Title: Revelation

Author: welshie

Summary: Jack accidentally discovers a secret that has an impact on Sydney and Vaughn's relationship.

Disclaimer: Obviously the show and the characters do not belong to me.

Rating: PG-13 (I think).

A/N: This is the first chapter of a three-chapter fic. No spoilers (I'm desperately trying to be spoiler free!) Anyway it's mostly S/V with some angst thrown in too! Please feel free to tell me what you think of the story. Any feedback on style and content will be appreciated-Thanks!!

~~~

Chapter One: Discovery.

Weiss stopped walking down the hallway and stuck his head into Vaughn's office. He was surprised to see Vaughn still sitting at his desk. It seemed to Weiss as if he was a million miles away, just staring at his computer monitor.

"What are you still doing here? I thought you would have run out of here by now." Weiss said as he walked in and sat down in an empty chair.

"Hey Eric," Vaughn said, finally noticing Weiss "What did you say?" Vaughn added as he came out of his reverie.

"Aren't you supposed to be meeting Sydney?" Weiss asked as he remembered why Vaughn was probably still hanging around in his office. Vaughn just glanced at the clock on his desk in front of him. "I didn't want to be stuck in traffic. Most people will be going away for Christmas Day, so I thought I'd stay here for a while instead." Vaughn responded.

"And I just thought I'm the one usually caught day-dreaming." Weiss commented.

"I wasn't day-dreaming." Vaughn protested.

"I bet she'll be waiting for you." Weiss said. It wasn't fun teasing Vaughn about Sydney and watching him squirm anymore so instead of waiting for a reply, Weiss stood up and continued his journey back to his own office.

Vaughn then grabbed his car keys and his briefcase before heading out of his office to make the drive to the warehouse.

~~~

Vaughn parked his car in the usual place outside the warehouse. He smiled to himself as he realised that Weiss had guessed correctly when he spotted in the darkness that Sydney's car was already there. He reached for his briefcase before he got out of his car and took the few steps to reach the warehouse entrance.

Sydney was impatiently pacing around in a large circle to kill time before Vaughn arrived. She was surprised that he wasn't waiting for her as he usually did. But she then felt a pang of guilt as she realised that it was Christmas Eve and instead of spending the holiday with his family and friends, he had to discuss counter-missions and hand over surveillance equipment to her.

Sydney finally heard Vaughn's footsteps as he approached. A smile spread across on her face as she anticipated his appearance. She stopped walking and sat down on one of the empty chairs nearby. Eventually Vaughn stood in front of her with an apologetic smile on his face.

"Hi Vaughn." Sydney said.

"I'm sorry. Have you been waiting long?" He asked as he set his briefcase down on the table near the wall.

"No. It's okay." She replied.

"Good." He said as he got the necessary documents and the tracking gadget from his briefcase that he'd have to pass on to her. He then sat down on the chair facing her.

"How long do you have before your flight?" Vaughn asked immediately getting straight to business.

"Just over three hours." Sydney responded after she looked at her watch.

"Well since Dixon won't be on the mission with you this time, pass the disk on to our contact in Milan. A copy will be made and the original will be returned to you at the airport in Milan before you fly home." Vaughn then handed over the tracker to Sydney.

"What's this?" She asked as she studied what seemed to be a credit card.

"We'll be able to follow the information you'll retrieve and see how SD-6 will use it. Place this on the computer when you're making a copy of the intel for SD-6." Vaughn explained.

"Okay." Sydney then put the tracker carefully in her pocket. She looked across at Vaughn as he flicked through the file in his hands to make sure he hadn't forgotten any important details. "This can't be much fun for you. I'm sorry that you had to be dragged out here on Christmas Eve."

"Oh, it's no problem. Don't worry about it." He said.

"So…how are you spending Christmas Day?" She asked trying to sound as if she was just making polite conversation.

"I'm staying in LA. I'm going to visit some friends for lunch tomorrow." He replied. "What will you do if you're flying back on the 26th?"

"Will and Francie said they would wait until I got back so that I don't miss out on a proper Christmas dinner. They even said they would wait to open the presents we gave each other!" Sydney smiled as she remembered how she had made both Will and Francie stick to their promise of a belated Christmas together.

"I should let you go get ready for your flight." Vaughn said quickly before standing up to walk back to his briefcase.

"I…since I was talking about gifts…." Sydney nervously began. Vaughn then turned around to face her once again. "…I saw this and I thought of you." Sydney then bent down slightly and as if by magic produced a plain, dark-grey paper bag and held it towards Vaughn.

"What is it?" Vaughn asked as he took the bag from her hands and peered into it. He then pulled out a book and saw it was about his favourite hockey team.

"It's nothing really." She said dismissively as he turned the book over and skimmed over the description of the contents of the book. However Sydney paid close attention to the expression on his face to see if he did like it.

"No, it's great, thank you." Vaughn smiled as he looked up at Sydney's face. She smiled back with relief. He looked back down at the book and opened to the first page where he saw Sydney had written a brief message carefully scrawled in her neat, feminine handwriting,

Vaughn,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

S

He began to wonder if she did happen to see the hockey book in a bookstore one day or if she had intentionally set out to buy him a gift. He realised that it didn't matter because the book and the message, innocuous as they first seemed made him realise that she cared enough for him to get a gift that he'd keep and would remind him of her.

"Thank you, Sydney." Vaughn repeated, but almost at a whisper. Vaughn hesitated for a moment before he took a step forward and awkwardly kissed her on her cheek. He attempted to move away, but his body was still close to hers, his face barely centimetres away. His sparking green eyes locked with her soft cinnamon brown eyes in the dim lighting of the warehouse.

"Vaughn?" Sydney finally whispered.

"Huh?" Vaughn replied absently before being jolted back into reality. He had been gazing into Sydney's eyes for some time without even realising. But this time he didn't feel his face grow warm with embarrassment or feel the need to look away. Vaughn just smiled at Sydney. All the reasons why they shouldn't be together that were engrained in his mind disappeared as he moved closer to her and gently kissed Sydney on the lips.

Vaughn took a step back, as he tried to gauge Sydney's reaction. He knew he had crossed the line, finally taken action and had done something he couldn't take back. Vaughn had predicted a shocked or even an angry reaction from Sydney, but instead she surprised him by drawing him closer and passionately kissing him.

A few moments later they flew apart when Sydney's cell phone rang. Vaughn stared down at the ground, the enormity of what just happened hitting him as if he had just been punched in the stomach.

"It's Dad." Sydney announced as she flipped her phone open to see who was on the other end of the line.

Vaughn finally looked across at Sydney, somehow managing to have an even more guilty expression on his face.

~~~

Jack parked his car outside the warehouse and saw two other cars nearby. He quickly got out of his car and walked into the warehouse. He noticed how quiet it was as he approached the spot where Sydney and Vaughn usually met. Jack couldn't hear their voices. He only heard the sound of his footsteps and then the faint rattle of the chain fence. Jack turned the corner and was shocked to see in the distance, Sydney and Vaughn, their bodies close together with their arms wrapped around one another. They were clearly not discussing Sydney's counter-mission. Jack blinked, convinced his eyes were being deceived in the semi-darkness. But the image in front of him remained the same. Jack turned around and walked back around the corner and paused for a moment, trying to think of what to do next. He then quickly found his cell phone and dialled Sydney's number.

"Sydney. I'm here at the warehouse. I'll see you in a minute." He didn't wait for a response and ended the call. He waited for several seconds, giving Sydney and Vaughn time to regain their composure.

He eventually turned the corner once again and this time he saw Sydney and Vaughn almost at opposite corners of the fenced area. Jack slowly walked towards them.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Sydney asked, desperately trying to seem calm and collected.

Jack glanced across at Vaughn before he replied. "Agent Weiss said you were here."

Vaughn studied Jack's face for a moment unsure if he was aware of the uncomfortable atmosphere. Jack turned his head in Vaughn's direction and gave the slightest of nods.

"I have to go." Vaughn lied. He made sure Sydney's present was hidden behind his briefcase before gratefully taking his cue to leave from Jack. "Merry Christmas." Vaughn added weakly not looking directly at Sydney.

"Merry Christmas." Sydney responded overly upbeat. She waited for Vaughn to leave before she spoke again. "So, Dad, you didn't answer my question."

"I needed to find you before you headed off to the airport. Sloane sent me to give you this." Jack then handed over a brown envelope. "Sloane said he felt bad for sending you on a mission over Christmas so he decided to have the hotel room where you'll be staying after you complete your mission upgraded." Jack explained. Sydney opened the envelope to find all the arrangements for her accommodation in Milan.

"Great! So I have to pretend to be grateful when I next see him. At least he was kind enough to let Dixon spend some time with his family though." A thought suddenly occurred to Sydney. "Wait, are you sure Sloane doesn't have some ulterior motive? Why did you let Vaughn go? He should know about this."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure he gets the information." Jack answered.

"Is that all?" Sydney asked.

"Yes." Jack said after deliberating for a moment.

"Merry Christmas, Dad." Sydney smiled warmly at Jack after she kissed him on the cheek. Impulsively she threw her arms around him and hugged him. Jack was at first surprised, but managed to hug her back.

"I'll see you when you get back, Sydney." He said quietly.

"Bye Dad." Sydney replied as he released her from his grip. She then walked away leaving Jack alone, his mind already busy with ideas of what he should do about Sydney and Vaughn's increasingly complex relationship.

~~~

Vaughn spent most of Christmas Day in a preoccupied haze. He had had second thoughts about going to his friend's house for lunch, but decided that maybe some company would stop him thinking about his situation.

However Vaughn just ended up sitting on the couch, oblivious to the people around him and even to the squeals and yelps of excitement coming from the young children that were running all around the house and garden with their new toys.

Vaughn was almost glad that it had been Sydney's father that had nearly caught them at the warehouse. The first time they had actually done something about their feelings and it had resulted in a shockingly close call. The thought of another CIA agent or even worse someone from SD-6 security section catching them together made him feel ill.

"You look like you could do with a drink." A male voice said finally breaking Vaughn's trance-like state.

"Thanks, Eric." Vaughn gratefully took the half-filled glass from Weiss. He wanted his mind to cloud over as nothing else was working to distract him. "I didn't think this would be your idea of a good way to spend Christmas Day." Vaughn said as he looked across at Weiss.

"As long as I don't have to cook the food, I'm there!" Weiss joked. Vaughn managed a feeble smile in response. Weiss noticed Vaughn's pale face and red eyes. It seemed as if he hadn't slept. "Wow, you don't look so good." He added.

"I'm fine." Vaughn gave the now standard response when anyone asked him how he was doing.

"As if that is meant to fool me." Weiss retorted. "Come on…spill."

Quietly and concisely, Vaughn recounted the events of the night before at the warehouse.

"What if next time, you aren't so lucky?" Weiss echoed Vaughn's thoughts.

"If there is a next time." Vaughn replied miserably.

"What are you going to do?" Weiss asked concerned.

"I have no idea." Vaughn couldn't help, but chuckle bitterly at his impossible predicament.

~~~