Setting: This takes place a few months after Counteragent.

Summary: Sydney goes on a mission to Rome and Vaughn keeps his promise to take her to his favorite restaurant. Lots of fluff and romance! No spoilers. 4 chapters.

Tratoria De Nardi

Sydney felt relieved. Her father had just informed her that Sloane and Sark were going together to Beirut for a meeting with the Alliance. It would be nice to have Sloane's squinty watchful eyes or Sark's lecherous gaze on her for a few days. But, of course, they had given her a mission to complete in their absence. All she had to do was plant a bug at the office of a suspected ally of Derevko. Dixon would run his part of the op from their L.A. office. There was no need for him to accompany her and she was glad for the opportunity to perform her CIA countermission without his surveillance nearby.

Marshall gave her the tech briefing and she coordinated the remaining details with Dixon before she left the Credit Dauphine building.

An hour later she was walking towards the cage where Vaughn was already waiting for her.

"Hey," he said, a small smile spreading across his face.

"Hey Vaughn," she replied returning the smile.

"Your countermission is pretty straightforward. You'll be arriving in Rome this evening so you can attend the party at Georgio Rosseli's gallery. His office is on the second floor and security is pretty tight."

"Dixon already gave me a map of the facility. Our tech wizard has access to their security codes and will disable the alarms from here in L.A."

"Good." Vaughn removed two small items from inside his suit jacket pocket and handed them to Sydney, their hands brushing quickly, but just enough to make him temporarily lose his train of thought. He cleared his throat and continued. "You probably remember these bugs from Cap Ferrat. The CIA will be able to hear everything in real time but the SD-6 bug will be on time delay so we can filter what they hear."

The mention of Cap Ferrat where Sydney had rescued Vaughn made her remember their very happy, slightly awkward reunion there. She had thought he was dead. She felt dead inside. But in those moments with him outside Khasinau's lab, she was revitalized. Thank God I found him in time. The alternative was unthinkable.

"Sounds pretty simple," Syd said trying to focus back on this upcoming mission.

"I'll be on comms the whole time. I'll see you when you get back."

"Wait," Syd said suddenly remembering what she and Dixon had decided. "I'm not flying back to L.A. tonight. Dixon said I should just fly out in the morning since I'll probably finish up late. And I think he wants me to relax and not rush back since Sloane will be out of town. I guess I'll just find a motel near the airport and take the red eye."

Vaughn seemed a million miles away. "Really, hmmmm..." he said to himself. He was thinking ten steps ahead. Could it work? From the moment he heard she was headed to Rome he was thinking - maybe, just maybe...