Since I don't have you

Continuation of "Used to Love"

Alias and its characters belong to ABC and J.J. Abrams.

I don't have anything, since I don't have you
- Guns'n'Roses

Another dark and dusty room, but in a different place. There weren't any other people around, just a police officer dressed in blue that passed by every hour. Michael Vaughn sit in the hard bed, without a mattress, attached to the wall by rusty chains. He put his elbows on his knees, passing his hands through his hair, in a desperate attitude to think about anything that wasn't what just happened instants before. Or what was about to happen in a while. Or who he was supposed to meet.

Those moments passed through his eyes, even keeping them closed. His (ex) wife, Lauren, with her eyes open wide in despair, begging for her own life. He, with no mercy, just a confusion of hate exploding in his, pulling the trigger and ending the life of that one he used to love. A few minutes later, the noise and lights of sirens around the place, appearing so quickly like they could predict what just happened. An explosion, followed by many men in black clothes and bulletproof jackets invading the room that was once dominated only by him, pointing guns and shouting for him to throw out his. And he threw it and, with no resistance, let the cops shackle him and take him. He wasn't afraid of prison, of being kept in a cell for the rest of his life. He was afraid of her look. Of what she would say, of what she would think by seeing him like that, and discovering what he had done. As long as she loved him, he knew she would never forgive him for taking a human life, even if that life was scum. And he knew he wouldn't have anything if he didn't have her.

Somewhere else, away from his thoughts, he could hear the noise of keys rolling in some keyholes. The rusty noise of a door opening, and then, fast steps coming close. He knew who those steps belonged to, he have waited for them his whole life.Sydney Bristow stopped in front of the cell and crossed her arms, without knowing what to say.

Vaughn got up, wanting to look at her, hold her, tell her that everything would be ok and soon they would be together again, but he could only put a finger through the grid to try to touch her.

"Syd..."

She repressed a tear before she could answer, pressing her own arm strongly, as if holding herself.

"Vaughn, you didn't need to do..."

"Syd, I..."

"No", she interrupted, "we could have worked it out, but it didn't have to be this".

He looked at her. She had red eyes and purple marks beneath them, as if she was crying all the way until here. She wiped her eyes, trying to hide what he already noticed. Vaughn touched her suit with his fingers.

"Sydney, it's going to be all right... We can be together now".

"How is that, Vaughn?", she suddenly exploded, throwing her arms up, getting away of his. "How can we be together now, if I'm standing here and you are in there, in that cell?"

"I have lawyers, the CIA has lawyers, we can work this out. Lauren is... was a criminal, a murderer, and I'm sure the law will stand at our side."

"No, Vaughn", she nodded her head. "Because now you are also a murderer."

He opened his mouth to answer that, but he closed it. Yes, it was true, he was a murderer. He had killed. But for justice! Lauren had murdered many people on her behalf, on behalf of the Covenant, and when he had tried to warn the others, no one believed him. He had done something good, had saved the life of who know how many people she could kill someday. And had consumed his vengeance, always cold and cruel vengeance that he had planned for so long, retaliating, then, the destruction she had made in his heart and to his relationship with Sydney.

"I'm sorry, Vaughn... But I can't be with you. Not after this. Not now."

"Syd, wait... Sydney!"

But she was already on her way back. Back to the liberty he would never see again.

"What will I do withou you? Sydney!"

The door closed behing her, and his screams echoed through the prison. The last dusty, dark room he would ever see.