petal trail leading up them.

"This just keeps getting better and better," she said, grinning ear to ear.

As she began up the stairs, she breathed in the sweet scent of vanilla coming off the candles - her favourite. The rose petal path continued all the way to their bedroom door, which was closed, as per usual, but there was a small stream of light flooding out from underneath the door. She slowly turned the knob to open the door, and found that there were rose petals all over the floor and bed, and there were more candles adorning the night stands and dresser. Atop the bed was Izzy, staring randomly into space.

"And what are you doing in here, little missy? Mommy doesn't think you should be around for what's about to go down." She bent over to pick up Isabel, but that's when she noticed the writing embroidered on her little t-shirt.

"What does this say, hmmm? 'Mommy . . . will you marry Daddy?' Oh my God!" Sydney nearly squealed with delight as Vaughn appeared from behind the door. "Oh Vaughn . . ."

"Syd, you don't even know how long I've been waiting to do this. I've actually tried to propose about four times now, but nothing seemed right. It either seemed to gaudy, or not extravagant enough for you. But this . . . having our daughter here, and just being home . . . it seemed so right. Like all those times I got cold feet before were because some higher power wanted me to do it this way. I love you Sydney Bristow. I've loved you since the day you walked into the CIA office all bruised up and with that awful pink hair. You've shown me more love than I've ever known before, and you're the mother of my beautiful little girl. And now, almost four and half years after we first met, I would like to know if you would do me a tremendous honour and become my wife."

"Oh Vaughn, of course I will. I love you too, and I couldn't imagine my life without you and Isabel in it." She was smiling enough to light up the dim room, and Vaughn was just flat out beaming. He pulled out a small black box from his back pocket, and cracked it open. Inside was a beautiful ring; not because it had a 10 carat stone or because it had perfect clarity, but simply because it was from him. And ornately engraved on the inside was the same thing Sydney's father had once written to her mother:

All my love, forever and a day

As Vaughn delicately placed the ring on Sydney's finger, their daughter gurgled, laughed, and began to suck on her toe, and that was when Vaughn realized that there was no where else he'd rather be, and no one else he would rather be with. And Sydney realized that she had finally gotten her perfect proposal.