Passionate Hearts

Hi everyone...A friend encouraged me to post this here at AllAlias. I've been posting this story over at Sd-1.net under HandlesVartan (as well). I hope you guys will enjoy this here.


Disclaimer: I don't own ALIAS - they belong to ABC...
If you would like a pm, let me know.

Chapter 1:

After Sydney’s funeral, Michael Vaughn came home to his apartment and the first thing he did was grab a bottle of whiskey and a shot glass then he proceeded to drown himself in hard liquor. It was a beautiful ceremony, he thought just the way Sydney would have liked it. Vaughn was on the floor of his living room with his back up against the couch for support, a bottle of whiskey and a shot glass on the coffee table in front of him. He poured more in the glass and downed a shot. It burned his throat as he swallowed. He didn’t care. His heart died. He felt nothing but emptiness inside. His mind wandered back to his father’s funeral. He remembered that day so well it scared him.

It was a cold, windy day at the Arlington National Cemetery. Family surrounded Michael Vaughn and many people he had no clue who they were but he suspected that they were his father’s colleagues. He sat next to his weeping mother as the priest led the ceremony at the graveside. He grabbed her hand to hold her. It was the only way he could have comforted her at that moment. He never looked at anyone around them, only at the coffin that lay before him. The American Flag covered the coffin and flowers surround the opening of the grave. It was a sight that Michael never wanted to witness again. At that moment, he made a solemn vow to find his father’s killer and bring that person to justice. He also made another vow. He prayed that he would never have to bury a loved one. At the end of the sermon, there was the sound of “Taps” playing and gunshots in the air.

It woke him out of his thoughts and brought him back to the cold harsh reality he was about to live in. It was too real for him.

Twenty-six years later, he had buried his soul mate. The pain of losing his father was nothing compared to losing Sydney. The loss of Sydney was affecting him more deeply than his father’s death. Now he knew how his mother felt that day. He stared at the shot glass, poured himself another round, and gulped it down in one shot. The tears never stopped falling from his face. He gave up on wiping them away, allowing the tears to fall to his pants, creating sprinkles of wet spots. He didn’t care. He wanted nothing more than to go back to bed and pretend that this was all a nightmare, but he couldn’t. He was living in his worst nightmare. He cried because of all the opportunities they could have had, and dreams for their future were shattered. It broke him into thousands of pieces.

Days went by, and Vaughn was still on the floor, drinking his life away. He figured that he had nothing else to live for. He had finally found his father’s killer and learned that she was the mother of his soul mate. He couldn’t believe that fate brought them together under such painful circumstances. Nonetheless, he loved her deeply, more than life itself. He was amazed at himself, especially his capacity to love her. He never thought he would ever fall in love the way he fell for Sydney. It scared him to need her so much. He didn’t know how he could live without her and yet there he was, living without Sydney.

Vaughn got up from the floor and staggered toward his office with a bottle in his left hand. He walked into the office and sat on his desk. On his desk were pictures of Sydney from her missions. All of them in black and white some had been smudged due to his salty tears and wiping the photos, others had wrinkles and marks from being held tightly. He picked up a photo and stared at it. Almost as if he was willing her to come back to him. In the photo was a picture of Sydney with the bozo red hair and bruised face. He laughed for a second remembering the day she entered his life. Then his laughter turned into more sobs as reality set on him. He couldn’t do this anymore. It was killing him. He looked over to the side of his desk, towards the lamp. Next to the lamp, were several envelopes, all sealed with letters inside, addressed to Sydney Bristow, Heaven. Vaughn wiped his eyes and tried unsuccessfully to straighten up his desk, instead he pushed everything off the desk, photo after photo falling weightlessly towards the ground. He pulled out a blank sheet of paper with his initials and fumbled through the drawer looking for a pen. Finally, he began to write a new letter to Sydney. As soon as he finished writing the letter, he picked up the paper, folded it, and stuck it inside the envelope. He addressed the letter to Sydney Bristow, Heaven and then kissed the envelope. “Sydney, please come home to me. I need you.” He whispered as he held the letter tightly against his chest. More tears fell from his face and he finally succumbed to sleep on the desk holding the envelope in one hand and a picture of Sydney in the other.

Ever since Sydney had died, Vaughn had been falling apart. It was hard for Weiss to see him wasting away like that. Weiss knew that Sydney deserved better than that. He drove to Vaughn’s house and let himself in. Once he entered, he was surprised to see the mess in the house. There were bottles of hard liquor on the counter top and several emptied glasses next to the bottles. Weiss walked into the living room and found more bottles of liquor. He sighed and kicked himself mentally for not taking care of his best friend. He continued to wander throughout the place looking for Mike. As Weiss opened the office door, he found Vaughn slouched over on the desk. There were photos of Sydney all over the floor laying haphazardly everywhere. He bent down, picked up all the photos of Sydney, stacked them neatly in a pile, and put it back in the file where it belonged. Then he proceeded to clean up around Vaughn, picking up all the remains from his desk and putting them back in their rightful place. He stopped when he picked the burnt picture frame. He had never seen it before and he knew it was the picture frame that Vaughn gave to Sydney.

He walked over to stand behind Vaughn and woke him up. “Wake up Mike!” He yelled. Vaughn woke up instantly.

“Sydney?” He whispered.

“Come on man, let’s get you cleaned up.” Weiss whispered to him as he took him down the hall to his bathroom. He put Vaughn in the bathtub and turned on the cold water making sure that it hit him directly in the face. Instantly, Vaughn was awake and yelling about the cold water. Weiss finally turned off the water and told Vaughn to take a shower. Weiss walked out of the bathroom and went back into the living room to help clean up the mess. Several minutes later Weiss heard Vaughn’s footsteps coming down the hallway.

“Hey” was all Vaughn could muster out. He threw on a pair of jeans and white tee shirt, his pants barely hanging on to his waist.

“God, you look like s*** man.” Weiss told him as he gave him the once over. “Haven’t you eaten lately?” Vaughn shook his head no. “You need to stop doing this. It’s killing you. I can’t stand to look at you like this anymore. Sydney wouldn’t want you to waste away like this. She would have wanted you to move on with your life. Live your life for her.” Weiss told Vaughn as he continued to clean the countertop. He stood there waiting and watching Vaughn’s reaction.

“I can’t, Eric. It hurts too much to live without her. I need her. I don’t feel like moving on without her.” He choked out and gasped for breath at the same time.

“Mike, hey it’s ok buddy.” He ran over to grab Vaughn and led him to the couch. “We’ll get through this together. I’m here now.” Weiss grabbed a box of Kleenex and handed it to Vaughn. Weiss stood up in front of Vaughn; walked over to the hall closet; pulled out a jacket and handed it to Vaughn.

“We are going out; you need to eat and get some fresh air.”
Several hours later, Weiss and Vaughn were walking on the pier in Huntington Beach. It was a nice clear day, not too many people were out since it was a weekday. The two of them just walked side by side, not saying a word.

“How am I supposed to live without Sydney?” Weiss was shocked and saddened at Vaughn’s sudden question. Weiss turned to look at Vaughn and what he saw was not the same guy he had known a few weeks ago. What he saw was a man who was completely broken, lost and scared. Weiss felt bad for Vaughn but vowed to himself that he would do whatever it took to make him happy again.

“I don’t know, Mike. We’ll figure it out. I promise we’ll figure it out.” Was all he could say and they began walking in silence again.

Another hour or so went by as they made their way into BJ’s Restaurant and Brewery. “Are you sure you want to be in here?” Weiss asked Vaughn. Vaughn nodded as they waited for the hostess to direct them to their table by the window, which overlooked the ocean. They sat in silence as they ordered their drinks and appetizers. Vaughn was looking over to the horizon and tears began to form around his eyes, and he wiped them away quickly so no one else could notice that he was crying. The waitress came by, brought them their Iced Teas and Buffalo wings, and took their order for dinner. They continued to sit and eat their appetizers in silence. Weiss was beginning to wonder if Vaughn was ever going to get over losing Sydney. He was afraid for his best friend and desperately wanted to help but didn’t know how except to be his friend. It was at that moment that Vaughn took out a small black velvet box and put it on the table for Weiss to see. Weiss looked at Vaughn, waiting to see if he would say something but he didn’t, so he picked up the box and opened it up revealing an engagement ring.

“I was going to ask her to marry me in Santa Barbara.” Vaughn looked back down on the table and brought his hands up to cradle his head on the table. Weiss was speechless at the moment.

“I didn’t know you two were serious.” Weiss looked at Vaughn and set the box down in front of him.

Vaughn took the ring out of the box and read the inscription, “My Soul Mate” to Weiss.

“That’s beautiful, Mike. I’m sure Sydney would’ve loved it.” Vaughn put the ring back in the box and put it in his jacket pocket for safekeeping. “Mike, I think you should go to France for a while. Get away from LA and spend some time with your mother. It would be a nice change for you”. Weiss told him as the waiter arrived with their dinner.

“Yeah maybe I should.” Vaughn replied and took a bite out of his potatoes.

The next week went by in a flash as Vaughn prepared to take a leave of absence from the CIA and spend some time in France with his mother. At first he was hesitant about leaving but decided to do so anyway. His mother, Ameliè picked Vaughn up from the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris and drove him home to the farm in Fleury, Normandy. Vaughn spent the next several months in Fleury with his mother’s family. It was a long and hard recovery process for him.
~~~~
Several months later, Vaughn returned to LA to rebuild his life. He decided that it wasn’t worth working for the CIA anymore since there was nothing keeping him there. There was no more searching for his father’s killer, no more SD-6, and no Sydney. He planned to finish out the month to finish up the paperwork. He settled for a teaching job at a local college, teaching French. It was Sydney’s dream to become a teacher and he thought that he could try to live for her, accomplish some of her dreams as a way of honoring her memory. It was the least he could do. Vaughn and Weiss still kept in touch and occasionally went out to a Kings game here and there. Sometimes they played hockey at Pickwick Ice Skating Rink like old times. Weiss noticed that Vaughn was a different person than before. He was very guarded and carried a heavy heart. He could hear it in his voice. Vaughn even gained some of the weight that he lost after Sydney died and he stopped drinking after he almost died. Weiss hadn’t known what the circumstances were and planned to wait until Vaughn told him what happened during the past several months.

Vaughn and Weiss were at the Pickwick Ice Skating Rink when Weiss mentioned the NSC investigation into Irina. “Why is the NSC investigating Irina now? They should have done it after she escaped.” Vaughn told Weiss.

“I don’t know but the NSC is sending someone out here to investigate.” Weiss replied and shot a puck past Vaughn and it banged against the boards.

“Good shot!” Vaughn exclaimed as he did a slap shot. “Why the NSC? Who ordered the investigation and who is conducting it?” Vaughn asked Weiss. “Agent Vaughn! Slow down! I’d rather talk to Mike!” Vaughn laughed and shot another puck against the boards.

“I don’t know how to tell you this, but they want you to work with the NSC on this investigation. Apparently, they feel that you are best suited for this job due to the fact that you were close to the Bristows.” Vaughn let out a sigh of defeat knowing he could never fully move on from the CIA. It had a way of haunting him, starting with his father’s death and continuing with Sydney’s.

“Why can’t they find someone else? Its hard for me, I’m just trying to put my life back together and the NSC wants to rip me apart again! I can’t go through it again.” Vaughn resigned in defeat. He realized that no matter what, it was always going to come back one way or the other. He couldn’t take it anymore and might as well help out and get it over and done with as soon as possible.

Vaughn walked into the JTF the following week, which was supposed to be his last week working for the CIA but he had a gut feeling that it wasn’t going to be his last week. He had already turned in his two weeks notice but since he was one of their best agents, or used to be, they weren’t going to let him go easily. The CIA felt that Agent Vaughn was a great leader. Many junior agents envied him, mostly because he had become a legend due to his father and from working with the Bristows.

Many of these junior agents had wanted to be like him, but that had changed as Agent Vaughn had become out of touch. They actually felt sorry for him after Sydney died. He was the kind of agent that all the junior agents wanted to be. They wanted to have the legacy that he had. They wanted their “asset” to be like Sydney.

“Hey Mike! Wait up for me!” Weiss yelled as he tried to catch up with Vaughn. “Listen, we have a meeting in ten minutes. Before we go in, I wanted to ask you how are you handling this.” Weiss asked him.

“I’m fine and I just want to get this done. The sooner I can get this done, the sooner I can move on.” Vaughn told him, mostly to reassure him that he really was ok. When in reality he was really not ready to deal with it. He never got over losing Sydney and never would.

Vaughn walked into the conference room, what used to be the old and dull conference room had been remodeled. The square table had been replaced with 2 glass tables on each side of the room forming a slight crescent shape. In between the tables stood the state of art TV equipment along with the latest computer. All this was probably done and picked out by Marshall. It is safe to say that these were some of Marshall’s favorite toys. Vaughn walked to the left side of the room and sat down in the middle and Weiss came to sit next to him, followed by Agents Kendall and Dixon. A minute later, a young woman with blonde hair and steel blue eyes came into the room. Vaughn looked at her for a split second and then back to Kendall.

Kendall got up and began the meeting. “Thank you for being here, I want to introduce you all to Agent Reed from NSC. She will be here to investigate Irina Derevko….”

Vaughn interrupted Kendall’s speech and inserted his own. “I don’t understand why we are having this investigation now. This investigation should have happened immediately after she escaped in Panama and what does this investigation have to do with me?”

All eyes left Vaughn and traveled to Kendall and Agent Reed. “Agent Vaughn, you are here because the NSC felt that you will be valuable to this investigation with regards to your close proximity to Sydney Bristow and her father. The NSC believes that because of your relationship with Sydney, you may have been privy to information that we don’t have.” Agent Reed stated to all.

“My relationship with Sydney Bristow is none of anyone’s damn business. I’m not going to share secrets now. Even if I did know something, I still wouldn’t tell a damn soul. Why? Because it was said to me in total confidence. I’m not about to betray Sydney. Not now and not ever. So I would think twice before asking me any questions regarding Sydney. Now, I might be able to help you with Jack but if you really want to know more about Irina Derevko, you are asking the wrong person. The person you should be talking to is Jack Bristow, not me. Don’t make me relive it.” Vaughn stated with urgency in his voice. He sank back down in his seat and began to rub his temples as if he was trying to will the headache that was forming away. He didn’t need this, not now.

“I understand Agent Vaughn, but you are under orders to tell us everything you know about Irina Derevko.” Agent Reed replied in a calming voice.

“Didn’t you read my file? If you did, you would have known about my secret investigation into Irina Derevko after she turned herself in. I believe that everything I know about her is in that file. Maybe you should have done your homework first before harassing me about it.” Agent Reed’s gaze never left Agent Vaughn’s as he said that. It was like he set off something primal inside of her. She became so frustrated and angry. It was evident in her body language. Vaughn just sat back and let out a dry chuckle thinking that he had won the match.

“Agent Vaughn, need I remind you that I can pull rank on you, if I have too.” She smirked as she rebutted.

“That’s fine with me, since this is my LAST week in the CIA and I don’t anticipate that I will be needed ever again once I am out. In fact, I would prefer it if all of you would not contact me about this ever again.” As soon as the words came out of Vaughn’s mouth, he got up and left the meeting. The rest of the occupants in the conference room sat in silence, pondering Vaughn’s last words.

Weiss thought that what just happened was an unexpected twist. Vaughn hadn’t noticed but Lauren could be very stubborn and would refuse to give up. Agent Reed’s stubbornness reminds Weiss of Sydney. Weiss followed Vaughn out of the conference room and over to Sydney’s desk. After Sydney died, Vaughn moved from his desk to Sydney’s. No one dared to question him when he did that. Heck, no one even bothered to use it because it was like committing sacrilege.

“Mike are you ok?” Weiss asked Vaughn as he pulled a chair up to sit next to him.

“For the umpteenth time, I’m fine. Will you please stop asking me! I just don’t like the idea of working with Agent Reed on this investigation. I really don’t want to drag Sydney into this. I just want to keep her out of this as much as possible.” Vaughn looked at him with that look that he knew all too well. It was a look that said, “Don’t argue with me.”

“Mike, I doubt that Sydney is going to care. She’s dead.” Weiss whispered.

“I can’t believe you said that! I care and I’m not going to do it. So drop it!” Vaughn yelled at Weiss and walked away from the desk towards the hallway. It was obvious that Vaughn would soon be on his way back to the pier or to the warehouse. He often when to the pier when he was frustrated or whenever he wanted to be with Sydney. Other times he went to the warehouse when things got worse. Sometimes it was hard to tell whether he would go to the pier or the warehouse.

That night, Vaughn went to the warehouse trying to find some solace in it. The warehouse was the one place that Vaughn felt the closest to Sydney. After all it was the place where their friendship was built and soon their relationship. After Sydney and Vaughn got together, they rarely went to the warehouse since it wasn’t necessary for them to hide their relationship anymore, but now that Vaughn had lost Sydney, he spent a lot of time there, reliving memories, and talking to Sydney as if she was there with him. Tonight, Vaughn decided to write another letter to Sydney. He continued to write letters to her but never mailed them. All the letters were stored in a special box that Vaughn kept in his closet. Inside the box was a sack of letters tied together with gold-laced ribbon that his mother gave him, along with souvenirs that Vaughn kept from the times they went out. The souvenirs included a miniature zamboni, ticket stubs to Kings games, movies, and little post-it notes that she left for him at her place. Vaughn wanted to keep everything because he treasured every moment that he spent with Sydney. These little mementos had become his lifeline. It was the only connection he had to her, other than the fact that she had his heart and he had hers. Vaughn believed the moment Sydney died, his heart died as well.

:blush:
 
Ok Here is chapter 2. I'm going to post all the chapters up to Chapter 9 which is where I am on SD-1.net..

Disclosure is at top of Chapter 1....


Chapter 2

Lauren wasn’t at all surprised with Vaughn’s candor; after all she had suspected this would happen. She figured she would have to try harder to get him to give her what she wanted and she thought the only way she might be able to get to him was through his best friend Agent Weiss. If Weiss could convince him to help with the investigation, then her plan would succeed. She laughed because everyone seemed to buy into this NSC investigation into Irina Derevko. This wasn’t an investigation into Irina Derevko, but a mission that involved Michael Vaughn. Lauren was determined to make this work and prove to her father that she was a capable agent. Of course, she’d never be as good as Sydney Bristow but she could try. She was, after all, on a swallow mission to seduce and marry Michael Vaughn. Why? Because she knew that Sydney was alive and she had to prevent him from going back to her. Sydney’s role in the prophecy was so critical, and nothing was going to stop the Covenant from making it happen.

Lauren walked out of the conference room, spotted Weiss at his desk, and approached him. “Agent Weiss, where is Agent Vaughn?”

Lauren hovering over him startled Weiss. “Geez! Don’t do that again!” Weiss put a hand on his heart to calm himself down. “Agent Vaughn left for the day. Try again tomorrow.” Weiss turned back to his paperwork, leaving Lauren with more useless information.

“Where is he, I need to talk to him.” She decided to press on.

“That’s not a good idea. Just give him some time and space. That’s all he needs right now.” Weiss deadpanned. He got up and walked away from Lauren hoping that she wouldn’t follow him. “This is not working,” she said to herself. Then she had an idea, and walked over to Marshall’s desk.

Marshall was sitting on his desk, working on the server oblivious to Lauren standing in the doorway of his office. It took Marshall all of five minutes to notice Lauren. “Oh hey, Can I help you?” Marshall smiled as he asked.

“Yes, my name is Agent Reed and I’m with NSC. I want to know where Agent Vaughn is and I’m wondering if you could find him for me. I am assuming that all CIA agents have tracking devices in their cars.”

Marshall stared at Lauren for a minute and then chuckled to himself before explaining to her. “No offense, but there is no tracking device on Agent Vaughn’s car. He had them removed as soon as he came back.” Lauren walked away from Marshall’s office knowing that she would have to wait until tomorrow to talk to Vaughn.

Later that afternoon, Lauren’s cell phone rang as she was going through her paperwork. She grabbed the phone and answered. “Agent Reed.” Silence hung in the air for a minute.

“Tell me you have completed the first step?” McKenas boomed and Lauren couldn’t help but yank the phone away from her ears.

“No, Agent Vaughn is resisting to help us. I will have to try again tomorrow.” She replied, hoping that he was not disappointed in her.

“Then you better get Dr. Barnett involved now. If he is seeing her for therapy, then she can break him.” Cole replied, frustrated by the lack of events. McKenas Cole was a very impatient man. He was a man on a mission. He was determined to fulfill the prophecy at all costs. It had been his lifelong dream. Working together with Sloane again had yielded its benefits. There had been bumps in the road at first, but they managed to overcome them and work together. Now all they needed to do was create the child, and find out what the second half of the prophecy was all about.

“Yes Sir.” Was all Lauren could say. She decided that the best way to approach this plan was to get in touch with a man named Arvin Sloane.

Arvin Sloane was a man who was hated by every form of government known to mankind. Sloane was driven to obsession with Rambaldi’s Prophecy because he believed that he had a personal connection to the prophecy. He had spent the past 30 some years searching for the pieces. When the time came, he had put the pieces together; it unveiled a machine of enormous power. An unimaginable power to be precise.

Lauren picked up the phone and called NSC to find out about Arvin Sloane’s situation. She had learned that soon after Sydney’s kidnapping, he turned himself in so he could pretend to help find Sydney’s killer. Sloane and NSC were still debating Sloane’s terms of agreement when Lauren checked in. She had an idea and told Bob Lindsay’s secretary that she was coming in. She had a plan that was going to make everyone happy. Lauren quickly made flight arrangements to be on the red eye out to Washington DC that night.

Weiss was concerned with Vaughn’s behavior lately. He noticed that whenever the subject of Sydney came up, Vaughn became withdrawn. He couldn’t stand to see Vaughn fall apart again. The only thing that Weiss could think to do now was call Dr. Barnett. He hated to rat out on Vaughn but he felt that he had no choice. Weiss immediately called Dr. Barnett, explained the situation to her, and asked if she would see him today if possible. She agreed to do so and as soon as she hung up with Weiss, she called Vaughn.

Dr. Barnett was sympathetic to Vaughn’s situation. She really did feel bad for Vaughn. Sydney’s loss had taken a huge toll on him, physically and mentally. It was amazing that Vaughn had survived it. She walked over to the filing cabinet, pulled out Michael Vaughn’s file, and reviewed his past several visits, noticing that he never fully accepted the fact that he could ever love anyone again. She quickly found the page that listed his cell phone number and dialed it. After three rings, she got his voicemail and left him a message to meet with her in the morning.

The following morning, Vaughn woke up feeling as tired and depressed as ever. He struggled with his daily morning routine. It was the routine he had adopted when he came home from France. Every morning he would think of how his morning routine would be if Sydney was still alive.

Sometimes, Vaughn would wake up first and other times Sydney would wake up first. This time, Vaughn woke up early, not wanting to disturb her. He watched her sleep, seeing smiles with dimples, the way her nose crinkled when she was being mischievous, and the way her tongue would peek out at the corner of her mouth when she was in deep concentration. He had to keep himself from laughing at her different expressions, wishing he could see what she was dreaming of. Soon Sydney began to stir in Vaughn’s arms, his right arm hanging over her hip and his fingers did their dance on her back, tickling her as she woke up. She laughed against his chest, tickling him with her breath in the process.

Sydney tilted her head towards Vaughn and smiled. “Good Morning, Baby,” Vaughn said with a whisper and crashed into her mouth before she had the chance to reply. Vaughn rolled on top of Sydney, pinning her down to the bed.

They finally came up for breath after several minutes, still holding each other. Vaughn propped himself on his left elbow, giving him a bird’s eye view of Sydney. He reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and lovingly caressed her cheeks.

“What was that for?” Sydney whispered to Vaughn.

“You. If you weren’t so damn gorgeous and kissable, I wouldn’t be doing this!” They laughed.

“Who’s fault is that?” Sydney asked as she lightly caressed his chest.

“Yours!” Vaughn said as he caressed Syd’s face with kisses, and soon they became lost in their passion again.

It was their little morning routine. He would do anything to have that routine back. It was better than the one he currently had. Every morning he has to fight the urge to roll over to Sydney’s side of the bed and touch her. It pained him to see that her side was empty and the reality of her death came back to haunt him. Tears slid down his cheek at the thought of spending another day without her. He forced himself to get out of bed and get ready for another day. He shuddered at the thought of having to go see Dr. Barnett. He was tired of talking to everyone about how he feels. He just wanted to be alone.

Three hours later, Vaughn was in Dr. Barnett’s office, not happy to be there. He kept either ignoring her questions or giving her only yes/no answers. He kept playing with his ring finger as if there was an imaginary wedding ring on it, a habit that started after Sydney died.

Dr. Barnett picked up on this and decided to approach him about this habit. “Agent Vaughn, ever since Sydney died, you have been playing with your ring finger. Why is that?” She asked.

Vaughn immediately stopped and stared at her, his eyes pleading with hers to drop the subject but to no avail. “It’s none of your business.” Vaughn replied with a hint of anger in his voice. He looked away from her gaze and out to the window behind her. It was a bright sunny day in Los Angeles. He knew that Sydney loved sunny days and would rather be out gardening or going for walks in the parks than being inside a building.

“I’m making it my business now, Agent Vaughn. I want you to tell me why.” Dr. Barnett replied with a frustrated tone.

Vaughn could feel the anger burning out of control inside him. A minute longer and he knew he would snap. “I am sick and tired of telling everyone how I feel! I am trying to move on and I can’t do it if you and everyone else keeps asking me about it. I’m the one that has to live with this hole inside of me. When Sydney died, my very being, my heart and soul was ripped out! I feel empty inside! There is nothing inside! I can’t feel anything but sadness. I have to live with a lifetime of regrets!” Vaughn retorted angrily. He realized that he still had more to say. “Besides, I’m not just a guy who lost his girlfriend. I’m a widower! That’s how much I love Sydney! In my heart, she is my wife and I am her husband!” Vaughn continued to yell at Dr. Barnett hoping that she would understand and drop the conversation.

Dr. Barnett watched Vaughn’s expressions and she began to believe that she has finally broken him. The feelings that he had been harboring so close to his heart finally came out. She was amazed that Vaughn believed that he is a “widower”. “Does Sydney love you the way you loved her?” She asked with a calm and collected voice.

“Yes”

“How do you know that? Did you ever tell her? Did she ever tell you?” Dr Barnett kept pressing him with more questions.

“Not exactly, but it didn’t matter because regardless of whether we said the words or not, we knew. It’s like second nature with us. When we were together, we have one heart and soul. It’s instinct.” Vaughn looked out the window during the lull in the conversation.


“That’s nice you two have that connection, but you didn’t answer my questions. Did she ever tell you? Do you claim to know everything she is thinking? Do you have some psychic ability that we don’t know about? How can you be sure that she loved you as much as you love her?” Dr. Barnett continued her barrage of questions, trying to dig deep.

As soon as those words left Dr. Barnett’s mouth, Vaughn could feel the fire burning inside of him again. “Are you trying to tell me that Sydney didn’t love me as much as I loved her? Of course she did!” Vaughn yelled and stood up and walked over to the window.

“How do you know that? If she never told you, does that mean that she felt the same way you feel for her or does it mean that she merely used you for comfort?” Dr. Barnett watched Vaughn for his reaction.

The words hit at Vaughn a million times over, as he struggled to stand. He turned his head towards Dr. Barnett and walked back to the couch, which he had vacated earlier. He stood in front of her. “I loved Sydney and she loved me. There is no doubt about it.” Vaughn’s reply was cold as steel, sending chills down Dr. Barnett’s spine.

“So tell me about the ring? Is there a ring or are you just imagining it?” Dr. Barnett immediately changed the subject and threw Vaughn in a loop when she asked about the ring playing habit that Vaughn developed.

“There is a ring.” Vaughn whispered.

“Do you have it with you? Can I see it?” Dr. Barnett asked.

Vaughn pulled out a gold chain from underneath his shirt and on the chain was Sydney’s ring.

Dr. Barnett was shocked when she saw that Vaughn carried the ring around his neck. “Why do you carry it around your neck? What does it mean for you to carry the ring with you?”

Vaughn chose not to answer that question, wanting to keep it private. He didn’t want to tell her that he made a vow to Sydney at her funeral that he’ll always belong to her. He’d never love another woman as long as he lived. Instead, Vaughn asked her if the session was over. She nodded in response; Vaughn got up and walked out of the room, feeling even more depressed than ever.

Vaughn found Weiss sitting at his desk reviewing some files. He walked over to him. Weiss jumped at the sound of Vaughn’s voice from behind. He got up immediately and turned to face Vaughn.

“We need to talk, but not in here. Why don’t we take a lunch break now and then we can talk.” Vaughn stared at Weiss waiting for a response.

“Yeah we can do that. Where do you want to go? Claro’s? Joey’s Pizza? Philippe’s?” The suggestions came out so fast that Vaughn barely had time to register the places except for Joey’s Pizza.

“Not Joey’s Pizza.” The look on Vaughn’s face said it all. Weiss couldn’t help but mentally beat himself up for suggesting it.

Half an hour later, Vaughn and Weiss are sitting in a booth at Philippe’s. Weiss appeared to be nervous while Vaughn was struggling to hold back his anger at his best friend. They ate quickly knowing that they are going to want to save their strength afterwards.

“How could you do that to me? You called Barnett again! I have told you a thousand times I am fine. If you would stop talking about it, I wouldn’t be having a difficult time moving on.” Vaughn said in a matter-of-fact tone. Vaughn let out a deep breath he had been holding while he was talking.

Weiss just looked at Vaughn with his point blank stare, not realizing that this was the first time that Vaughn had ever used that tone with him. He began to fidget on his stool, trying to buy time before responding to Vaughn. “I think you are having a hard time letting go of Sydney. She has been dead for almost a year now. You need to move on, get out and meet other woman. She would want you to move on, find someone else you can be happy with, have a family with.” Weiss responded.

That last sentence was like a dagger ripping up Vaughn’s heart. He wanted Sydney to be the one he moved on with, created a family with, and lived happily with. After meeting Sydney, no other woman could ever come close to her. Now he knew what it was like to be with her, live with her, and make love to her. She was all he ever wanted and still wanted. Vaughn knew that he would never stop loving her. He would love her till he died. The thought of being with another woman was unbearable. He would never betray her like that. He belonged to her just as she belonged to him. It was as simple as that. “I’ll be fine, Eric. I’d rather be alone. I don’t want to be with anyone. As for a family, Sydney was my family and still is. She and my mother are my family.” Vaughn stopped for a minute, rubbed his temples, and started up again. “I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with anyone but Sydney. Its not fair for me to be in a relationship with someone who may love me but I won’t love in return. I can’t love anyone but Sydney.” Vaughn’s voice broke just enough for Weiss to get the hint that this was tiring for Vaughn.

“You can’t spend the rest of your life like this. As your best friend, I will not allow that to happen.” Weiss stopped talking and paused for a moment to think of what he was going to say next. “You deserve to have the family you should have.” Weiss finished with a soft whisper.

Vaughn looked back at Weiss with glassy eyes. “My family died with Sydney.” He said with an audible whisper. “Let’s go back to work. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Vaughn said as he got up and threw his trash away on his way outside. The ride back to the JTF was silent.

After the meeting with Agent Vaughn, Dr. Barnett realized that no matter what, Vaughn was not going to give up Sydney. She believed that the only way to get Vaughn to move on would be to brainwash him. Even that was extreme but then again, Vaughn still refused to move on. She had no choice. Sloane expected her to get him to move on with his life, especially with Agent Lauren Reed. She agreed that it would be good for Agent Vaughn, but she doubted that it would last very long.


Dr. Barnett left her office for the JTF. She needed to speak with Lauren about Agent Vaughn. She was going to tell her what she planned to do and how it was going to work. It had to work, she thought as she walked down the corridor that led to the JTF. Once Dr. Barnett stepped in the rotunda, she scanned around the room looking for Agent Reed. She found Lauren sitting at her makeshift desk, going over some files. She walked over to Lauren and made her presence known but calling out to her.

“Agent Reed, we need to talk. Is there someplace we can speak privately?” Dr. Barnett asked. Lauren nodded and motioned for Dr. Barnett to follow her. She led them to a private room, which was known as the Flirting Corner. Dr. Barnett waited a few seconds before speaking. “I just had a session with Agent Vaughn this morning. He is still very much in love with Sydney and its going to be very hard for you to win him over. What I propose is that we brainwash him into thinking that it’s ok for him to move on. Once I have done that, he will be your responsibility. Providing that he doesn’t know that Sydney is still alive.”

“That sounds a bit extreme. Are you sure it’s the only way?” Lauren asked curiously.

“Yes, if you plan to seduce and marry him.” Dr. Barnett replied honestly.

“What do I have to do?” Lauren replied quickly, not caring for the ramifications of this mission. She would not fail this one mission. She would prove to her father that she was capable of carrying out a mission.

“Let me take care of Agent Vaughn first, and then I will let you know after that. It’s imperative that we get to him before the end of the week, before he leaves the CIA.” Lauren nodded in agreement, and walked out of the Flirting Corner, and back to her station as if nothing happened.

Dr. Barnett made her way back to her office, mentally planning the entire process. She still has to call Sloane and let him know that Lauren is now cooperating on this mission. Dr. Barnett could only hope that she can pull off this mission in due time. She has never brainwashed someone before, so this should be an experience she would learn from.


Halfway around the world, in Rome, Sydney Bristow was pacing back and forth in the apartment the Covenant gave her. She called Kendall as soon as she could. She was frightened for herself because she had no idea what had happened to her in the past several months. All she knew was that the Covenant had tried to brainwash her but it didn’t work. She was still Sydney Bristow. She stopped at the mirror in front of her, looking at the her reflection. The only physical changes to her were her hair. It was blond rather than her natural brunette. She had a massive headache from all the torture she had endured. She was very surprised to know that she was able to withstand all forms of torture. Sydney thought that she was an excellent spy, but she didn’t realize how good she was.

Kendall arrived the next day, shocked to learn that Sydney was alive. He couldn’t believe it. He waited for Sydney to tell him what happened to her and she did tell him everything. “I can’t believe it!” Kendall exclaimed in surprise. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This was all too much at the same time, but he realized that Sydney had the potential to become a double agent again. She could infiltrate the Covenant.


“Kendall, I want to go home. I want to see Vaughn. I need to see him.” Sydney whispered. Ever since she had been out on her own again, all she thought about was Vaughn. She needed to get back to him, hear his voice, feel him against her skin; she needed him now more than ever.

“Sydney, I’m not sure that is a good idea. It’s been 9 months.” Kendall told her.

“Nine months is nothing. Vaughn loves me.” As soon as she said those words, she was already out the door and on her way home to Los Angeles. She couldn’t wait to see him again.

Twelve hours later, she finally saw him again, as he pulled up in front of his apartment. He looked so sad she thought. If she could, she would run out onto the street, calling him back to her. Instead, she found a piece of paper and wrote “Joey’s Pizza” with the initials SB below it. After checking to make sure that no one was watching her or the place, she got out of the car, walked up to the door of his apartment; rang the bell and set the paper down on the steps where he would see it. She got back inside the car and waited for him to open the door and see the paper. When Vaughn answered the door, he didn’t see anyone but the folded piece of paper. He opened it up; read it and his face was an assortment of emotions. He ran out to the sidewalk looking up and down the street to find out who planted this. He went back inside the house and not more than two minutes passed by, he got into his car and drove to the warehouse. Sydney was so relieved to see that he got her message.

She drove to the warehouse determined to be there waiting for him. She drove through every single red light, not caring about traffic laws. The only thing that she cared about was the man that she loved. Sydney made it to the warehouse first and walked through the familiar grounds, remembering all the times they’d spent there together. The good and bad times. Sydney walked over to the table and sat on top, swinging her feet in anticipation. It had been nine months since she last saw her boyfriend. The approaching footsteps made her heart heavy with fear, excitement and longing. Sydney jumped from the table and stood next to the table as she saw the chain link fence open. Then she finally came face to face with the man that held her heart. “Oh my god, Vaughn!” She whispered as she ran towards him.

:blush:
 
Disclaimer is on top of Chapter 1....

Chapter 3 –

Vaughn stood there by the fence wondering if his eyes were playing a trick on him. First he thought that he was dreaming, so he pinched himself to wake up. As soon as he felt Sydney in his arms for the first time in nine months, it began to sink in. She was here alive and in his arms. It was too much for Vaughn, his arms unconsciously held Sydney tighter as he cried into her hair. His sobs matched those of Sydney’s and they just held each other for dear life. Vaughn finally pulled away, cupped Sydney’s face in his hands and brushed away her tears with the pad of his thumb. He looked into her chocolate brown eyes and found nothing but love. He couldn’t help himself as he kissed her, tasting her again. What was a sweet kiss turned into a passionate kiss, leaving Sydney and Vaughn breathless, foreheads touching, arms still locked around each other.

“Syd…what happened to you? I thought you died?” Vaughn asked worriedly.

Sydney walked out of Vaughn’s embrace and towards the fence. Her arms crossed over her chest in a protective way. Vaughn walked behind Syd and turned her around so he could see her.
“I was kidnapped by the Covenant, forced to watch my funeral, tortured to the point of me becoming Julia Thorne. They tried to brainwash me.” Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes, and Vaughn did his best to make them go away. He couldn’t stand to see her in such pain. “Vaughn, they did horrible things to me.” Syd whispered and lifted up her shirt to show Vaughn the scar.

When Vaughn saw the scar, his anger took on a life of its own. He stepped away from her, walked over to the wall, and pounded his fist into the wall. As soon as his hand hit the wall, he screamed in frustration.

“Vaughn! What are you doing! You are going to break your hand if you keep doing that!” Sydney yelled as she ran over to Vaughn and grabbed his arm before he attempted to hit the wall again. “Vaughn! Please don’t do this. I need you now. I want to go home with you.” Sydney pleaded with Vaughn. He saw the look on her face; wrapped her in his arms again ignoring the pain in his left hand.

“I’m so sorry! I should have been there with you that night. If I hadn’t gone to the JTF for the debrief, none of this would’ve happened. It’s my fault.” Vaughn said tearfully. By now, Sydney and Vaughn were on the floor holding each other, crying and whispering soothing words.

“It’s not your fault, honey. I don’t blame you for what happened. I never could. Vaughn, can we go home now?” Sydney asked.

Vaughn stood up and extended his right hand for Sydney. He helped her up and gave her another kiss. Sydney didn’t want to let go of Vaughn, she just held him tight afraid that once she let go, he would disappear. Vaughn sensed her fears.

“Baby, I’m not going anywhere and neither are you. We are going home now. It’s going to be ok. Trust me.” Vaughn reassured her.

Soon Sydney was following Vaughn to his apartment. On the way to his apartment, Vaughn felt relieved to have Sydney back. He couldn’t wait to tell her exactly how much he loved her. He also wanted to make love to her again. Vaughn kept glancing back in the rearview mirror making sure that Sydney was there. He couldn’t afford to lose her now. God had finally answered his prayers and given him the one miracle he had been asking for for nine months.

Sydney couldn’t believe that she was finally going to Vaughn’s place. She instantly regretted not getting the chance to go before all this happened. There were so many things that she wanted to do with Vaughn. She hoped that this time around, she would get that second chance.

As soon as they reached the apartment complex, Vaughn wasted no time getting to Sydney and making sure that he had Sydney safely secured in his hand. It wasn’t more than two minutes later that Sydney was finally in Vaughn’s apartment. Just the thought of seeing it and being there made her excited but now that she was physically there, it overwhelmed her. Vaughn intertwined their hands and led her down the hallway to his bedroom. He had only one thing on his mind, but Sydney pulled him in the bathroom instead so she could clean and take care of his hand. Not a word was spoken this entire time. Vaughn instead chose this time to watch Sydney, not wanting to tear his eyes away from her again.

Once they had reached the bedroom, Vaughn broke the silence. “I love you, Syd. So much.” He gripped her tightly in his arms, and tears of joy found their way down Sydney’s cheeks.

“I love you too, Michael. I’ve wanted to tell you that for so long.” Vaughn pulled Sydney in for a long, meaningful kiss. As the kiss deepened, Vaughn’s hands found their way under Sydney’s shirt, touching her skin for the first time in ages. Her touch burned his hands. Slowly, Vaughn removed the shirt and his lips found her neck. His fingers played with the clasps of her bra and removed it quickly. He ran his fingers up and down her back touching her everywhere.

Sydney moaned in contentment as Vaughn rained kisses up and down her neck. She craved his touch and now it was too much for her to bear. She pulled away to a bewildered Vaughn, and giggled at the look of his face. She too took off his shirt and dragged her nails up and down his chest loving the feel of his tight chest. Sydney reclaimed Vaughn’s lips as her hands found their way to the back of his head, massaging it. She could feel Vaughn moaning in her mouth.

As Sydney and Vaughn continued to explore each other’s mouth, Vaughn’s hands found their way to the buckles of her pants and soon he opened them and pulled them down so that they pooled around her ankles. He gently lifted Syd out of her pants and onto the bed. He looked down at her with such love. “You are so beautiful.” He whispered. Vaughn quickly took his pants off as well.

Sydney shivered at the sound of Vaughn’s words. He always had a way of turning her into complete mush when he adored her and she loved it. Sydney extended her arm out to him, bringing Vaughn down on her body. As soon as she was skin to skin with Vaughn, she felt warmth, something that she hadn’t in a long time.

Vaughn found his way back to her lips, kissing her, then moving down to her neck, her shoulders and finally down to the valley of her breasts. He rained kisses all over her breasts, not touching her nipples. When he had Sydney humming to his butterfly kisses, he attacked her left breast, sucking it greedily, her chest arched forward into Vaughn’s mouth. He played with her right nipple, has he continued to caress her left nipple. After he was satisfied with her left, he moved on to her right, sucking, biting and pulling just like he had with her left. The only sounds in the room were Sydney’s moans. Vaughn continued to move down towards Sydney’s abs, kissing her everywhere. He removed her underwear, tossing it over his shoulder without taking his eyes off of her. Finally, he made his way down to her core. “Oh god Syd, it’s been way too long.” Vaughn whispered before taking her into his mouth. He licked her center, tasting her sweet juices, remembering how he used to crave them. He sucked and licked her clit then moved his tongue into her core.

Sydney began to move around, and Vaughn placed his hands around her hips to keep her steady has he lapped around her walls. His left hand moved from her hip to caress her swollen nub. Sydney’s moans became louder and louder as her orgasm approached. She grabbed Vaughn’s hair and pulled him closer to her core as tightly as she could. “Oh god Vaughn!………Don’t stop! …………..Right there…. yeah baby, that’s it….don’t stop.” Then Sydney screamed as her orgasm shot through her body like an earthquake.

Vaughn didn’t move from her core, as she came down from her orgasm. He licked her up clean then crawled back up to her face and kissed her again. Soon Sydney had rolled them over. Then in a swift second, she removed his boxers, and then impaled herself on his fully erect c***.

“Oh god, Syd!” Vaughn screamed at the sudden impact. Slowly Sydney moved up and down, Vaughn meeting her as she slammed down, sending him further and further in her. Soon they formed a rhythm, and their orgasm slowly built up. Vaughn shifted so when he thrust in her, he would hit her G-spot. He knew from experience that it always drove her as wild as it was driving her then. He thrust harder and harder, knowing that soon they would explode, and when they did, they screamed each other’s names. As the final release came, Sydney contracted around Vaughn and he spilled violently into her.

Sydney collapsed on Vaughn’s chest after that powerful orgasm. Vaughn chuckled and brushed her hair away from her face. God he loved her so much. “I love you”. He whispered. He would never get tired of saying that to her. He loved saying it to her, and he felt like it was a burden lifted off his shoulders.

Sydney looked up to Vaughn and gave him one of her world-class smiles, complete with dimples, a smile Vaughn knew was just for him. “I love you too.” With that, she kissed Vaughn, softly, then deeply. Vaughn rolled her on to her back, still inside of her and gently started to thrust into her again. Vaughn intertwined their hands and gripped as he thrust into Sydney. Their moans became the music in the bedroom and soon they started their rhythm again and found their release in each other for the second time that night. Vaughn pulled out much to Syd’s dismay and spooned into her, holding onto her for dear life. That night was the first night they slept soundly and in each other’s arms again.

Sydney couldn’t believe that she was still in Vaughn’s arms when she woke up in the morning. She had been afraid that last night had all been a dream. Now, she knew its real. She tried to turn around without waking up Vaughn, but as soon as she moved, she felt Vaughn stirring in his sleep. As she turned over, Vaughn was staring at her, smiling, as if he was waiting for her.

“Good morning baby.” Vaughn pressed a kiss on her nose, which made her wrinkle her nose. Vaughn laughed at the motion she made, remembering how she used to do that. “I guess some things don’t change.”

“Hi. Guess not.” Sydney gave Vaughn a quick kiss, then ran the pad of her thumb on the dimple in his chin. Then she flicked one side and pressed a lingering kiss on his dimple. “I can’t believe I almost forgot how sexy your chin is. I never want to forget again. Not now and not ever.” Sydney whispered. She looked up in Vaughn’s eyes, searching his soul for his answer.

“What happens now? I have to go back to Rome tomorrow. I can’t tell the CIA I’m back. Promise me you won’t tell anyone.” Sydney’s voice cracked and tears began to stream down her face.

“I promise I won’t tell anyone. You’ve just saved my life again. These past nine months have been nothing but pure hell and torture without you. I don’t want to go back there.” Vaughn sighed, and thought about what to say next and then he realized what he needed to do. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.” He told Sydney as he moved out of their embrace and walked over to the tall dresser, opened his father’s jewelry box and pulled out the necklace with Sydney’s ring on it. Vaughn walked back to the bed, sat in front of Sydney, took the ring off the chain, and showed it to Sydney.

“I was going to do this in Santa Barbara, and I just realized that if I want my chance to do this, I better do it now. Sydney, I’ve loved you ever since you walked into my life on that fateful day. Everything I’ve done was for you. I wished I could have taken you away that day when you came in with that red wig and bruised lip, I wanted to protect you no matter what. You have become so much more to me since then and even more now. Now I know what it is like to love you and be loved by you. I never want to let that feeling go away. Being away from you, thinking you were dead was the worst thing I’ve ever felt in my life. When you died, I died too. I lost my soul mate, and my heart. You complete me. I want to spend the rest of eternity with you. Only you, Sydney. Will you marry me?” Vaughn finally let out the breath he had been holding while proposing. He knew it wasn’t the best conditions to propose since they were both still naked in bed, but he needed to do it for them, and for himself. Vaughn watched Sydney’s face as he proposed, he watched her cry and at one point she covered her mouth to prevent herself from crying loudly.

“Vaughn – yes, I’ll marry you.” As soon as she said that she flung herself at him causing him to fall flat on his back against the bed with her on top of him. He held her for what seemed like an eternity and then she moved so he could show her the ring.

“Look inside.” He told her. Vaughn gave the ring to Sydney who gasped when she read the inscription inside the ring. Vaughn took the ring and put it on her left ring finger. “Finally it’s where it belongs.” He said as he looked down on her finger admiring the way it looked on her.

“Vaughn, it’s absolutely perfect. I couldn’t have asked for anything better than this.” Sydney sealed her deal with a kiss on Vaughn’s lips. Once she broke away from the kiss, she looked at Vaughn with almost sadness as she realized something. “Vaughn, are you prepared to have a long engagement? I mean I don’t know how long I will be undercover with the Covenant.”

Vaughn sat up on the bed and looked into Sydney’s eyes before telling her what he wanted. “To be honest? No, I can’t deal with a long engagement. I want to marry you now. The Covenant took you away before and what is to stop them from doing it again. I don’t want to take that chance again. We lost each other before and I don’t want it to happen again. I understand that if we get married now, I can’t bring you here afterwards, but I can promise you that we will bring down the Covenant and we will enjoy our life together.” Vaughn reached out to hold Sydney’s hand.

“But how can we get married without the Covenant knowing? I’m not sure if we can pull this off.” Sydney asked wary of their impending plans. She wanted to marry Vaughn, but a secret marriage? That idea excited her and scared her at the same time.

“Sydney, we can do it. I’ll call my mom and we can get married in France. It’ll be a small and simple wedding. My mom will be there, we can have your dad, and Weiss can be there if you want him there.” He stopped to look at Sydney who was still contemplating her decision. “Don’t you trust me? I’ll take care of the wedding. All you have to do is buy a dress and show up. I’ll take care of everything else. Don’t worry about it.” Vaughn pleaded with her.

“I trust you Vaughn, with my heart and soul.” Sydney cupped Vaughn’s face in her right hand and kissed him as he leaned in to her hand. “I love you Michael. I do want to be your wife more than anything else in the world. Nothing I say will ever be more true than that.”

That was all Vaughn needed to hear; he got up immediately and began to make plans for their wedding. He called his mother and explained the situation to her. Amelié understood the severity of the situation and agreed to do whatever it would take to help. She couldn’t have been more excited for her son and her future daughter-in-law. When Vaughn got off the phone with his mother, he turned to Syd who was lying peacefully on the bed, staring at the ring. He could’ve sworn that she looked like an angel. She was so beautiful and radiant that she was glowing. His thoughts only fueled his desire for her even more. It was like he couldn’t get enough of her. He didn’t want to get enough of her.

Vaughn walked over to Sydney’s side of the bed and planted a sweet kiss on her forehead. “I just talked to my mom. She’s taking care of everything. All we have to do is show up.” He told her with a huge grin.

“We’re really getting married?” Sydney asked.

“Yeah we are.” Vaughn nodded and gave her another kiss. “We need to talk about a few things.” His voice was serious.

“What’s wrong?” Sydney asked worriedly.

“We need to tell your father that you are here. Its only fair that he knows what’s going on and I have to tell Weiss and Devlin about this.”

“I thought we weren’t going to tell anyone at work? You promised!”

“I have no intentions of breaking that promise but you have to understand something. This was supposed to be my last week at the CIA. I was going to leave and become a teacher. It just didn’t make sense to stay there anymore. You weren’t there anymore. Everything at the JTF reminded me of you. I just didn’t know how to handle it anymore –“ Sydney interrupted Vaughn train of thought and inserted her own opinion.

“Vaughn, I can’t believe you did that. But right now, I really need you to stay in the CIA. I need your help to take down the Covenant. I can’t do this alone. I’m in way too deep. Please stay for me. Help me.” Sydney begged Vaughn.

Vaughn sighed deeply. He knew she was right; she was too deep in the mission. He could never refuse her. If he could talk to Devlin about letting him stay on and work on the Covenant case, he figured that between the two of them, they just might be able to take them down. After all SD-6 was sort of a success one way or the other. “Ok, I’ll stay and just remember I’m only doing this to take down the Covenant and bring you back to me. You belong to me. Remember that.” Vaughn pleaded with her.

“I know. I’ll never forget and you belong to me too.” Sydney moved from her position on the bed in-order to wrap herself around Vaughn. Needing to hold him, and touch him.

The next few hours went by as Vaughn called Jack and told him to come by his apartment. Vaughn knew that it wasn’t safe for Sydney to leave his apartment because he was concerned that the Covenant may be watching. Sydney had taken a shower and borrowed some of Vaughn’s clothes since she didn’t bring any with her.

Jack finally came over along with Weiss and Devlin. Everyone gathered around in Vaughn’s living room. He could feel Sydney trembling next to him. Everyone was happy to see her alive especially her father. Vaughn had never in his lifetime seen Jack cry before and yet he did when he saw Sydney. Weiss and Devlin were happy yet confused at what was transpiring. Sydney tried to tell everyone about what happened to her since that night after the fire. He held on to Sydney as she explained in great detail about her torture and what they made her do to prove her worth. Just hearing it made Vaughn sick, knowing that if he had gone in the house with her that night, none of this would have happened. Sydney would have never been tortured. He hated himself for that and would never forgive himself.

To change the topic of conversation, Vaughn asked Sydney to tell everyone about this morning and what they were planning to do for the upcoming weekend. Sydney told everyone that they were getting married and that they wanted them to be there. Everyone was stunned, especially Jack who looked like he was going to kill Vaughn for taking his only child away.

“Sydney! You can’t do this! What if the Covenant finds out you are married? They won’t hesitate to kill you! No! This is not going to happen!” Jack yelled.

“Dad! I am an adult here. I can make my own decisions and I do want to marry Vaughn. The Covenant won’t find out! I won’t let them! Please Dad! We need this.” Sydney begged her father to the point that she was already distraught that he won’t approve.

“I sure as hell hope you two know what you are doing. By getting married, you have made the situation complicated.” Jack retorted. Sydney, finally getting what she wanted, flung herself in the arms of her father. While Sydney was explaining to Jack and Weiss the wedding plans, Vaughn was talking to Devlin about staying in the CIA to help bring down the Covenant. Devlin agreed to reinstate Vaughn and give him whatever means necessary to take out the Covenant.

The next few days went by in a blur. Vaughn, Sydney, Amelié, Jack, Weiss, Devlin and Kendall were present at the wedding, which was held on Vaughn’s family farm in France. The wedding went off without a hitch. It was a small ceremony, nothing too extravagant. It was perfect for 2 spies deep undercover.

Sydney and Vaughn retired to the guesthouse, which was separated from the main house. As they reached the door to their guesthouse, Vaughn picked up Sydney and carried her over the threshold and into their bedroom. Soon after, he set her down Sydney walked around Vaughn in circles, driving him insane with want and desire. She stopped in front of him and began to unbutton his tux. At the same time, Vaughn tried to unzip her dress but she pulled away so he couldn’t get to her. She managed to take his shirt off along with his pants. Vaughn knew what she was going to do and by God, he wasn’t about to stop her. Sydney guided Vaughn towards the edge of the bed, stopping to stand in front of him. Vaughn reached out to bring her closer to him, but she stepped away from him, continuing to tease him.

“No, Vaughn. I call the shots from now on.” She spoke in a husky voice, knowing very well that she was about to drive Vaughn wild. She unzipped her dress, letting it fall to the floor. What Vaughn saw next, made him groan at the thought of not touching her. He needed to touch her, kiss her, feel her, and most of all, he just wanted to bury himself in her. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her as she walked towards him and stood between his legs, then bent down so that she was at eye level with his fully engorged c***. Sydney looked at Vaughn, licking her lips so that they were wet and ready. The thought of his c*** being inside her sweet and delicious mouth almost made him come. He fought with himself, not wanting to come just yet.

Sydney trailed her fingers from Vaughn’s ankles to his calves, then up to his thighs and to his abs, slowly scraping it with her fingernails, making Vaughn hiss in response. Her touches were slowly driving him crazy from want and need. Sydney never once broke eye contact with Vaughn, smiling knowing that her touches were driving him insane. She loved the effect she had on him. Her fingers now trailed down his abs to his curls and down to the V, purposely avoiding contact with his c***. Then she brought her fingers up towards his balls, ever so lightly grazing them and to the underside of his c***. Her actions made his c*** swell to a size he never thought it could get.

“SSSyyyyyyydddddddd. Please stop! I need to be inside of you.” Vaughn’s breathing had become so ragged. Vaughn fell back onto the bed because he could no longer sit up straight anymore. He grabbed the fists full of sheets as he prepared himself for the onslaught that he knew was about to happen. Sydney took this opportunity to lick the pre-cum that spilled onto the head. She licked all around and underside of his c***. Vaughn buckled as soon as her lips made contact. It was almost too much for him. Sydney grabbed the base of his c*** and continued to lick his c*** in a lollipop manner. Without warning, she swallowed him in her mouth.

“OH f***!” Vaughn screamed at the sudden movement. Sydney began to slide him in and out of her mouth, imitating the way his c*** would move in and out of her core. Her other hand that was once on Vaughn’s hips, holding him steady now found its way down to his balls. She gently massaged them one at a time, then both at the same time, pulling and massaging. She could tell that he was getting close to his release, so she doubled her efforts and swallowed him hungrily, sucking him so hard, he lost control and spilled into her mouth. Sydney used her hand to hold Vaughn steady as his hips jerked upwards.

“OH GOD!” Vaughn screamed as his orgasm ripped through him.

She continued to caress him until he came down from his earth-shattering orgasm. Once she was sure he was finished, she licked him clean and then crawled up on his chest.

“Did you enjoy that Mr. Vaughn?” Sydney asked.

“Oh hell yeah baby. Where did you learn that?” He asked her.

“I had nine months to think about this night.” She whispered honestly. It was true. All those months in the dark, swampy cell made her think about Vaughn and reaffirmed her love for him.

“Come here, Mrs. Vaughn I’ve yet to get started.” Vaughn smiled at how easily her new name rolled off his tongue. “Yeah, that’s sounds much better.”

Sydney sat up, still sitting on Vaughn’s abs, moved so that she was directly over his c*** and slowly slid down on him. Vaughn shuddered as he watched himself disappear in Sydney. From his position, he could see her wet curls. Her juices had already left a trail from his abs and were now all over him. God, he loved the fact that she was so hot, wet and ready for him. He loved the feeling of himself buried inside her warmth. He raised his knees so that Sydney could use them for support and besides he knew that she loved that particular position. Sydney’s head fell back as the emotions washed over her. She moved her legs and moved them on opposite sides of Vaughn’s head. He took this opportunity to lick the inside of her ankles, knowing fully well that it would drive her crazy. Sydney threw her head back when Vaughn licked her ankles. She wrapped her arms under each of his knees for support. Vaughn grabbed the underside of her thighs and moved her back and forth then in circles, repeating the pattern as it provided them with intense friction and pleasure. Soon their moans increased as they approached their orgasm. Sydney gripped Vaughn’s hands as she rode him harder and harder, and they screamed each other’s names as their orgasm ripped through them.

“You are amazing Mrs. Vaughn.” Vaughn pulled Sydney down onto his chest, and held her as they came down from their high.

“You are not so bad yourself, Mr. Vaughn.” Sydney replied as she pulled the covers over them.

“Vaughn, I’m scared about going back to the Covenant. I’m afraid that something is going to happen and neither one of us will be able to do anything about it.”

“I know Syd. Everything is a lot more complicated now that we are married. We have a personal stake in this. Our future is on the line here.” Vaughn whispered in her hair. Holding her as tight as he could. He said a little prayer for them, so that they would find each other again once it was all over.
 
Chapter 4 –

Sitting in a meeting that seemed to drone on and on, Sydney couldn’t help herself to think of her husband. She often wondered how he is doing. Does he miss her as much as she missed him? She hated the fact that they had to leave each other less then 24 hours after they got married. As the meeting went on, Sydney continued to think of Michael Vaughn. She couldn’t help but think of how Vaughn touched her when they made love. How his hands felt like fire when they touched her body or the look on his face after he came. She loved the fact that she is indeed Mrs. Sydney Vaughn. Sydney continued to reminisce the times they made love and how that feeling of closeness made her feel safe. She didn’t need to pay attention to McKenas Cole as he talked about the latest discovery about Milo Rambaldi. She had a knack of daydreaming and remembering what the meeting was supposed to be about. She did it every so often during debrief back at the JTF. She began to fantasize.

Alone in the debriefing room, illuminated by a soft overhead light, Sydney got up from her chair and slowly began to strip off her dress suit, revealing a red lace-trimmed teddy. Her chin was down, her eyes in a lovers gaze as she curled a beckoning finger at him. He pushed the chair behind him as he got up.

She moaned his name as he approached her. The sound of her voice, the sight of her hard rock nipples behind the thin satin made his breath and erection hard. She brought her right fore finger to her mouth and sucked it, teasing him and never taking her eyes from his. As she removed her fingers from her mouth, she sensually ran the finger over each breast and then south and out of sight.

He stepped closer to her, feeling the heat radiating from her damp desire. He watched her bring her finger back up to her mouth again to suck and then he felt her hot hands slide up under his shirt, then down to his belt, deftly unbuckling him, hungrily unzipping him, and then…



“Julia?” Cole asked repeatedly.

“Yes?” Snapping herself out of her reverie. That was too close to comfort Sydney thought to herself.

“Are you alright? You looked flushed.” Cole just stood in front of her wondering what was making her flushed like that.

“I’m fine. It’s a little warm in here I guess.” She knew she better stop before Cole gets suspicious.

“I want you to go to Moscow and talk to a man by the name of Adrian Lazarey. Adrian Lazarey as we have suspected is attempting to defect from the Covenant. It is imperative that before he actually does, we get all the information he has acquired regarding “The Passenger”.

“The Passenger?” Sydney questioned him.

“Yes, The Passenger. We don’t know what it is or what it means. Your job is to obtain this information before Lazarey attempts to defect. Once you have gotten the information from him, I want you to kill him. Then come back here and tell me what he knows.”

“How do you know that “The Passenger” is related to the Rambaldi Prophecy?” Sydney pressed Cole for more information. Thinking that she can use this information to pass on to the CIA at home so they can utilize this information.
“Julia, do as you are told. No questions. Now your plane leaves in 2 hours. I suggest you pack enough for a few days. You have only 5 days to accomplish this otherwise there will be consequences.” Cole snipped.

“Yes sir.” Sydney quipped. She hated the fact that everything came down to Rambaldi and the Prophecy. Sydney was beginning to wonder when this would end.

A day later, Sydney is walking around Moscow, getting a feel of the place considering she was going to be here for a few days. She made sure that before she left Rome, she did a dead-drop regarding her latest mission and requested that Vaughn and Weiss join her in Moscow to extradite Adrian Lazarey into the CIA custody. Before she could do that, she had to come up with a plan to make Cole as well as the Covenant believe that she successfully gotten the information from Lazarey and killed him.

~~~~~

Its been months since Vaughn returned home from his impromptu trip to France. Everyone was surprised that he took the trip but was shocked to hear that he decided to stay in the CIA. They all wondered why? Agent Reed was happy to hear that Vaughn was staying and made no secret of it. Several times, she has tried to ask Vaughn out and each time he turned her down claiming that he wasn’t ready.

When Weiss saw Vaughn walk into the rotunda, he noticed that Vaughn was still wearing his wedding ring. He got up; walked over to him and gave him a disapproving look.

“What?” Vaughn questioned Weiss.

“Mike, take your ring off.” Weiss whispered so that only Vaughn could hear him. Vaughn groaned at the thought of taking off his wedding ring. It made him feel naked without it. He also thought that Syd was feeling the same thing when she had to take hers off. At least she’s my wife. He thought to himself. Hastily, Vaughn took the ring off and tucked it in his pocket.

“Thanks, Buddy.” Vaughn gave him a smile. Weiss figures that this won’t be the last time that Vaughn will forget to take the ring off. He also noticed that ever since Vaughn and Sydney got married, secretly, Vaughn’s mood has gotten better. He realized that this is what Vaughn needed to snap out of his funk.

“Eric? Earth to Eric?” Weiss snapped back to reality as he heard Vaughn call him.

“Yeah. I’m here.” He said. Vaughn chuckled to himself.

“Good to know. Listen we have a debrief to go to.” Vaughn tells him. Weiss shakes his head and follows Vaughn to the debriefing room. Weiss chose to sit next to Vaughn at the newly renovated room. On the other side of the room, was Directors Dixon and Devlin. Shortly later, Kendall and Jack walked into the room. Weiss watched the reaction between Jack and his son-in-law, Vaughn. There were no smiles, winks or any indication of this new situation between them. In fact they didn’t even make eye contact with each other.

Kendall picked up the remote control and turned on the screen. “I want you all to take a look on the screen. That man up there is Adrian Lazarey. He has been researching and studying the Rambaldi manuscripts. According to Agent Bristow, he discovered “The Passenger” or came across it if you rather. Kendall’s voice boomed through out the room. Kendall watched as everyone looked at the screen. Taking this opportunity, Kendall continued. “We believe he is attempting to defect from the Covenant. I’m sending Agents Vaughn and Weiss to Moscow to meet up with Agent Bristow. Your mission is to utilize the information from Lazarey, help fake his death for the Covenant and give Sydney a cover story to feed the Covenant. The rest of the information you need for this mission is in your folders. Your plane leaves in four hours.” Kendall reported as he walked over to Vaughn and Weiss, giving them the folders with their mission.

“Jack, I want you to get in touch with Irina and see if she knows anything about Adrian Lazarey and The Passenger.” Devlin asked Jack. Jack nodded in agreement.

Vaughn took this moment to ask “Why isn’t Agent Reed’s in this debrief?.”

“Actually there was a reason for that.” Kendall spoke softly incase anyone from outside the room was listening in. Vaughn’s eyebrows went up as he impatiently waited for Kendall’s explanation. “We have reports indicating that Agent Reed is a double agent and she may be working for the Covenant. Her reactions have confirmed that.” Kendall announced.

“So what do we do about her?” Weiss jumped in.

“Actually, we’ve noticed that Agent Reed has taken a liking to Agent Vaughn. Jack, Kendall and I think that you should go undercover and try to get close to her.” Devlin said with a sudden finality in his voice.

“What? You can’t do that to me! I just got married!” Vaughn exclaimed in shock. Immediately, Vaughn’s left hand went into his pocket looking for his ring – the only connection he has to his wife, Sydney. The thought of him seducing another woman other than Sydney made him sick in his stomach. He could feel the bile moving up in his throat and he swallowed repeatedly to force it back down. Now was not the time to be sick.

“Need I remind you, Agent Vaughn, that your wife is deep undercover as well. I didn’t hear her complain about it.” Kendall retorted.

If only he knew. Vaughn knew that Sydney complained about it.

“I don’t want to go back. I want to go home with you and start our life together.” Sydney’s voice broke and soon her body racked with uncontrollable sobs. Vaughn held her as tightly as he can. He could feel her tears burning his shoulders. He would do anything to turn these tears of sadness into happiness.

“I know baby. It’ll be over soon. I promise.” Vaughn hoped that he can keep this promise to his wife. He has to for their sake.


“We will talk more about this when you get back from the mission. You better go now.” Devlin gave Vaughn a heartfelt smile, knowing that he understood Vaughn’s new situation.

The rest of the group left the room, leaving only Jack and Vaughn to themselves. Neither wanted to speak first, letting silence take over for a few minutes.

“If you want Sydney to come home soon, then I suggest you get your head into the game. You two are working on the same side now. Don’t you think that she is trying to do the same thing? You owe it to your marriage that you do the same. The sooner we bring down the Covenant, the sooner you can get back to your wife.” With that, Jack put his hand on Vaughn’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Vaughn suddenly found himself in a new situation; he didn’t know how to deal with. He never thought in his life he would be in this situation. He pinched the bridge of his nose before walking out of the room.


Sydney waited impatiently in a hotel room for Vaughn and Weiss. Before arriving to the hotel, Sydney took great lengths to make sure that she wasn’t being followed by the Covenant. She knows that the Covenant tracks its agents the same way SD-6 tracked its agents. As she waited, her mind flashed back to events of the past several months along with the missions Cole sent her on along with Simon. She shuddered every time Simon’s name came up. Simon was a ruthless man who held no regard for anyone or anything that crossed his path except for “Julia Thorne”. Simon made no secret of his love for “Julia”, bragging to others how “Julia” likes it rough and he did have bruises and marks to prove it. Sydney hated Simon with such passion that, if he touched her again, she may be forced to kill him.

Sydney’s thoughts were interrupted at the sound of the door opening, her heart heavy with love and anticipation for her husband. Sydney watched Vaughn and Weiss enter the room with several bags of equipment and such. Once they set down the bags, Vaughn looked across the room and saw Sydney standing with tears in her eyes. As he stepped forward Sydney engulfed him in her arms, holding him tightly. Vaughn let out a sigh of relief as he finally held her in his arms since they separated after their wedding.

“I missed you so much” Vaughn whispered in Sydney’s ears. His voice heavy with emotion.

“I missed you too. More than you can imagine.” Sydney whispered as her tears continued to flow from her face to Vaughn’s shirt.

Vaughn pulled away and lovingly wiped away her tears and brought his head down to kiss her. It was sweet, gentle and slow as their mouths became acquainted with each other again. Their kisses became desperate and intense by the minute.

“Here we go again” Weiss muttered to himself when he saw Sydney and Vaughn locked in a lovers embrace as he tried to maneuver around the room. He went ahead and set up the room, which was going to be their “command” center for the next few days. Weiss did the best to move around the room despite that Sydney and Vaughn are still oblivious to his presence in the room. He knew better than to interrupt their reunion. He couldn’t blame them since they are not your average married couple. They were separated for almost six months.

Sydney and Vaughn broke apart from their kiss, resting their foreheads on each other’s, arms still locked around each other’s.

“As much as I would love to stay like this with you, but we better get started on this mission. We don’t have a lot of time.” Vaughn said dejectedly.

“Ahem” Weiss tries to make himself present in the room. “Ok, while the two of you were having your little reunion, I did us a favor by setting up everything and getting started on this mission.” Weiss remarked.

Sydney and Vaughn moved apart and sat on the chairs surround the table with Weiss as they went over all the information Sydney provided them. The table is littered with files, photographs, and pretty much everything else from Vaughn’s office that they were able to pack under such short notice.

“Syd, when you make contact with Lazarey, plant this transmitter on him. This tracking device will allow us to follow him around. It would give us a better idea of what he does.” Vaughn tells her as he pulls out the transmitter and gives it to her. Sydney looks at it. Its very small, circular in nature and can blend in easily to its surroundings.

“Where do you want me to plant this on him?” Sydney asked.

“Didn’t the Covenant say he walks around with an umbrella everywhere he goes?” Vaughn asked.

“He does. I’ll put it on the umbrella.” Sydney replied.

“Sydney, did Cole ever mentioned how the Covenant knew about Lazarey’s findings regarding “The Passenger”? Weiss asked as he poured over several different files.

“No he didn’t and when I tried to Cole became very agitated. I guess he didn’t want me questioning him about it. He did seem secretive about it.”

“Do you know what Lazarey’s role within the Covenant is?” Vaughn asked.

“From what I gathered, Adrian Lazarey was a researcher of some sort. Put it in this way, its almost as if he was an investigator of sorts. His primary job was to study the Rambaldi Manuscript.” Sydney implied.

“How could Lazarey be studying the Rambaldi Manuscript if the CIA has the Rambaldi Manuscript?” Weiss questioned.

“The CIA has the Rambaldi Manuscript?” Sydney asked and looked at Vaughn who gave her a forlorn look.

“Yes we have it. Sloane gave us everything in exchange for his Pardon, which Lauren Reed granted him. It happened after you “died”. Vaughn tells her.

Sydney gets up and walks toward the bed needing to taking in what she just heard. “Who is Lauren Reed and why did she give him a pardon?” Sydney looked at Vaughn, searching his eyes for answers.

Vaughn grimaced when Sydney mentioned her name. Weiss took this as a moment to excuse himself, knowing that Sydney and Vaughn are going to need their privacy as they deal with this situation.

“Vaughn, what’s going on?” Sydney asked nervously. Unable to look at him anymore, she looked down on the floor below. Vaughn noticed her downcast and moved to kneel in front of her. Before speaking, he moved her chin up so that they were looking at each other.

“Syd, Kendall and Delvin gave me a mission. They want me to go out and seduce an NSC Agent, Lauren Reed who is suspected of being part of the Covenant. I-“

“Vaughn! You can’t do that! That’s like cheating on me! No No No…” Sydney cut Vaughn off and walked away from him. Tears were streaming down her face uncontrollably and unable to compose herself any longer, she sank to the floor crying. Vaughn went over to Sydney and tried to pull her close to him, only to be pushed away. He was hurt by Sydney’s actions, and he moved away from her feeling rejected.

“Syd, please listen to me. I tried to get out of it. I told them that I couldn’t do this because I am married and had no intention of ever cheating on my wife. Kendall said that I didn’t have a choice. Look, I don’t like this situation any more than you do, but I’ve done everything I could to get out of this situation. I don’t know what else to do.” Vaughn couldn’t stand talking to her back so he went over to her, grabbed her arm and pulled her up so he could see her. “Syd – what the hell do you want me to do here? I am all out of options!” Vaughn yelled.

She looked at Vaughn in the eye and whispered, “All I want is my husband and a normal life.”

“I’m here and I am not going anywhere. I want a normal life too. Don’t you think that I want you with me at all times? I never expected this to be our life. We’ll find a way to make it work. We have to. I love you so much. Nothing or anyone could ever change that.” Vaughn whispered into Sydney’s ear as he held her in his arms, not wanting to let her go.

A knock on the door startled them and Vaughn ushered Sydney into the bathroom and shut the door as he went to the door to check out the unwanted visitor. Vaughn peered through the door opening and found Weiss on the other end. He let out a sigh of relief, let him in and opened the bathroom door to let Sydney out.

“Why were you hiding in the bathroom?” Weiss asked Sydney as he saw her emerge from the room. While waiting for an answer, Weiss cleared off the table a bit, took out the Chinese take out containers, and set them on the table. He turned to look at Sydney again and found her eyes red and her face stained with tears.

“Syd, its not Mike’s fault. I offered to take his place but Lauren likes him and basically he had no choice.” Weiss trying to appease her concerns.

Sydney waved him off with her hand, moved towards the table, and began to fix herself a plate. Weiss looked at Vaughn trying to figure out what happened. Vaughn just shook his head and said he’ll tell him later.

Silence quickly filled the room with such deafing sound as all three of them sat on the bed eating their dinners. Sydney was the first to break it. “What are we going to do about Adrian Lazarey?” She looked at Vaughn, seeing the hurt in his eyes, wishing that she can make it go away.

“Before your scheduled meeting with Lazarey, you will meet with him the night before and explain to him the situation. If he agrees, then we’ll stage his death so that the Covenant thinks he is dead.”

“What if he doesn’t believe me?”

“He will. I’ll make him believe you if it’s the last thing I do.” Vaughn said with a cold steel voice.

For the next several days, the trio tracked Adrian Lazarey with the transmitter that Sydney planted on his umbrella. They kept an eye on Lazarey as they made the final preparations including the best and worse case scenarios.

Sydney stood in front of Lazarey’s office, taking several deep breaths as she is going to try for the third time to convince him to work with the CIA. This was their last shot. It has to work, she thought to herself as she knocked on the door.

Adrian Lazarey opened the door and was not amused as he saw Sydney again. He mumbled something in Russian under his breath. It didn’t go unnoticed by Sydney who heard his comment. She fired back in Russian and this time she has his attention.

“Now listen to me, you don’t have a choice here. The Covenant will kill you. They sent me here to retrieve the information regarding “The Passenger” and then kill you. I am here trying to save your life. You need to tell me what “The Passenger” is.” Sydney pleaded with Lazarey.

Lazarey took a minute to look at Sydney and his surroundings as he remained in deep thoughts. “What does the CIA plan to do with this information that is if I tell you?” he asked concernedly.

“The CIA is trying to prevent the Covenant from fulfilling the Prophecy. For the past few years, I’ve been around the world collecting Rambaldi artifacts, trying to prevent Sloane from assembling them. Then one day, Sloane and my mother, Irina Derevko stole all the Rambaldi pieces that were in our custody. My mother told me that it was me in the Prophecy, not her. I need to know what the Prophecy is and why me. How could a man prophesize something about me 500 years ago. Whats so special about me that people are willing to kill me for?”

“You have no idea what the Prophecy is all about, Sydney Bristow. It is bigger than you can imagine. I don’t think that this is the right time for you to know the full extent of it. I will grant you this wish if you can prove to me that the CIA will protect me and I want to continue to work on the Prophecy.” Lazarey sat back in his chair, watching the several emotions that ran through Sydney’s face. He hoped that he was doing the right thing.
“Vaughn, its ok. He is going to help us.” Sydney said through the comm. link. She got up and walked over to the door and let Vaughn and Weiss in. They swept the room immediately for any bugs or video recordings. When they found none, they sat down on opposite sides of Sydney as if they were trying to protect her.

“First, you will tell me what “The Passenger” is. Sydney demanded.

“It’s not what, but whom. The Passenger is….”


:blush:
 
Chapter 5:

Lauren had an extra bounce in her step this morning. Yesterday, she finally convinced Vaughn to go out to dinner with her tonight. She was going to make Sydney look like outdated girlfriend. She vowed that she will do whatever it takes to prove to her father, the Covenant and anyone else who cares that she is the best agent anyone as ever seen. As soon as she walked up to him and linked her arms with his arm, the way a girlfriend does to her boyfriend.

“Hi” She said cheerily. Her face lit up with smiles as Vaughn turned to look at her. He offered no smiles in return, only staring at her instead.

“Umm Hi” was all he could say to her. He did everything to avoid eye contact with her. The last thing he wanted to do is imply that he is interested in her.

“Michael, I just wanted to let you know how much I am looking forward to tonight. I know its difficult to move on after losing your girlfriend, but I hope in time, I can make you happy the way Sydney made you happy.” Lauren said in that little sweet voice of hers.

It took Vaughn every ounce of strength not to scream and tell the whole world that Sydney is alive and he is married to her. The thought of being married to Sydney made his heart jump and swell with love and sadness. Without realizing he was still talking to Lauren, he just nodded at her response and gave her a slight smile before walking away towards Weiss’s desk.

Lauren walked away smiling and headed towards Dr. Barnett’s office. She knew that she was going to need her help if she was going to be successful with her mission. Not only she was determined to make Vaughn forget Sydney, but also make Irina Derevko look like an amateur when it came to swallow missions.

Lauren knocked on Dr. Barnett’s door and let herself in. Dr. Barnett was on the phone when Lauren came in. She sat herself down in front of her desk and waited patiently until she got off the phone. Lauren was daydreaming about her “date” with Vaughn when Dr. Barnett interrupted her thoughts.

“Someone is full of smiles today.” Dr. Barnett chimed in when she noticed the slight glow that emanated from Lauren.

“Phase Three has been secured.” Lauren said calmly as she tried not to smile again but failed to control herself.

“If I were you, I would wipe that silly smile off your face. You think that you have scored a victory here, but the truth of the matter is, Michael Vaughn is still in love with Sydney Bristow. He has expressed no desire to move on or form new relationships. So my advice to you is to think twice before celebrating.” Dr. Barnett applauded herself for rendering Lauren speechless for the time being anyways.

“Of course I know all that. If I can’t turn Vaughn over, then this is where you come in.” Lauren countered.

“Me? How do I fit in with your plans? My job was to break down Vaughn’s walls, not seduce him.” Dr. Barnett replied.

“You will have to brainwash Vaughn into thinking its ok to move on with me.” Lauren smiled as she figured she got her where she wanted.

“FYI- Sloane said ONLY to brainwash Vaughn if ALL options have failed first. Now do me a favor. Come back when you have more to report. You can let yourself out.” Dr. Barnett said with such finality leaving Lauren speechless again and watched her leave in a huff. She chuckled to herself as she witnessed Lauren Reed’s naivety. She knew that it will be her downfall if she doesn’t smarten up. After Lauren left, Dr. Barnett called Sloane to report the latest regarding Lauren Reed and her mission: Michael Vaughn.


Agent Bristow walked in Vaughn’s office with more intel. On the far side of the wall, it was littered with intel, maps, photos and other information they were able to acquire from Sydney and Lazarey. Vaughn was sitting in his desk going over everything that Sydney provided along with the information that Lazarey provided regarding his research in the Prophecy. Many of these information were written on brown bags and other times, Sydney provided hard copies of photos and other documentation of the Covenant. Vaughn was amazed at the vast organization that the Covenant is, with it intricate web of lies and deceit among its members. Even more, Vaughn is amazed by his wife’s ability to provide all this information without compromising herself. He knew she was the best agent he had ever known and worked with. His respect for her grew on a daily basis as his love for her continued to grow. Vaughn decided to take a break and pulled out his wallet where he held a picture of them that Weiss had taken the night before the wedding.

Sydney and Vaughn were sitting on the couch together while Vaughn’s left arm draped over her shoulder. He was unconsciously playing with her fingers and intertwining them together as Amelié and Jack shared stories of their kids’ childhood.

They sat around laughing and sharing smiles. This was new for all of them and it won’t be the last. They all relished in the thought of spending more time and holidays together in the future as a family with the possibilities of new additions to the family.


Vaughn chuckled at the memories of that night. He hardly could wait for more memories like that. He could see their children sitting on their grandparents’ laps as they re-told more embarrassing stories of their parents.

“Michael? Is everything all right?” Jack interrupted his train of thought. Turning at the sound of his voice, he offered a smile.

“I was thinking about the night before our wedding and how it felt so right to have all of us together as a family.” Vaughn spoke softly as he gave the picture to Jack.

Before looking at the picture, Jack was fingering the edge of the photo as if he was lost in thought. “That was a great night. One of the best I’ve ever had. I know that I’ve never said this before but I am grateful to you and your mom for letting Sydney and I be a part of your family considering what Irina did to both of you. It meant a lot to Sydney and to me as well. So thank you.” Jack smiled when he saw the photo but most importantly, he saw how happy Sydney was.

“That was the night I realized how happy Sydney was. You make her happy, more than anyone else could. I’m just grateful that she has you.” Jack handed the photo back to a shocked and stunned Vaughn who never in his wildest dreams he would ever hear Jack speak those words to him.

“Thanks Jack. That means a lot to me.” Vaughn replied and Jack nodded as Vaughn put the photo back into his wallet.

“I just hope that I am doing everything I can to bring her home.” Vaughn replied somberly.

“You are and don’t think for a minute you aren’t. We all are trying to bring her home, you, Irina and me. Don’t ever doubt that. Jack said in a fatherly tone. “Besides, I’ve got some intel from Irina. Come on, let’s review this information.”

Vaughn and Jack sat down in their respective chairs and reviewed the intel Irina provided for them. While the majority of the intel came from Sydney, Irina’s intel deals with members of the Covenant that seems to be on the verge of defecting and other times her intel involves the latest regarding Sloane. While Irina’s intel may not be regarded as huge information but it is still helpful in connecting the dots.

Several hours later, Vaughn and Jack are still in Vaughn’s office discussing the validity of a defector’s statement. Not long later, they decided to call it quits for the night since they have reached a dead end.

Later that evening, Vaughn was getting ready for his mission with Lauren. He refused to call it a date. Vaughn walked into the closet, pulling out his clothes for tonight. He threw his clothes on the bed and walked into the bathroom to finish getting ready. When Vaughn was finishing up, he picked up his jacket; an envelope fell out and landed on the floor. He picked it up and recognized the handwriting on the envelope to be his wife’s. He wondered how it got there in the first place. Vaughn sat down on the bed and quickly opened the letter.

My dearest husband,

Michael, I just wanted to let you know that no matter how difficult our current situation is, I believe that we will be ok. I need to believe that when this is all over, we will finally be free to live the life we have dreamed about. Those dreams are what’s keeping me alive and sane right now.

There is something else that I have wanted to tell you and I should probably have told you in person, but I don’t know what’s going to happen to us from here on end, so I am telling you this now. Those nine months I was missing was the worst of my life. I was so scared, and lost. I missed you so much it hurt. The Covenant did so many unimaginable things to me. I am surprised I held on this long. Your love for me kept me strong. Every night, I would dream about you and our future. I even went so far as to name our children. I know it sounds corny but when you are held in isolation, it’s all you ever think about. Of all the times I was captured, the worst moment was watching my funeral. You were so lost and broken. It shattered my heart to millions of pieces. If I hadn’t been paralyzed I would’ve fought my way out and back into your arms. I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I’m sorry.

I just wanted you to know that I love you so much and I DON’T ever regret marrying you. I know we had this discussion earlier but I still want you to know that I am more in love with you now then I ever was. I was so afraid that because of our jobs we would never get married. I never imagined that this is how we would end up spending our first years together. I imagined us living by the beach, taking long walks and watching the sunsets. I even planned to leave to CIA so we could have a family together. Michael – I need that miracle. I need our family and only you can give me that.

As much as I hate what our missions have become, I want you to know that everything I am doing is for you and for our future. I don’t know what is going to happen, but I suspect that I may be forced to do things I don’t want to do. Please remember this, I love you so much and that will NEVER change. You are my heart and soul. I belong to you as you belong to me.

We will survive this. I promise. Remember my vow.

I love you, always and forever.
Your loving wife,
Sydney

Michael broke out into sobs after reading the letter. The fact that Sydney loved him and is willing to do whatever it takes to bring down the Covenant overwhelmed him. He couldn’t love her anymore than he already does. He remembered their vow to each other.

It was a bright and sunny day in Fleury, France. The wedding was held in the Vaughn’s backyard. Vaughn was waiting for Sydney at the gazebo along with Weiss who served has his best man. Soon, Jack and Sydney appeared and walked towards Vaughn. Vaughn’s heart leapt to heaven as he saw Sydney and the reality of their impending marriage. He never in his wildest dreams thought this day would ever come. Yet it did. Sydney was standing in front of Vaughn as Jack turned her hand over to Vaughn. They stared at each other, not wanting to break their gaze as their eyes burned lasting impressions on their hearts.

“Sydney, its time for your vows” the minister interrupted Sydney’s gaze, but soon her eyes filled with tears as she started to speak.

“Elizabeth Browning once said "And now listen to me in turn. You have touched me more profoundly than I thought even you could have touched me - my heart was full when you came here today. Henceforward I am yours for everything." Michael, you are my greatest love and my last love. Until I met you I didn't give true love much thought, but since you came into my life, I struggle desperately to find the words to tell you how much I love you-how I adore you. It is difficult for me to verbalize my feelings for you, because mere words can't begin to express my deep love. I thank God for you, Michael, and I pledge myself to you now, to be your ever-faithful wife. I give you my mind, my body, my heart and my soul and I promise to love you and cherish you to the end of time.” Sydney spoke with a soft voice, only loud enough for her and Vaughn only. Vaughn had tears in his eyes not tears of sadness but tears of happiness for that he was finally marrying the woman of his dreams.

Sydney turned to Amelié who served as her Maid of Honor gave her Vaughn’s ring. She played with the ring in her hand and then spoke softly again. “My guardian Angel” She held the ring out for Vaughn to read the inscription inside and then slid the ring on his left finger. Vaughn caressed her face with his left hand, slowly wiping her tears away from her and Sydney leaned into his hand.

“Michael, its your turn.” The minister said.

Vaughn nodded, cleared his throat and quickly wiped the tears away from his face.

“Sydney, I will lift you up and support you through laughter and tears. As you have cared for me in times of infirmity, so will I keep you sheltered when storms arise. I will comfort and console you. I will be the rock that you stand on, the staff that you lean on, and the wings that allow you to fly. As you have inspired me to follow my goals, so will I strive to help you achieve your dreams. I will encourage you in your endeavors and nourish your spirit as we walk through this life together. As you have loved me, so will I love you. I will be by your side, a part of one entity, but above all else, I will allow you to be you.” Vaughn’s voice finally cracked, the reality of it finally taking a toll on him. He turned to Weiss who gave him Sydney’s rings. Vaughn held up both of her rings and read the inscriptions. “My Soul Mate” and “Always and Forever” before sliding the rings on her finger.

Vaughn took a step towards Sydney and cupped her face with his hands and they kissed for the first time as husband and wife. The look on their faces as the priest finally announced them as “Mr. and Mrs. Michael Vaughn” was priceless and a special moment locked away in their hearts forever.


At that moment, his resolve to bring down the Covenant grew and he was willing to do whatever it took, to expose Lauren Reed for all that she is so Sydney could come home to him. Vaughn looked at his watch and realized that he was running late. He quickly went to the bathroom and refreshed himself for his mission. As he went out the door, he looked back towards the coffee table where he put the letter next to their wedding picture. He whispered to himself “Syd, I’ll do whatever it takes to bring you home. I love you, more than you can imagine.” With that in mind, Vaughn stepped out and shut the door with new sense of determination to bring Sydney home to him, where she belonged.


Cole sat in his leather chair behind his Mahoney wood desk. He was quite pleased with the result of Julia’s last mission to Russia. She was successful in getting the information we needed pertaining to “The Passenger”. Julia secured this secret by effectively killing Adrian Lazarey. Not only we have his secret but his entire fortune. Unfortunately, it belongs to Julian Sark. Cole continued to ponder how he was going to convince Sark hand over 800 million dollars to the Covenant.

The shrilling of the “Red” phone that sat on his desk interrupted his thoughts. He dreaded getting calls from “The Man”. “The Man” has a tendency to make things so complicated. I have no idea what his involvement regarding the Prophecy is but for some reason it’s frightening. Sure I’ve heard rumors but who knows.

“What can I do for you Sir?” Cole asked.

“Has there been any progress in ciphering Page 74?” “The Man” asked, his voice gravely deep.

“Unfortunately, No.” Cole responded honestly and bracing for whatever “The Man” was going to retaliate back. Honestly, he hated the sound of his voice. There was something about it that made him wonder what could have caused it to sound deep.

“Then I suggest you find Irina Derevko and bring her here to decipher the page.” “The Man” yelled through the phone. His voice strained as he yelled.

“Irina Derevko? Why her? Why not Julia Thorne? After all she used to be Sydney Bristow?” Cole questioned “The Man” wondering why “The Man” wanted Irina Derevko.

“Irina Derevko is the mother of the woman in the Prophecy. I know for a fact that she knows the language as well.” The voice returned to its normal state but still agitated from being strained earlier.

“I know that Derevko is Sydney Bristow’s mother but how could she possibly know the language it is written in?” Cole pressed, fearing that he was setting himself up for more trouble. He was already in trouble as it is.

“JUST FIND HER!” “The Man” yelled into the phone and ended with a hacking cough. The clattering of the phone stinged my ears as I heard it slam down into the receiver.

How am I supposed to find Irina Derevko? That woman does not want to be found. Why does “The Man” want her specifically? Cole leaned back in his leather chair, closing his eyes trying to figure out what just transpired over the phone. He tried to think of how he could contact Irina Derevko when it just occurred to him.

He picked up the phone and dialed his assistant’s number and asking her to get Lauren Reed on the phone for him.

Several minutes later, Cole’s phone rang again.

“Cole”

“Cole, this is Lauren Reed. I’m returning your call.” Lauren replied.

“Ah yes, I have a job for you.” Cole smirked ruthlessly. Oh this is going to be fun. The Bristows’ won’t know what hit them, he thought to himself.


:blush:
 
Chapter 6:

Adrian Lazarey sat at his desk, peering over the pages of the Rambaldi Manuscript that he hadn’t seen before. When he got to page 75 of the manuscript, his disposition changed from awe to despair as he realized he had just came across something very damning. He needed to tell someone. But who? His mind raced with all the possibilities. He ended up unleashing everything onto Jack who became the unwanted recipient of his anguish.

Jack stood there patiently while Lazarey rambled on about the warnings and consequences of the Prophecy on page 75 and its impact on the world. Jack tried to keep up with Lazarey but the stream of words just flowed by like a raging river. The only thing that Jack was able to grab on was the name “Conrad”.

“Who is Conrad?” Jack demanded of Lazarey. The sound of Jack’s voice was almost terrifying.

“He is the Passenger but you need to find him before the Covenant does.” Lazarey pleaded with Jack as if his life depended on it.

“He holds the key to the Rambaldi Prophecy. He is the One that will answer your questions.” Lazarey trembled with fear.

“How could Conrad know anything about the Rambaldi Prophecy? What is his role in the Prophecy?” Jack fired off his questions in rapid succession, not giving Lazarey a chance to recompose himself as he grabbed Lazarey by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall, threatening to break him before he could answer.

“Answer me!” Jack yelled. His rage took a life of its own.

“Conrad is Milo Rambaldi’s…”

Vaughn, who came in to relieve Jack from his death grip on Lazarey, interrupted Lazarey, as he was about to tell Jack what he had discovered.

“Jack, its ok…let him go.” Vaughn put his hand on Jack’s arm trying to convince him to let Lazarey go. Vaughn wasn’t afraid of Jack anymore, although a voice in the back of his mind continued to tell him to be very afraid of Jack. Jack relented, let go of Lazarey, walked over to the kitchen, found a bottle of scotch, and poured himself a glass.

After Jack walked into the kitchen, leaving Vaughn alone with Lazarey, Vaughn walked over to Lazarey and checked him out to make sure he was ok.

“I need to know what you told Jack. Anything related to Rambaldi involves my wife, and I take it personally.” Vaughn asked sincerely. He wasn’t trying to be disrespectful, but he was curious to know anything that might affect Sydney.

“On page 75 of the manuscript, I read a passage regarding a future event. I can’t explain it well. You need Conrad for that.” Lazarey replied.

“How does Conrad know what it is?” Vaughn demanded as if he was getting tired of all the games.

“Never mind. Just tell me where he is. I’ll find him myself and bring him back here.” Vaughn stated.

“He lives up in a monastery in the Himalaya mountains.” Lazarey offered freely thinking the sooner they find him, the sooner this will be explained. “He is the One who will help your wife on this journey that Rambaldi sent her on. He is her guide.” Lazarey calmly continued hoping that he wouldn’t have to reveal too much. He was afraid that if Vaughn continued to push his buttons, and made him reveal a certain event, Vaughn would do whatever it took to prevent it from happening. “Besides, Conrad can explain it better than I can.” Lazarey added and got up and walked over to Jack who was still sitting in the kitchen. Vaughn followed Lazarey and sat at the table as well.

“Jack, we need Irina. Now more than ever. Sydney’s life depends on it.” Lazarey warned gravely.

“Why? What is going to happen to Sydney?” Vaughn asked nervously. He didn’t like the sound of Lazarey’s voice when he asked for Irina’s help.

Jack hunched forward on the table as if he was going to reveal a secret. “What are you not telling us?” Jack demanded. Lazarey refused to answer the question by shaking his head sideways.

Vaughn grabbed Lazarey and threw him up against the refrigerator. His hands wrapped around Lazarey’s neck, cutting off the blood circulation. Vaughn could see the look of fear in Lazarey’s eyes.

“TELL ME WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO MY WIFE!” Vaughn yelled.

Jack got up immediately and put his hands around Vaughn’s to get him to loosen them up. “Its ok, son. Just let go.”

“Not until he tells me what’s going to happen to Sydney.” Vaughn growled.

“She is going to die unless…” Lazarey stopped for a moment to think.

“WHAT! UNLESS WHAT? IF SHE DIES I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF!” Vaughn screamed at Lazarey, fear taking its toll on him. Losing Sydney was not an option to him, not then and not ever.

“Michael, take your hands off now!” Jack whispered in a harsh tone that caused Vaughn to turn around and look at Jack. Jack then pried Vaughn’s hands off Lazarey and brought Lazarey back to the table. Jack continued to interrogate Lazarey on what he knew regarding the passage on page 75.

Vaughn stumbled back to the couch and buried his face in his hands. He tried to control himself but quickly realized that letting his emotions get the best of him was not the way to handle things. He took a few minutes to compose himself, looked at Jack, and realized that there was only one thing to do.

“I’ll take Weiss with me and we’ll leave to get Conrad. I’m not losing Sydney again.” Vaughn said to Jack. Jack nodded his approval.

“Vaughn, if you need anything for the mission, here is the key to my storage facility. Take whatever you need.” Jack replied as he handed Vaughn a key and gave him directions to the storage facility. Less than a minute later, Vaughn was already out the door on his way to Conrad.


Meanwhile, Nadia Sloane a young woman at the age of 25 walked out of the Vatican Library disappointed that her search had turned up no new leads. She swore that there was a Rambaldi document hidden in Leonardo Da Vinci’s Codex. She couldn’t believe that all her research had left her with another sense of disappointment. She was determined to find out what the Rambaldi Prophecy was all about. As Nadia flagged down a taxi to take her back to her apartment, she reminisced about the time her father told her about the Rambaldi Prophecy. It was when he had told her about her birthmark.

“Daddy, how did I get this mark on me?” Nadia asked her father as she sat on his lap in the study.

“Well, that mark on you is a special mark given by God to those that are extremely special. And you, sweetheart are very special, not only to God but to all of us. You will make us proud one day.” Arvin Sloane replied proudly, knowing that she and the Rambaldi Prophecy were so intertwined that it would be very complicated to explain it to a 5-year-old girl.

“But what does it mean?” Nadia asked again, with eagerness in her voice.

“God has a special group for people with that mark, just like you. It’s called the ‘L’ordine di Magnifico di Rambaldi’.” Nadia looked at Sloane as if she was confused and Sloane sensed it.
“It means, The Magnificent Order of Rambaldi and that is his symbol.” Sloane explained to Nadia as he traced the outline of her birthmark.


She was hooked, spending most of her time researching Milo Rambaldi, trying to find clues about the Prophecy. When she graduated from boarding school, she told her father that she wanted to be an Art Historian and study exclusively about Milo Rambaldi and Leonardo Da Vinci. Her father approved her choice and sent her off to study at Oxford University in England. From there she would move on to Graduate school in Florence where she focused on Rambaldi and Da Vinci.

When Nadia walked into her apartment, she was horrified at the sight in front of her. Her entire apartment had been turned upside down. The furniture was ripped apart, accessories were knocked off their shelves, and her desk was ransacked with paper littered all over the place. She cautiously walked through her apartment, finally reaching her bedroom. The walls of her bedroom were dripping with a message written in blood. ‘I know who you are’ Nadia said to herself before screaming and running out of her apartment and onto Via Sistina and down the Spanish Steps to Via Condotti where Nadia knew there was a small police station. Nadia ran as fast as she could despite the weight of her backpack, which contained everything she had on Rambaldi and her laptop.

When Nadia reached the police station, she alerted the police to the break in at her apartment, and immediately the Italian police were on their way to investigate. The officer in command asked her to sit down in his office and offered his phone to her so she could call someone and left the room so she could have some privacy. Nadia picked up the phone and called her father. After several minutes, her father was on the line.

“Daddy…” Nadia spoke, her voice trembling with fear. Tears were pouring down her face. Her body was racked with sobs and hiccups.

“Sweetheart? What happened? Where are you?” Sloane asked worriedly.

“Daddy…someone broke into my house and destroyed everything. I’m scared Daddy.” Nadia broke down crying again.

“I’ll have a plane come and pick you up. You will stay with me here in Vienna from now on.” Sloane replied. He held his hand over the mouthpiece and whispered to his assistant to get the plane to Rome immediately to pick up Nadia.

“Honey, the plane is on its way. Can you get yourself to the airport?”

“Yes.” Nadia nodded as if Sloane was there with her.

“You will be fine. Just get to the airport and the plane will bring you here.” Sloane tried to reassure a sobbing Nadia.

Nadia hung up, walked out to the Commanding officer, and relayed the message to him that her father was picking her up at the airport and she needed a ride. The Commanding Officer offered to give her a ride personally, so he could get some information about the case as well.

Sloane slammed the phone down with such force, that everything shook on the table. He yelled for his assistant to come in the office and started firing off orders to investigate this break in.

If anything happened to Nadia, I would never forgive myself. She is important to my quest for the Rambaldi Prophecy. God forbid that I lose the most important key in all this. I refuse to stop now! Not when I am so CLOSE to fulfilling the prophecy!


It was another few hours before Nadia could board her dad’s plane back to Vienna. Her father reassured her that he would take care of everything including customs. Her passport was probably still in the apartment somewhere if it hadn’t been stolen. It was the least of her worries at this moment. She had to figure out why someone would want to do that to her and how they know who she was. At first she thought it may have been one of her father’s enemies, but his enemies didn’t know about the Rambaldi Symbol they left behind on the wall. How could they know about that? No one knew except for her and her father. She had taken great pains to cover it up as much as possible with tattoo paint that her father provided her with.

Nadia pulled out her laptop and notes and put them on the table. She quickly went over her notes trying to find more information regarding Rambaldi and his secret order. Nadia had found out that Rambaldi was the Grand Master of an ultra secret underground sect. Those born with the Rambaldi symbol are the only members of the sect. They are compelled to protect the Prophecy from those who want to destroy it. Nadia recently found out that the Vatican had been after the members and had been trying to retrieve all Rambaldi related works because it was deemed as dangerous to the Church as it was to the world. Pope Alexander the VI had excommunicated Rambaldi because he realized the true intentions of the Prophecy and sent the Vatican agents out to destroy the lab and root out the members of the sect. Unfortunately, there was a member of the sect within the Cardinal ranks who had alerted Rambaldi about the upcoming raids. The members of the sect immediately took it upon themselves to hide and spread the works of Rambaldi around the world so that one day “The Chosen” would bring forth the Prophecy.

Nadia tried to take in all this information and since she had the mark, she wondered if she would be compelled to protect the prophecy. She continued to look through her notes about the Order. Quickly opening her laptop, Nadia went to find the file that contained the scanned copies of the Rambaldi Manuscripts that her father found a few years ago. She had found clues regarding the fate of two people she had never heard of but wondered if they carried the mark as well. Nadia had searched vainly for these two people. Her father had told her he didn’t know who they were, and she could not release it to the public without jeopardizing the manuscripts since it would be traced back to her. The only problem Nadia faced regarding the Manuscripts was the translation. She had been unsuccessful in reading Rambaldi’s text. It appeared to be written in some kind of code. At first she thought it was written backwards and the only way to read it was through a mirror. That wasn’t the case in this one. She was trying to decipher the words of Rambaldi.


Dr. Barnett had been anxious to hear about the prognosis of Lauren’s mission. She wanted to make sure that she was up to date with the Covenant’s plan regarding Agent Vaughn. While waiting for Lauren to show up for their weekly session, Dr. Barnett quickly reviewed her notes in Agent Vaughn’s file from their last session, which was shortly after his “date” with Lauren. To her, Vaughn exhibited signs of guilt and determination. She asked him if he felt guilty about moving on, he replied saying that it was killing him to go out with another woman who wasn’t Sydney but he realized that he didn’t have a choice. She also noticed that Vaughn wasn’t his usual self while talking about his date. To her, he made it sound like a mission. That alone made her question whether Lauren was doing her job or Vaughn was actually onto Lauren’s plan and going along with it. She hoped it wasn’t the latter. Dr. Barnett wasn’t about to tell anyone of her suspicions unless she had concrete proof. In fact she left that door open, incase they had to cross it. She was jotting some questions down when Lauren came in.

“Glad to see you again, Lauren.” Dr Barnett said non-chantly (um, non-chantly? Not really a word. I wasn’t sure what to change it to, so you can look at it.)as she pointed to the chair for Lauren to sit in. “How are things going with you and Michael Vaughn?”

“Its not easy especially with the latest I’ve received regarding Sydney Bristow and Adrian Lazarey.” Lauren said dejectly.

“Oh what news is that?” Dr. Barnett asked as if she wasn’t informed on the latest news. She also noticed that Lauren was fidgeting around in her seat.

“Apparently, Dr. Oleg’s attempts to turn Sydney Bristow into Julia Thorne failed. The Covenant thinks she may have attempted to contact the CIA. The security team also has been following Agent Vaughn around should Sydney try to get in touch with him.” Lauren informed Dr. Barnett who was expecting this news. I thought Sydney had found a way to contact Agent Vaughn. Besides, I just remembered, Agent Vaughn was no longer wearing the chain around his neck and I did see a tan line on his left finger. Did they get married? Dr. Barnett continued her train of thought until she heard Lauren call out to her.

“Dr. Barnett? Is everything ok?” Lauren asked.

“Oh yes, everything is fine. I was just thinking how is it possible that Sydney Bristow could withstand the torture and brainwashing without it having an affect on her. Dr. Oleg is a master at brainwashing and it’s nearly impossible to get away from it.” Dr. Barnett told Lauren.

“That begs the question. How did she get away and how could she remember anything if Dr. Oleg erased everything of her life as Sydney Bristow?” Lauren asked.

“Dr. Oleg didn’t erase any memories, he was supposed to recondition her brain into thinking that she is no longer Sydney Bristow but Julia Thorne. So its possible that Sydney pretended she was Julia Thorne until she found a way to escape.” Dr. Barnett explained to a nervous and confused Lauren.

“If Sydney, does come back and get in touch with Agent Vaughn, then she just made my job that much harder.” Lauren retorted with a hint of anger in her voice. She doesn’t like it when people come along and ruin her plans. She was starting to hate Sydney Bristow because she was putting a crimp into her plans.

“Why?” Dr. Barnett asked.

“I’m not happy because it puts more pressure on me. I’ve just received orders to marry him.”
Lauren replied.

“How do you feel about that? Is it something you are prepared to do?” Dr. Barnett continued to ask Lauren.

“Of course. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Sydney and Agent Vaughn apart.” Lauren replied.

After the session with Lauren, Dr. Barnett decided to look up Jack’s files and see if there was anything he had done that could have prevented Sydney from being brainwashed. She used her clearance to get Jack’s files from Langley. She waited patiently by the fax machine as page after page of Jack’s file came through the machine. She lifted one page and found something that sent chills down her spine.

“Project Christmas?” Dr. Barnett said to herself as she began to read all the contents regarding Project Christmas. Now I know how she survived the brainwashing and torture. That must have taken a lot of guts to do so. But what really interests me is why would Jack put Sydney through this in the first place? Is there more to the fact that Jack did this to her than just trying to protect her? Dr. Barnett thought to herself. Immediately she remembered when Sydney came in last year wanting to undergo regression therapy to remember what happened to her as a child. Is it possible that Jack knew this was going to happen and prepared her for it?

Dr. Barnett put down her files, walked back to her desk, and pulled out her laptop. She left a message for Irina via a secure site, informing her of Lauren’s plans to marry Vaughn. She had hoped that Irina had gathered some information as to what was going on within the Covenant. Dr. Barnett knew Sydney escaped but didn’t know much after that. She was worried that something was going to happen and the Trust was going to be activated.

Several minutes later, Dr. Barnett’s computer beeped a signal that a message had arrived. She walked over to her computer and opened the message. She stared at the message “Trust Activated – Get Ready”.

:blush:
 
Chapter 7:

After Vaughn convinced Weiss to go with him to the Himalayas to get Conrad, he became more worried about Rambaldi’s prediction that Sydney would die. That comment alone haunted Vaughn more than anything else. He just got Sydney back and he couldn’t afford to lose her again. Losing her would equal a death sentence for him. Everything that he and Sydney had worked hard for the past year was close to fruitions. He wasn’t sure how to tell Sydney or if he should even tell her at all. The more he thought, the more frustrated he became. He just stared out the window of the plane that was on its way to Nepal.

Weiss noticed the turmoil that was going on within Vaughn and decided to ask him. “Mike, what’s going on around here? Is there something that’s bothering you? Is it Sydney?” Weiss asked with concern for his best friend.

Vaughn looked at him and sighed deeply knowing that there was no way he was going to get out of this one. “According to page 75 of the Rambaldi Manuscript, Sydney is going to die unless we get Conrad.” Vaughn whispered.

Weiss looked at Vaughn with apparent shock on his face. “You have got to be kidding me! I thought Sydney was the one in the Prophecy! It said so on page 47!” Weiss exclaimed.

Vaughn just shrugged since he didn’t know how to answer Weiss’s questions. The only thing that was on his mind was Sydney. He was trying to figure out how Conrad was going to save her or at least explain what was going to happen to her. He felt so helpless, something that he hated feeling because it meant that he couldn’t do anything but let it run its course. The only thing Vaughn could do now was rest. He knew he was going to need it if they were going to trek up the mountain and down with Conrad.

Several hours later, when the plane landed under the veil of darkness in Patna, Nepal, Vaughn and Weiss quickly grabbed their gear and made their way down the very narrow roads of Patna. There was no outdoor electricity since this was a poor town resting at the base of the Himalaya Mountains. The agents used flashlights to make their way from the makeshift airfield to the train station where they met up with their contact that provided them with papers to Kathmandu, a small bustling town and security checkpoint. Vaughn and Weiss boarded the train with papers provided for them. They didn’t have any problems once they reached Kathmandu, where they met up with another contact who was going to take them up to Bhadgaton by helicopter. Bhadgaton was a starting point for the trek up to the mountain.

Several hours into the trek, Weiss slowed down and rested on a partially snow covered boulder.

“Mike, Stop for a minute!” Weiss yelled out breathlessly to Vaughn who did not intend to stop anytime. Vaughn stopped and turned when he heard Weiss call out to him. He briskly walked back to the boulder where Weiss was resting.

“What’s the matter? We can’t stop now! We’re halfway there!” Vaughn exclaimed to a breathless Weiss. “Besides, it’s not my fault you are out of shape!”

Weiss glared at Vaughn after his last comment. He took a swig of water before replying to Vaughn. “Look Mike, I understand you are a man on a mission right now, but please give me just five minutes to catch my breath!” Weiss yelled.

"Listen! My wife's life is on the line here. I wanted you with me on this mission because of all people I knew you would understand why this is important to me. Looks like I was wrong!" Vaughn retorted.

"I know that Mike! That’s why I am here! I do understand why you are doing it! All I asked was a five-minute break! We will get Conrad and we will save your wife." Weiss replied calmly. “Mike, you need to get a hold of yourself. It will be ok. We’ll get Conrad and we’ll figure out how to save Sydney. She’s my best friend too.” Said Weiss. Weiss got up and extended a hand to Vaughn so they could get moving towards the monastery.

Quickly they picked up the pace towards the Monastery. When they reached the Monastery, Vaughn quickly ran through the entryway and into the courtyard. No one was around, and it made their job easier. Vaughn and Weiss went through the double wooded doors at the end of the courtyard and once they passed through, they found a long, narrow hallway that was lit by oil lamps. Then they heard it, the faint sounds of punches being thrown over the rumble of the storm that was approaching the mountain. Vaughn and Weiss ran down the hallway expecting to see Conrad. Instead, they saw something they weren’t even expecting to see.

24 hours earlier…

Back in Los Angeles, Lauren was growing restless, as Vaughn hadn’t show up in the JTF since the previous morning. She attempted to call him for the 10th time when she saw Jack and Dixon talking. Lauren walked over to them.

“Agent Bristow, where is Agent Vaughn?” Lauren demanded of Jack. Jack was starting to get frustrated and annoyed with Lauren in regards to Michael’s mission with her. He couldn’t stand the fact that she was a two bit faced liar whom he would love to lock up in prison for the rest of her life.

So he settled for the partial truth. “I sent Agents Vaughn and Weiss on a mission.” Jack calmly replied.

“Why wasn’t I notified?” Lauren growled at the thought of people keeping secrets from her.

“Because Agent Reed, it was need to know only.” Jack said in a more forceful tone.

“A need to know! I have a higher security clearance than all of you combined and I can’t even find out where my boyfriend is? You know what Jack, if this is an attempt to keep me away from Michael, just because of his former relationship with your daughter- ”

“Lauren, this has nothing to do with your relationship with Agent Vaughn or my daughter for that matter. Let me be clear on this, no matter what level of clearance you have, you STILL do not need to know everything! What I suggest you do, Agent Reed, is to exhibit a little sense of professionalism in this office!” Jack yelled at Lauren, which received raised eyebrows and snickers from other agents in the rotunda.

Lauren scoffed at Jack’s outburst and walked away feeling disgusted with herself for letting Jack get to her. She walked towards her desk, sat down in her chair, and stared at the computer screen wondering what was so damn important about this mission that Jack made it clear that it was need to know only. An idea came to her as she used her security code to access the CIA logs. If Jack sent them on a mission, there would be records of it on the server. Lauren looked for the usual tell tale information such as the private CIA planes, borrowed mission gear and such; unfortunately none of these were being used. How could Jack send them on a mission without any traces? They are not using the CIA planes or gear. Maybe the local airlines will help me. Lauren called up a friend in Washington DC and asked whether Vaughn or Weiss took a commercial flight. She faxed her friend all the necessary information including all of their aliases. An hour later, she was she was up against the brick wall again. Where could they have gone? If they didn’t take the CIA plane or use the commercial airlines- Lauren got up and ran out into the parking garage looking for Vaughn’s car and yet it was there in his normal parking spot. She looked around and found Weiss’s car as well. Damnit! Where are you guys! Lauren scolded herself for losing two agents, one of them being her so-called boyfriend.

The more Lauren looked, the more frustrated she became when she couldn’t find any evidence of a mission. She slammed her fist on the desk in desperation, which garnered more glares from other agents. Lauren’s cell phone rang as she was walking out of the JTF. She pulled it out and grumbled to herself as she read the caller ID.

“Hello” Lauren answered.

“Do you know where your pretty boyfriend is?” Cole mocked her.

“No” Lauren became resigned to the fact that she may have screwed up her first mission.

“If you were paying more attention to your job rather than daydreaming about him, you would have noticed that he is on his way to Nepal.” Cole replied sarcastically.

“Nepal? What’s in Nepal?” Lauren asked curiously.

“Well my dear, it seems that we have a situation here. Our dear Sydney Bristow is back on the hunt for Rambaldi and she led us right to “The Passenger”.”

“She found “The Passenger” in Nepal?”

“Yes, but unfortunately your boyfriend is going to be there too and that might be an interesting situation for us.” Cole said with a hint of excitement in his voice.

“I’m listening.” Lauren replied as she listened to Cole’s plans. A smile lit up her face as she realized that this was going to be fun.


“Julia!” Simon called out to her as he tried to catch up with her. Sydney stopped and rolled her eyes at the sound of his voice. She had tried to avoid seeing him at the Covenant considering the fact that he had made it known that he had a thing for her.

“Yes, Simon. What do you want?” Sydney said with such annoyance in her tone.

“Just wanted to let you know that Cole is sending us to Nepal because thanks to you, we have found “The Passenger”. Simon just smiled at Sydney as she stared back at him in disbelief.

“I thought I made it specifically clear that I was going to go and retrieve him myself. This is a one person operation. Not two!” Sydney raised her voice, annoyed with Simon’s persistence to be on every operation she went on. “Besides I can handle this one myself.” Sydney left it at that and walked away from Simon.

“I’ll see you at the airport love!” Simon called out to her as she was leaving. Yeah right Simon, I rather see you in hell! Sydney said to herself as she walked out of the building and into her car.

Once Sydney was on the road, she pulled out a secure cell phone that connected to her father. Sydney waited as the phone rang on the other end and was about to give up when she heard her father’s voice.

“Dad! Where is Vaughn? I need to talk to him. It’s important!” Sydney practically yelled through the phone.

“Sydney calm down. Vaughn is fine. I’ve sent him on a mission to Nepal. We found Conrad.” Jack explained to Sydney.

“Oh no, Dad! They are going to kill him!” Sydney exclaimed and sped up trying to get back to her apartment as fast as she could.

“What are you talking about?” Jack questioned her.

“Cole is sending me to pick up “The Passenger”. If I don’t bring him back with me they’ll know that I’ve been undercover this whole time. Please call Vaughn and call of the mission!” Sydney replied worriedly.

“I can’t Sydney, it’s too late. They are on their way. Vaughn will be fine. He’s with Weiss. I’ll see if I can relay a message to Vaughn’s contact in Nepal but I can’t guarantee anything. The only thing you have to do is get there before he does, but Sydney we can’t let the Covenant have Conrad. It’s a matter of life or death for you. You have to let Vaughn and Weiss bring him home.” Jack pleaded with Sydney.

“Life or death? What are you talking about?” Sydney asked.

“Lazarey found something on page 75 of the Manuscript and it’s not good Sydney. Conrad is the only one who can explain it to us.” Jack let out the breath he was holding, resigning himself to the fact that his daughter’s fate was out of his hands.

Soon after Sydney heard that, she hung up and realized that she didn’t have a choice here. She was going to go after Conrad herself and demand that he tell her what he knew about page 75. Quickly, Sydney packed up everything she needed for this mission and was out the door and on her way to the Himalayas within the hour.


After he watched Julia run off to her car, he walked back towards Cole’s office. Simon knew that there was something special about Julia from the first moment he met her. He knew she was going to be a challenge to work with, but he never knew how determined she was on her missions. That quality made her attractive to him. Simon continued to think about Julia on his way to Cole’s office.

Reaching Cole’s office was like navigating a labyrinth made out of cold, stainless steel with never ending hallways. For the first time, he realized why many agents of the Covenant hated this place. There was no life inside, no plants, no windows. It was completely devoid of the real world outside.

Simon reached Cole’s office and was shocked at the décor. There were windows, wood paneling everywhere, wood furniture, limited accessories from a man who has traveled around the world, but the one thing that stuck out the most was the smell. It smelled nothing liked the walls outside of the room, it smelled like Cuban cigars. Its invigorating smell revitalized Simon, and made him eager for this mission.

Simon looked at Cole who sat behind his desk and motioned for him to come closer. Once seated, Cole offered Simon a cigar, which he accepted. He lit up the cigar and took a few puffs savoring its rich and exotic dark flavor.

“Simon, I have a very important mission for you. It involves Julia Thorne.”

“But, Julia just left. I am assuming that she is on her way to the Himalayas by herself.”

“It wouldn’t surprise us if she went alone, which is why you are here. It has come to my attention that Julia Thorne is not who we think she is. We believe that she was never broken and she believes that she is still Sydney Bristow”. Cole watched the shock and awe expression on Simon’s face. He proceeded to tell her a little more about Sydney’s background as a CIA agent including her handler, Agent Vaughn.

“No wonder why she is good.” Simon said out loud to himself.

“Yes. Your mission is to intercept her in the Himalayas and make sure that she brings “The Passenger” back to the Covenant. We’ve also been alerted to the fact that Sydney may have alerted to the CIA and it’s possible that she will be meeting with them there. So here is what is going to happen.” Cole continued to tell Simon about his plans.

Simon nodded in agreement and immediately left Cole’s office to prepare for the mission. This is going to be one hell of a mission. Simon thought to himself.


When Sydney arrived in New Dehia, she quickly ran through the airport trying to make her connecting flight to Patna. Once she arrived in Patna, she was to meet with one of her father’s contacts who would take her directly up to the monastery. During the whole ride up to the monastery, Sydney was nervous because she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. She couldn’t help but wonder why or how she was going to die. Her thoughts were with Vaughn, scared for him if something were to happen to her. She knew that if anything happened to her, Vaughn would break completely. She was his lifeline as he was hers. She thought of all the good and bad times they’d experienced, but one thing she realized was that not once had she ever regretted anything when it came to Vaughn. She had only hoped that she would spend her last moments with Vaughn. She couldn’t think of spending it with anyone other than him.

Hours later, Sydney arrived at the monastery hoping that she had arrived before Vaughn and possibly saved both of them in the event that her cover had been blown. The monastery was actually a 4th century monastery that had seen the changes of time. It perched high up on a cliff and one wrong move could send you tumbling down into the abyss below. The entire structure was made of wood and stone with a few modern amenities. The only signs of life in this place, as Sydney walked up the long path that lead to the main entrance, was the smoke coming from the courtyard. She opened the double doors and walked into the courtyard. There in the middle sat a huge pile of firewood, which the fire desperately wanted to burn. Moving around the fire, Sydney walked towards the end of the courtyard where she reached another set of double doors. Opening the doors, she was met with a loud clanging noise, which she deduced as the bells ringing. She quickly ducked behind a set of crates as she watched the monks leave from the third set of double doors and into a single door to her left. It must be time to eat, she thought. After waiting a minute, Sydney went through the third set of double doors and stepped into a long, narrow corridor. She went through each room, looking for Conrad. In each room, all she found was a bed, and dresser with an oil lamp. When she reached the last door, she knew something wasn’t right as she saw movement in shadows coming from beneath the door. There must be more people in there. Maybe this is where he is. She could hear muffled sounds and punches from the room. Sydney looked around the hallway looking for something that she could use and as she remembered that she had passed a maintenance closet. Running back towards the closet, she pulled out a broom and ran back towards the last room. She took a deep breath before charging and breaking down the door with her foot. She looked around the room and saw Simon standing over a bound and gagged monk.

“Simon! How did you get here?” Sydney exclaimed.

“That my dear is a story for another time.” Simon told a surprised Sydney.

“And why is the monk bound and gagged?” Sydney questioned Simon.

“Just making sure that you follow through with the mission. Besides Cole wanted me to make sure that we bring him back to headquarters”.

Simon’s words sent a chill down her spine. This could only mean one thing. Her cover was blown and now the Covenant was testing her. Sydney didn’t even notice that Simon had moved around and was now behind Sydney. When she finally registered to where Simon was, it was too late. He had already struck her in the back of the head with the butt of his gun, successfully knocking her unconscious.

Simon dragged Sydney over to where the monk was. Simon, then tied up Sydney, her hands behind her back, her feet bound together. He didn’t gag her just yet because he was enjoying this and he knew that when she woke up it was going to be an interesting conversation.

When Vaughn and Weiss reached the room, Vaughn was shocked to see Sydney and the monk bound and gagged. Looking around, both Vaughn and Weiss made sure that they secured the room before heading to the bound and gagged occupants.

“Syd, please wake up”. Vaughn whispered to Sydney as he picked up her head and rested it on his lap while brushing strands of her hair away from her face. Vaughn continued to caress her face and whisper words of love and forgiveness in French. Vaughn watched as Weiss went over to the monk and freed him.

Watching from behind the broken door, Simon smiled at the sight before him. The plan was working perfectly. He would give them another minute or two before announcing his presence. Simon watched how Vaughn cared for Sydney. There was something about the way he was touching Sydney. From his point of view, it was very intimate. This must be Agent Vaughn he thought to himself. Cole was right Sydney did contact the CIA. He took two steps forward and raised his gun towards the back of Vaughn’s head, but then he heard Sydney waking up and calling out to Vaughn. He took two steps back into the dark recess.

When Sydney woke up and saw Vaughn, she let out a dimpled smile that was just for him. Vaughn felt relieved and brought her close to him for a hug. Vaughn loosened his hold on Sydney when he heard her moan. His concern for her was evident when he looked around her looking for signs of injury.

“Where does it hurt?” Vaughn asked as he continued to look over Sydney.

“I’m fine now, I just have a headache. Most importantly, what are you doing here and where is Simon?” Sydney urgently replied.

“Simon? Who is Simon?” Vaughn demanded with anger.

“He’s here, we need to make sure that he didn’t see you. He’s Covenant and they sent him here to take Conrad.” Sydney panicked as she tried to find a way out of this situation.

“Syd, we need to bring Conrad home and question him regarding everything he knows about the prophecy.” Vaughn answered honestly.

“I’m not the one you should be looking for.” Conrad replied surprising all including Simon with his last comment.

Without thinking Simon blurted out “What? All of our research has indicated that you are ‘The Passenger’”. Simon’s comment startled everyone, Vaughn and Weiss jumped up, with guns drawn and pointed them at Simon who currently had two guns, one in each hand and pointed at both Vaughn and Weiss.

No one dared to move during this stand off. Sydney discreetly tapped a message on Vaughn’s back. Vaughn responded by clearing his throat. Sydney moved from behind Vaughn hoping to distract Simon. Slowly, she moved towards Simon.

“Simon, please put the gun down now. We can resolve this without anyone getting hurt.” Sydney pleaded with Simon as she inched closer to him.

“The only way we all are getting out of here alive is if you, the monk and I walk out of here together.” Simon told Sydney.

“NO! That is not acceptable!” Vaughn yelled, keeping in mind Sydney was still trying to get to Simon.

“Agent Vaughn isn’t it? You know, I expected you to be here. So why don’t you tell me how all this happened?” Simon mocked Vaughn.

Vaughn growled, “It’s none of your damn business!” Vaughn retorted.

At this point, Sydney had made her way behind Simon and as she was about to hit him, a loud crash of thunder startled every one; the wind blew through the small room, effectively plunging it into darkness.
 
Chapter 8:

Moments later, the oil lamp flickered once again bringing more light into the room. Simon had Sydney in his arms with one gun on her and the other pointing at Vaughn.

“If either one of you attempts to shoot, I will not hesitate to kill Sydney.” Simon yelled.

“What do you want Simon?” Weiss asked hopefully.

“What do I want? No it is what does the Covenant want? The Covenant wants Conrad.” Simon returned his gaze back to Vaughn.

“Oh no, that will never happen” Vaughn replied.

“Oh why is that?” Simon asked.

“Because he’s coming home with us.” Weiss replied trying to take some of the heat off Vaughn.

“Well, in that case, then you have left me with no choice. If Conrad doesn’t come back to the Covenant, I have no choice to kill this pretty little thing, Agent Vaughn.” Simon mocked once again trying to push Vaughn’s buttons.

“Vaughn, just let them take me. Don’t let the Covenant take Conrad away.” Sydney pleaded with her husband. The look on Vaughn’s face was enough to break Sydney’s heart.

“No! I will not lose you again. I can’t take that chance again.” Vaughn looked at Sydney then at Simon who smiled.

Simon continued his threats to kill Sydney if Conrad didn’t return to the Covenant within 24 hours. Not a minute later, two other monks came into the room, startling everyone. Sydney took advantage of the situation, twisting herself out of Simon’s grasp and pulled his head down to where it crashed against her knee. Vaughn immediately went to Sydney’s side and pulled her away after she continued to beat up Simon.

“Weiss help me tie him up!” Vaughn yelled for Weiss to help him. Sydney went over to Conrad and helped him up.

“Come, on, let’s get out of here before he moves again!” Vaughn told everyone. All four of them ran out into the hallway to where they had entered in the first place. Sydney grabbed Vaughn and told Weiss and Conrad to get into the helicopter and that they would provide cover. Once Sydney and Vaughn had secured the area, both of them proceeded to climb into the helicopter.

As everyone went out to the helicopter, Lauren ran into the room after hearing a lot of commotion. She expected all of them to be still in the room. Instead, she found Simon knocked out, bound and gagged. Lauren immediately freed him and woke him up.

“Thanks Babe” Simon said as Lauren helped him up and he kissed her. “What took you so long!” Simon asked her.

“Its Vaughn, I can’t let him know that I was here. He doesn’t know that I’m Covenant.”

“We need to catch them before we lose Conrad.” Simon replied hurriedly as they rushed out of the room to catch up with Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss and Conrad. They run out in time to see Sydney and Vaughn board the helicopter. Lauren hands Simon the spare gun. Together the began to shoot at the helicopter.

Sydney jumped down, ran behind a small boulder, and began firing back at Simon. Vaughn and Weiss scream at Sydney telling her to get back on the helicopter. Sydney waved them off, signaling they should leave without her.

“No, Sydney! Get over here now!” Vaughn screamed in terror. He couldn’t leave his wife behind again. When Sydney refused to come towards the helicopter, which was already airborne at this point, Vaughn jumped out and told Weiss to take Conrad back to LA. Vaughn dodged bullets as he ran over to where Sydney was crouched behind the small boulder.

“Vaughn! What are you doing? You need to go home!” Sydney whispered as he joined her in the gunfight. They continued to shoot in Simon’s direction until they saw Simon and Lauren running up the small path into the wooded area behind the monastery. Sydney and Vaughn cautiously ran up the same path and hid behind a larger boulder that would provide cover for them both.

“Sydney, you of all people should know where my loyalties lie! You come first and I am not going home without you.” Vaughn whispered angrily back to a stunned Sydney. She tried hard to blink back her tears that were threatening to spill. She couldn’t believe that he was so willing to give up his life for hers.

“Vaughn, I-”

“Syd, listen we’ll talk about this when we get home. Right now we need to deal with Simon and Lauren.” Vaughn reassured her. He couldn’t believe that Lauren was here. He went through great pains to make sure that she didn’t find out where he was. He knew that she was Covenant but how was he supposed to go back to LA and pretend that nothing happened? She had tried to kill him and Sydney. That was not something he was going to let go of anytime.

Vaughn looked over his shoulder and found Simon kneeling over next to a tree. He took this moment to shoot at him, effectively hitting him in the leg. Vaughn hoped this shot would buy some time as they ran down the path again, towards where the helicopter once was. Sure enough, they heard a helicopter approaching and it was Weiss. Weiss motioned for them to climb aboard as the pilot maneuvered the helicopter to the Vaughns’ location.

Simon regrouped after being shot by Vaughn in the leg. Sensing this was going to happen, Lauren pulled out a small remote with a button on it and made her way down the path towards Sydney and Vaughn. To get their attention, Lauren pulled out her gun and fired a shot in their direction. Immediately, Vaughn threw himself over Sydney, acting as a shield to protect her from incoming shots.

“You guys are not getting away from this alive!” Simon yelled. Lauren tossed the remote to Simon as he finally managed to catch up with her. He looked at Sydney and Vaughn and then laughed as he pushed the button, setting off a very loud explosion that rocked the boulder above them. The boulder blew apart and a large chuck came down, rushing towards Sydney and Vaughn like an avalanche. Its thunderous roar sent chills down their back as they realized that there was nowhere for them to go. They were trapped. Fearing that they had reached the end of their lives, the embraced each other, whispering words of love to each other before stealing one final kiss before jumping off the cliff together hand in hand into the abyss below.

Weiss watched in horror as the boulder exploded and came hurling down towards his two best friends as they held each other for the last time. Waves of emotions hit Weiss with the force of a mack truck. A huge lump formed in his throat and he had a hard time swallowing as he watched them jump over the cliff. He screamed as they jumped, wanting to bring the helicopter closer in case, he could at least get one of them. The pilot refused to go near the cliff in fear of being hit by the boulder or any of the remnants of the once massive boulder. Weiss felt sick and helpless as the pilot pushed the helicopter far and out of distance.

When the mountain finally settled down once again, Weiss got the pilot to fly back to where he last saw Sydney and Vaughn jump. He scanned the downside of the mountain, praying that once of his best friends were alive somehow. As the helicopter made its way down, Weiss found Vaughn hanging for dear life on the edge of a small ledge and told the pilot to move close to Vaughn as he could. Weiss scanned the helicopter, looking for something that will help Vaughn get off the ledge. He spotted a ladder that was used for emergencies and threw it down in front of Vaughn.

“Vaughn! Grab it!” Weiss screamed and watched as Vaughn ever so slightly moved to grip the ladder and wrap himself around it. Once Vaughn was completely off the ledge and onto the ladder, Weiss breathed a sigh of relief. He looked down at Vaughn, saw him waving his arm wildly, and pointed downward. Weiss looked down to where Vaughn was pointing and there was Sydney, sprawled out on her stomach on a larger boulder that seemed to stick out from the mountain. Weiss told the pilot to move down towards to Sydney, allowing Vaughn to get on the boulder.

As Vaughn landed on the boulder, it shook, almost knocking Vaughn off with the added weight. Vaughn moved quickly and as cautiously as possible to Sydney. He moved to her side and rolled her over onto her backside. He could feel the panic rising up inside of him as he tried to wake her to no avail. Quickly, he examined her injuries and found that she had a dislocated shoulder along with several bruised ribs, complete with plenty of cuts and bruises that seemed to litter her face and arms. Before Vaughn could move her again, he had to pop her shoulder back in place. Vaughn looked around trying to think of a situation that would allow him to get both of them on the ladder without making the boulder rock and send them tumbling down the mountainside again. It was something Vaughn didn’t want to go through again, seeing that if it happened again, Sydney wouldn’t survive. He finally came up with a plan – a trick one at best, but it was the only way they would be getting out of there alive.

Vaughn, picked Sydney up, making sure that he had secured her in a position where he was practically hugging her. He wrapped her legs around his waist and his arms were around her chest. Sydney’s head lolled dangerously on Vaughn’s shoulder as he struggled to hold up Sydney, and grab the ladder without sending them crashing down the mountain again. Once Vaughn was able to secure his body around the ladder, his legs pushed up into a sitting position as to allow Sydney to sit on his lap giving him the opportunity to support both of them on the ladder. He squeezed his arms around her chest, still mindful of her bruised ribs and the holding on to the ladder tightly as he could. Thankfully, Sydney was unconscious at this point, but even then moving her like this was extremely dangerous, but he felt that he had no choice. Once Vaughn had both of them set, he looked up to Weiss and gave him a signal to take them home. The helicopter slowly moved away from the boulder and Vaughn held his wife tightly as he could as they swung in the air away from the mountain.


Nadia heard voices coming from her father’s study and wasn’t sure if it was an argument or not. Letting the curiosity get the best of her, she stepped out of her bedroom and down the corridor to the stairs. As she made her way towards her father’s office, she remembered the day she came home from Rome, after finding that her apartment was vandalized and a threat was made on her life. It scared her to death no less, but Sloane reassured her that nothing would happen to her. He also promised to reveal everything that he knew concerning the Rambaldi Prophecy. Nadia opened the door to his study, taking in the massive room decorated with artifacts and priceless works of art from around the world. She loved that aspect of her father, the world traveler, but what she didn’t know was the secret he harbors about her future. She scanned the room for any visitors and found that her father was engaged in a deep conversation with a woman she had never met. Satisfied that there wasn’t anyone else inside, she walked into the room to where her father and his guest were talking.

Sloane met Nadia halfway and gave her a kiss on her forehead and brought her towards his guest.

“Nadia, I want you to meet my dear friend, Dr. Judy Barnett.” Sloane smiled as he looked at Dr. Barnett. “Judy, this is my beautiful daughter, Nadia.” He smiled again, now that the introductions were out of the way. Both Dr. Barnett and Nadia shook hands with each other and smiled respectfully.

“Nadia, I asked Dr. Barnett to be here with us as I tell you what I know about the Rambaldi Prophecy. I also want you to know that you are more than welcome to talk to her about anything in regards to what you will find out today.” Sloane stated.

“What kind of Doctor are you?” Nadia asked nervously.

“I’m a Therapist.” Dr. Barnett replied.

“Why do I need a shrink? I mean, no offense to you Dr. Barnett, but I’m ok.” Nadia quipped.

“Actually, I brought her here for support and you might want to sit down for this.” Sloane told her as he watched her sit down at the chair opposite to Dr, Barnett. He waited a few seconds before continuing. “I know that you have been doing a lot of research on Milo Rambaldi because of your mark. What I didn’t tell you is that there is a reason for the mark. You are part of the Prophecy. Before you say anything, please let me explain everything first and then I will answer all of your questions afterwards. There is a group called the Covenant and they are a terrorist organization who will stop at nothing to fulfill Rambaldi’s Prophecy one way or the other. They are extremely dangerous and ruthless. That same group is the one that ransacked your apartment because they found out about you. However, there is another group which I am sure you are familiar with, The Magnificent Order of Rambaldi.” Sloane stopped to gauge Nadia’s reactions before proceeding again. “Now this group is dedicated to making sure that the Prophecy comes true. The difference between these two groups is obvious. The Covenant is made up of radical fanatics that want to expose the Prophecy and you for what it is. The Order, on the other hand is trying to protect the Prophecy and you at the same time. The members of the Order have marks just like you and they are the true followers of Milo Rambaldi himself. This is an exclusive Order and it has no more than seven members in the world at one time. These members are known as “The Passenger” You are one of them. Now, before we go on, I want to show you something that will help you understand what is happening.”

Sloane stopped and walked over to the bookcase and slightly pulled on a book. A low rumble echoes through the room, the bar that was located on the opposite end of the wall suddenly and slowly moved revealing a hidden room behind the wall. Sloane motioned for both Nadia and Dr. Barnett to join him as he walked into the room.

Upon entering the room, one could tell that the setting of the room mirrors those of special exhibits at museums, with its soft, amber gold lights illuminating the room. There were glass view cases scattered throughout the room holding its priceless treasures. On the opposite ends of the wall, there were two massive enlargements of two people presumably concerning the Prophecy. Upon closer examination, one would find that in these glass cases, held the most sought after Rambaldi artifacts, whether they pertain to the prophecy or not. They were all there. In the middle, was one huge glass case and inside it contained the Telling. Fully erected in all its glory, begging to be seen by the world. It sat there in solace waiting to be reborn. Along the far wall, one large glass case stretched from one end of the wall to the other held the two Rambaldi Manuscripts with each one all laid out in order for the visitor to see.

“Who is she?” Nadia asked curiously. Sloane walked over towards Nadia, admiring the page before him.

“That is Sydney Bristow, and this right here is her prophecy.” Sloane answered pointing to the manuscript that contained her prophecy.

“Does she have the mark too?” Nadia asked wondering if she was one of the seven people that had the mark.

“See this inscription right here that is her prophecy. Let me read it to you. ‘This woman here depicted will possess unseen marks. Signs that she will be the one to bring forth my works. Bind them with fury. A burning anger, unless prevented. At vulgar cost, this woman will render the greatest power into utter desolation. This woman, without pretense, will have had her effect, never having seen the beauty of my sky, behind Mount Subasio. Perhaps a single glance would have quelled her fire’.”

“What does that mean?” Nadia asked with confusion in her voice.

“It means that she is the ‘Chosen One’.” Sloane answered while watching her reaction to what he told her. Nadia turned to look on the opposite end of the wall, and immediately felt uneasy about what her prophecy would bring. She walked towards the wall, not taking her eyes off her portrait. She had no idea what to think or how to feel at this point. All she felt was numbness.

Dr. Barnett was stunned to see all of this here in this room. She learned of the second prophecy through The Trust. She took her time looking through each case in earnest, reveling in the fact that everything was here and in one piece. She knew how far Sloane would go to fulfill the prophecy but it was her duty to prevent that from happening. Barnett knew that The Trust would want to get their hands on all of this including the Second Prophecy. She continued to walk around admiring everything and keep up the façade that she knew nothing about this. She made a mental note to report all this including the location of this room to The Trust.

“Arvin, do you know what this machine does?” She called out to him.

“Yes, in fact I used it when I assembled it the first time. It printed out this.” Sloane walked over to another glass case across from the machine and pointed to the manuscript with only one word on it ‘PEACE’.

“PEACE”? a very confused Dr. Barnett asked Sloane.

“As I have come to understand, PEACE is the root word for Irina.” Sloane announced.

“Irina? Who is Irina?” Nadia asked as she walked over to examine the manuscript herself.

“Irina is the mother of both The Chosen One and The Passenger.” Sloane revealed, and felt a burden lift off his shoulders as he had been harboring this secret for so long.

“Irina is my mother? I thought you said she left us and that she didn’t want us.” Nadia asked fighting back tears at this sudden revelation and prospect that her mother had a role in all of this. “So I have a sister? Is she your daughter as well?”

“Yes, you have a half-sister. Sadly, no, Sydney is not my daughter. There was a time when I suspected she was but I never felt the need to verify.” Sloane replied honestly.

“Do you want her to be your daughter?” Dr. Barnett asked.

“There were times when I wished she was, but I couldn’t ask for a better daughter than Nadia.” Sloane replied knowing that he was walking a fine line on this subject.

“So why did Irina give me Didn’t she want me because of the Prophecy?” Nadia asked wanting more answers about her mother, sister and their roles in the Prophecy.

“I don’t know. She left you at the hospital shortly after you were born. The doctors had to track me down so I could take you home. Since then, you have been with me.” Sloane answered knowing fully well that it was a lie. He wasn’t about to tell her the truth behind her conception and prayed that she would never find out.

“So what is Nadia’s prophecy?” Dr. Barnett asked knowing that she needed to get it. She turned on her tiny recorder, intent on getting the whole thing for the Trust.

Sloane sighed heavily and walked over to the massive reproduction and stood there, staring at it for what seemed like an eternity before Nadia interrupted him.

“Dad, what does the Prophecy say about me?” She pressed with a hint of anger in her tone. She was getting tired of all the games. She couldn’t believe that there was a prophecy written about her and the sister she never knew 500 years ago. She was beginning to wonder if this was a huge elaborate joke that was being played on her.

“This woman here will bear the mark, and without a doubt fulfill my legacy. Perhaps the quest for truth shall incite a fire from within. A fire that will ultimately seal her fate and the fate of the Chosen One.” Sloane recited from heart after having memorized it long ago when he first read it. He just prayed that Nadia didn’t realize the truth about her prophecy.

:blush:
 
Chapter 9:

The past week had been stressful for Vaughn. Dealing with Sydney in the hospital recovering and enduring endless debriefs by Dixon and Devlin regarding his sudden absence and the unsanctioned mission to Nepal. To make matters worse, Lauren has been hanging on to him since Sydney returned. She refused to let Vaughn out of her sight. It has become hard for Vaughn to get away and visit Sydney in the hospital.

As the doctor gave Sydney a clean bill of health today, he was concerned how she was going to adjust to being back in Los Angeles after so long. Vaughn assigned agents on 24-hour security detail outside their house, more so for a piece of mind that if he can’t be with Sydney at times, the agents outside will watch her. More importantly, how do they make their marriage work now that the only thing that separated them is Lauren. He vowed not to let his mission get in the way of his marriage.

Today was a particularly bad day for Vaughn. It started with the doctors releasing Sydney and the fight that ensued. He cringed as he recalled their fight earlier in the morning.

“Listen Syd, I can’t take you home right now and I’m sure Jack will be happy to take you home.” Vaughn hated doing this but he was up against the wall as it is.

“Why? Come on Vaughn! I want you to take me home.” Sydney made sure to put the emphasis on the last sentence.

“I have to go down to the JTF, but I will be home tonight. I Promise.” Vaughn tried to reassure her even though he didn’t want to tell her that Lauren was already getting upset over the fact that he was spending too much time at the hospital.

“You are lying! It’s her isn’t it? You rather go see your girlfriend than take your wife home!” Sydney yelled at Vaughn not caring who heard her.

“Oh come on Sydney! You know that’s not true!” Vaughn replied angrily. He’s getting tired of fighting with Sydney over his mission. He’s now afraid that this mission is going to tear them apart.

“You know what, just forget about it. Go back to your girlfriend. Dad, take me home now, obviously my husband doesn’t care anymore.” Sydney retorted.

“Sydney!” Jack exclaimed. He knew this was going to get ugly if he didn’t get one of them out of here before its too late.

“That was totally uncalled for!” Vaughn yelled back.

“Really Vaughn? It seems that you put the needs of your mission above me. I’m your wife for god’s sake!” Sydney stormed out of the room before Vaughn or Jack could rebuttal.


Later in the afternoon, at the JTF Vaughn had informed Dixon and Weiss of Sydney’s situation and of course, as usual, Lauren came in walking towards the group. Dixon and Weiss walked away from Vaughn, helping him maintain his cover.

“Hi” was all Vaughn could say when she came over to him. He didn’t want to talk to her right now. He just needed to figure out how to make things right with Sydney.

“I just heard Sydney went home.” Lauren whispered to him.

“Yeah. She is going home with her father. He’s going to try and help her re-adjust to everything.” Vaughn half-honestly replied and knew that it was going to be hard trying to be faithful to Sydney while on a mission with Lauren.

“Are you ok with her being back? I’m only saying this because I know we’ve been together for a while now and I am concerned about us.” Lauren looked at him with that I’m-so-innocent look” and Vaughn saw right through it.

“I don’t know. All I know is I need some time to process all this.” Lauren nodded in understanding as her cell phone rang. He watched her as she smiled and stepped away answering her call. After the call, she returned to Vaughn.

“I have to go back to DC for another week or so. Is that ok with you? We can talk more when I get back.” Vaughn nodded, wondering if for a second there, she really was being mature about this. Sure, he has thought that Lauren can be a sweet and endearing person at times. If it weren’t for this situation, he almost could imagine himself in an honest relationship with her. Lauren had given him a quick kiss and walked away. He shook his head and mentally scolded himself for thinking about Lauren like this when his wife is at home upset.

Quickly, Vaughn went back to his desk and dealt with the endless paperwork and several briefings regarding other matters. It was nearly six pm when Sydney called. He answered it on the second ring.

“Hey”

“Hi”

They both sighed as let the silence take over for the time being.

“Syd?”

“Vaughn?”

They both said at the same time.

“Syd, is everything ok? Do you need anything?” Vaughn worriedly asked.

“I jut wanted to know if you are still planning on coming home.” He can hear the nervousness in her voice as she asked him. It broke his heart when she thought that he didn’t want to come home to her. How could she think that? He’s been waiting for this moment for two years.

“Of course I do. You are my home.” He can hear the faint sobs as she tried to hold back her emotions.

“Listen, I was just about to leave. I’ll be home in 45 minutes.”

“Ok.”

“I’ll see you soon.” He told her as he gathered up his paperwork and stuffed them in his briefcase. He was about to hang up when he thought he heard her call him.

“Vaughn?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

It took Vaughn a good forty-five minutes to get home after stopping by at the florist and picking up a dozen red roses for Sydney. He expected the lights to be on around the house but found that it was dark. Pulling into the garage, he couldn’t help but feel sad about coming home for the first time. It wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. Vaughn walked into the house and was assaulted by the smell of dinner. He walked towards the kitchen; found that dinner was ready, and moved to the dining room. The dining room glowed from the several candles that were placed throughout the room. He noticed that Sydney pulled out his mother’s fine linen tablecloth and china set. He turned to the living room where Sydney was standing with her back to him. She was looking through the massive bay windows and into the horizon of the ocean that seems to have no end in sight. Vaughn set his briefcase and the roses down on the couch while he took his jacket off. He picked up the flowers again and walked towards Sydney. He stopped for a second not wanting to disturb her moment.

“Syd, I’m home.” Vaughn whispered. He heard her sigh and she turned to face him.

“Hey” She whispered with a smile. Vaughn closed the distance and gave her the roses.

“Thank you. They are beautiful.” Sydney replied as she accepted the flowers and fingered the soft rose petals.

“Not as beautiful as you are.” Vaughn whispered as he tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. He brought both of his hands up to cradle her face; he rubs the pad of his thumbs lovingly caressing her cheeks before kissing her soundly. Breaking apart, they rested their foreheads against each other’s.

“Dinner’s ready.” Sydney whispered. Vaughn nodded and for the first time noticed that she wasn’t wearing the sling.

“Syd, why aren’t you wearing your sling?” Vaughn asked as he followed her into the kitchen and watched her put the roses in the vase.

“If I had the sling on, I wouldn’t be able to do all of this tonight. I wanted tonight to be special for us. Besides, I felt bad for the way we left things this morning. My dad had a talk with me. I guess I was just afraid that you wouldn’t want me around anymore and that’s why I reacted so badly.” Vaughn tried to step forward but she cut him off. “Please let me finish first. I know that some days it will be tough and other days will be ok. I also know that this mission is your first priority right now but I need to believe that no matter what you’ll never forget me, or us because what we have right now is the most important thing in my life. Its what kept me sane all those months. It also gives me hope that one day, hopefully sooner than later, we’ll be able to have that dream of normalcy, a family and a happy life together with you. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am scared of losing you before we even have the chance to be happy.” Tears poured down Sydney’s face as she confessed her fears to Vaughn.

Once again, Vaughn cupped her face in his hands before speaking. “Honey, you need to know that our love is what makes me determined to take down the Covenant. The sooner we take them down, the sooner we can move on with our life. How could you ever think that I would forget you or our marriage? It’s the most important thing in my life too. I can’t live without you or us. I once told your mom that loving you was the best and worst thing in my life.”

“What! Worse? What did I do?” Sydney panicked fearing the worst.

“Shhhh.” Vaughn moved his hands from her face and entwined their hands together before continuing. “Do you know what loving you did to me? It made me become the man I am today. Before you came into my life, all I wanted to do was fulfill my father’s dream. His dream became mine and I just wanted to be like him. Since you came into my life, everything changed and suddenly you became my dream. I had an instinct about you and after a while I no longer wanted to be my dad. I wanted to be the man that protected you, loved you and make you happy. This is my dream, you, us, and I’m living in it.” He let go of his right hand and wrapped it around her waist, bringing her closer to him. “At the time I talked to your mother, the worst thing about loving you was not telling you. You have no idea how many times I just wanted to grab you in my arms and kiss you senseless. I hated it when you went out on missions because no matter where it was, I couldn’t protect you. I wanted to be with you every second of the day and I couldn’t do that. The worst thing about loving you now was losing you. I lost you once before and it nearly killed me. I never want to go through that again. My life doesn’t mean anything if you are not in it. You are my heart and you keep me alive. Hell, you are my everything.” Vaughn nearly chokes on his words as he relives those nine months without Sydney. He quickly pushes those thoughts out of his mind and focuses on what’s happening right now. “And yes, its possible that things may get tough in the future, but we will survive. I believe in us and that alone will get us through this. Now, for the record, I will tell you this today and everyday for the rest of my life. I love you and you will always be my first priority no matter what. Nothing else could ever come close to you. Don’t you know that you have already ruined me for other women. You stole my heart and it belongs to you forever. As for my mission, we’ll just have to take it one day at a time. We’ll do this together just like old times. I love you Sydney.” Vaughn continued to wipe away the tears that rained down on her cheeks.

Vaughn’s words touched her heart and the love that she felt was beyond anything she has ever felt. There were no words to describe what she was feeling.

“I love you, so much” Sydney collapsed in Vaughn’s embrace and buried her head in his neck. Vaughn held Sydney tightly and being mindful of her ribs.

“Syd, your shoulder, we need to put it in the sling.”

“No, its ok. My dad gave me a shot to numb it for tonight. I promise I’ll put it back on tomorrow.” Sydney whispered against his neck.

“How come we always end up re-heating dinner?” Vaughn asked making Sydney laugh against him.

“Because you always distract me.” Sydney’s reply made them laugh.

Sydney pulled away slightly and hungrily sought out Vaughn’s lips. She devoured them with such passion, as if it was the only thing that will keep her alive. Vaughn gave in to her easily, letting her take control. Sydney broke the kiss as she struggled to pull his shirt out of his dress pants and off him. Once she succeeded, she reclaimed his lips and plundered her tongue in his mouth as their tongues danced with each other’s. Vaughn broke away this time, breathlessly and led her towards the couch, but before he did anything else, he stripped Sydney down to nothing as Sydney quickly helped him remove his pants. Vaughn fell back into the couch and pulled Sydney on top of him. Sydney looked at the man below her and smiled as she felt his arousal straining through his boxers. She reached down and stroked him through the boxers, and elicited a long sensual moan from him. He arched his hips into her, begging to be buried inside of her. Sydney continued to tease Vaughn until he sat up and devoured her breast in his mouth, taking the time to savior each one. The feeling of Vaughn’s mouth on her breasts sent shockwaves of pleasure straight to her pulsating core. They continued to gyrate in insistent circles against each other until they couldn’t take it anymore. Sydney took off Vaughn’s boxers in a swift and impaled herself on his straining shaft in a fierce paroxysm. They cried out in pain and pleasure as they joined each other once again. Sydney shifted restlessly above him as she approached the edge. Vaughn thrusted in her once, twice, and then a third time. Sydney began to suck in lungful of air as Vaughn shuddered in gasping completions at the frenzy of simultaneous explosions that rocked their souls to the core of their very being.

As they calmed down from their frenzied coupling, they simply enjoyed being in each other’s arms.

“Come on, lets eat before we get distracted again.” Vaughn said as they pulled out of their embrace but not before giving in to another passionate kiss.


Lauren grumbled as she packed up her suitcase before leaving for Rome. She hated the thought of leaving Vaughn alone with Sydney. Different scenarios were running rampant in her mind and she had no control over them. Lauren was afraid that Vaughn would feel guilty for giving up on Sydney and leave her for Sydney. She knew it was a distant possibility but that time is not now. Right now, she needed to make sure that everything is going according to plan. She cannot fail at this mission. She pushed all thoughts of Sydney and Vaughn out of her mind as she focused on getting ready for her trip back to Italy. This is going to be an ugly meeting Lauren thought to herself as she braced for the lashing that was going to be the result of not acquiring Conrad for the Covenant. I can always blame it on Simon and his sick fantasy of being in love with Julia Thorne. Lauren thought to herself.

The flight to Rome was uneventful and Lauren took advantage of the long flight to catch up on some reading and sleep. The Covenant had a car waiting for Lauren to take her back to headquarters. Lauren watched as the car made its way through the narrow streets of Rome to the Piazza del Popolo. The car finally made it to the Piazza stopping in front of a regular building across the street from Santa Maria dei Miracoli (of the Miracles). Lauren stepped out into the bright, sunny warm weather and looked around to her surroundings. Lauren shielded her eyes from the glaring sun and readjusted her beige dress suit. The location was fitting since it was Pope Alexander VII who commissioned Rainaldi to build the church and its twin sister, Santa Maria de Montesanto. Later on, Lauren found out that Pope Alexander VI had began plans for Santa Maria dei Miracoli but never got the opportunity to see it built. Lauren grabbed her purse as she stepped away from the car and walked into the back door of the building, which would lead her to the elevator that would take her to Cole’s office.

Lauren knocked on Cole’s office door and opened the door to see Cole arguing with Simon. She had heard their shouts from down the hall and knew it was about Nepal. She complied when Cole commanded that she sit down next to Simon and explained the events of the failed mission in Nepal. Lauren told Cole exactly what happened as she witnessed it and what she had to say didn’t please Cole one bit.

“You have disgraced the Covenant by failing to acquire Conrad, not to mention, losing one of our important asset, Julia Thorne.” Cole bellowed through the room. Lauren was sure that people outside the room can hear this conversation.

“We wouldn’t be having any of these problems if you had been keeping an eye on Agent Vaughn. This is partially your fault.” Cole stopped to look back at both Lauren and Simon shaking his head in a disapproving manner. He picked up a sack of papers “We need Conrad. He is the only one who can read Rambaldi’s texts. Without him, we have no idea what these mean!” Cole yelled as he threw pages of Rambaldi text on the desk.

“What about Irina?” Lauren asked.

“Have you forgotten? That woman has disappeared off the face of earth!” Cole retorted. He walked around to the front of his desk and glared at both Simon and Lauren before pushing a button on his phone. “Bring her in” Cole told his assistant through the comm.

Lauren watched as a tall and slender woman entered the room. It was almost as if she had a unnatural glow that surrounded her as she walked towards them. Lauren couldn’t take her eyes off of her, but as she got closer she noticed the Rambaldi symbol between the junction of her thumb and index finger.

“I’m glad you made it, Anna. I’m looking forward to working with you.” Cole smiled seductively at Anna, which didn’t go unnoticed by Lauren.

“The pleasure is all mine, Cole.” Anna whispered to Cole. Lauren just rolled her eyes at the display of affection between these two. Lauren looked over to Simon and found that he was entranced by her just like Cole was. She made a mental note to slap some sense into him once they were together privately.

“Anna will be taking over the North American Cells. I felt that her qualifications exceed my expectations for the chair of the North American Cells. I trust that both of you would be happy to work with Anna in acquiring Conrad and the manuscripts.” Cole informed them. Lauren and Simon looked at each other hiding their displeasure from Cole and Anna. Both nodded unenthusiastically.

“While its still our priority to get Conrad back, we still have to deal with Sydney Bristow. We have to assume that she has told the CIA about the Covenant, we should take this time to strategize on how to get her back. In the meantime, Lauren I want you to use your clearance to find out what’s going on within the CIA. I want to know what they are doing. If they are going on any missions regarding Rambaldi, I want to know first. We will not fail this time.” Cole declared.

“Now, Anna and I will leave and I trust that the two of you can keep yourselves occupied without causing anymore trouble until tonight’s meeting.” Cole smirked at the couple before leading Anna out of the room.

As soon as Cole left the room, Lauren stood up, walked over to Simon and smacked him across the face. “That was for ogling Anna!” Lauren hissed. Simon brought his hand to rub the side of his face where Lauren hit him.

“What is it with you and brunettes?” Lauren yelled at Simon.

“They are wild and definitely know how to ride.” Simon replied with a smirk on his face.

“Whats wrong with blondes?”

“Blondes are too easy. No challenge and no fun.”

“Is this is the way it going to be?” Lauren asked as she stood over him.

“Unless you put on a brown wig and I’ll be happy.”

Lauren glared at Simon and brought her right hand up in the air as to attempt to smack him again, but this time Simon caught her hand and pushed her against Cole’s desk. He released her hand and pulled her face in for a violent kiss that left them breathless when they broke apart.

“Ooh…looks like the Senator’s daughter hasn’t had any action in a while. I thought Agent Vaughn would be a willingly partner?” Simon teased.

“He won’t f*** me.” Lauren pouted like a five year old.

“Hmm…must be the brunette thing.” Simon laughed at the site above him.

“Just shut up and f*** me.” Lauren hissed before pulling him into another searing kiss as she tried to rip Simon’s shirt off of him. Both Simon and Lauren hungrily stripped each other of their clothes, their kisses becoming more frantic that the last. Lauren pushed Simon back to the desk and pushed everything off the desk at the same time. Lauren climbed on top of Simon, perching herself on his abs.

“Now I want you to tell my why brunettes are better than blondes.” Lauren demanded of Simon.

“Two words. Julia Thorne.”

“What about her…she’s nothing but a poor man’s Mary.”

“Well…she was the wildest ride I’ve ever had. That woman can go on and on. She even tastes like candy.” Simon licked his lips and closed his eyes as if he remembered her sweet taste. “If she’s anything like Sydney Bristow, then no wonder why Agent Vaughn won’t f*** you.” Lauren attempted to smack Simon as he grabbed both of her hands. “This is getting old, dear.”

“Like I said, shut up and f*** me.” Lauren lifted herself off Simon’s chest and impaled herself on him.

Little did the couple who seemed to be enjoying themselves on their boss’s table, know that he was standing in another room adjoining his office, watching this show along with Anna.

“See…that’s how we get along with each other.” Cole told Anna as they watched the couple.

PS. I also wanted to say that I hope I didn’t offend anyone with the blonde/brunette joke. It was only meant for Simon and Lauren, not anyone else.

:blush:
 
I love this story! Oh, and please I really didn't get affened by the joke. I am brunette. Lol ;) I love the speeches that Sydney and Vaughn give to each other. They are so filled with passion, and you are such a great writer. I just love this story, and I can't wait to read more. I just don't like how Simon went on about Sydney and well...yea. Anyway fantastic job, you are an amazing writer. Can I get an update when you do update please? I can't wait to read more!! :D

Love ya,

Penny :angelic:
 
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