Summary: This is an alternate, more romantic ending for S/Vs date in France. Basically, they don't have their dinner ruined by those horrible Alliance agents. At least not yet.

Sydney looked at Vaughn across the table. He was smiling at her and staring deep into her eyes and Sydney simply could not look away. She felt hypnotized by his gaze. Suddenly she found herself saying, "Okay."

Have I just agreed to spend the night with Michael Vaughn, she wondered.

There he was smiling at her and nodding, clearly happy that she had an "open mind" as he had hoped.

Sydney tried to break out of the trance long enough to think clearly. "I'm going to freshen up. I'll be right back."

As she rose to leave the table, Vaughn stood up for her. What a gentleman. Syd grabbed her small handbag and walked past him to the Ladies Room. She felt him watching her as she walked away and resisted the urge to turn around to check if he was. She caught a glimpse of him in the reflection off a large silver coffee urn. Sure enough, Vaughn was watching her every step as a small smile played on his lips.

Sydney entered the bathroom and walked to the mirror to check her hair and makeup. She looked at her reflection and tried to convince herself that this was all real. She was actually here, in France, on a date with Michael Vaughn. Unbelievable. She popped a mint in her mouth and took a deep breath, trying not to think of all the reasons she should NOT go upstairs with him. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and she didn't want to miss it.

***

Vaughn had watched her walk away, his heart still racing in his chest. Had they really just agreed to spend the night together? He couldn't believe the way things had worked out so far. Just this morning they had a huge awful fight and now here they were having a romantic dinner together in Nice. Vaughn signaled for the waiter to come over as he pulled some bills from his wallet. He paid in cash for the dinner and asked the waiter to pass along his gratitude to the owner for the lovely room and the complimentary room upstairs. Vaughn quickly popped a mint in his mouth and put his earpiece in so he could contact Weiss.

"Base ops, this is Boy Scout. Do you copy?"

Sydney was walking back towards the table when she heard Vaughn on the comm unit. She was curious to know what Vaughn would tell Weiss about their date. But she could only hear Vaughn's end of the conversation.

"How much longer?" Vaughn asked referring to the techs making the counterfeit gyroscope. He was listening intently to the answer.

"Well...pretty good," Vaughn replied to Weiss' question.

"Okay, see you in a couple of hours," and with that Vaughn disconnected and looked up to see Sydney standing beside the table.

"What's going on?" she asked pointing to his earpiece.

Vaughn stood up. "Weiss says they need another hour or so, but the flight's not until midnight."

"Anything else?" she asked.

"Nope. That's it," he replied.

"So what's "pretty good"? Hmmm?" Syd teased knowing Weiss had asked him how the date was going.

Vaughn blushed and smiled as he looked down, "Weiss doesn't need to know everything. Right?"

He gestured toward the elevator and said, "Shall we?"

They stopped by the coat room to pick up her jacket and headed toward the elevator.

When it arrived they stepped in and were alone for just a moment before a wrinkled hand reached in to stop the doors from closing.

"One moment please," begged the voice attached to the hand. The elevator doors opened to reveal a small man in his 80s standing beside an even smaller woman around the same age.

"I'm sorry," the older man continued in French as he helped his wife onto the elevator. "We are not as fast as you youngsters. We are celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary tonight!" He reached for his wife's hand as she smiled lovingly at him.

Vaughn and Sydney offered their congratulations and smiled at the sweetness of this old couple still in love with each other. The older pair began speaking to each other and Vaughn quietly slipped his hand around Sydney's. She bit her lip to keep herself from smiling to obviously and made sure her coat was draped over their hands.

When the elevator stopped the older couple stepped out and waved goodnight to them. Vaughn nodded and smiled at them and kept his hand on Sydney's. She felt like she was melting in delight at this small intimacy.

The next time the elevator doors opened, Vaughn and Sydney exited and he let go of her hand to search for the key in his pocket. When they arrived at the room number listed on the key, Vaughn unlocked the door and stood back so Sydney could enter first.

She walked straight to the large window that took up almost the entire wall. It revealed a breathtaking view of the city below. Very romantic scene - yet Sydney lowered the blinds for security's sake. Vaughn also performed a cursory security check of the room, making sure to lock the door behind them and keep his gun and cellphone within reach. Sydney walked to the desk and chair and draped her coat over the back of the chair. Vaughn moved to where she was standing and they were both silent.

There was so much to say, so many feelings they never shared aloud with each other. Neither one of them knew quite how to break the ice, to make the first move after trying to follow the rules for so long and after so many aborted attempts to get together.

Vaughn smiled at Sydney with deep affection in his eyes. But it was Sydney who spoke first.

"Thank you for dinner tonight." She leaned in toward Vaughn and gave him a quick light kiss on his left cheek.

"Thank you for agreeing to come," he replied and gave her a small gentle kiss on her left cheek in return.

Okay, now we're getting somewhere, Syd thought excitedly.

"Thank you for inviting me in the first place," and she gave him a slower kiss that was still on his cheek but coming dangerously close to his lips.

"Syd," he moaned, about to give in. But first he wanted to tell her something. He swallowed hard and looked straight at her. "Syd, I'm so sorry for our fight, for upsetting you like that, for not being completely open with you. About everything."

Sydney wondered if he was including his not being open about Alice in that apology. Before she had a chance to respond, he continued speaking.

"I never meant to hurt you. I wanted to tell you about Alice after you met her in the hospital, but it was so complicated. We did try dating for a short while after we saw each other again that night at a friend's house. But we knew it wasn't working. We talked about it and agreed. Then her father got sick and passed away and I was there for her. I had to be. And she is a good person. But we aren't together and she's moved on."

He looked at her for some sort of reaction, but she was silent and her face revealed nothing. He decided to tell her everything.

"There is only one person who I want to have dinner with in France. Or Italy or Spain or LA Only one person I would risk my personal safety for - just so I can sit across from her and share a meal together like two normal people. Only one person who makes me abandon common sense and do crazy things like break into the Vatican or disobey CIA protocol..."

He was desperate for her to respond.

Sydney smiled and looked away. "Me, too." And they both were thinking of their conversation in the warehouse when he told her about his father's watch. He understood what she meant then and he understood it now.

She looked up at him and put a hand on his cheek, her thumb caressing the cleft in his chin and then trailing across his lips. He kissed her finger softly and said her name.

And she silenced him with their first kiss.

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A/N: I would love to hear reviews! As I'm posting this there are still a few more hours until the Superbowl episode airs. And my husband just left on a business trip for a week so I feel all romantic and sappy. Thanks.