Title: This Tear

Author: SydGillyKC

Author's Notes: Ok well I really had it all planned out up until this chapter. I definitely know certain major plot points and a few little things, plus the ending (pretty much) but there's a lot that I'm kind of making up off the top of my head. So please keep reading and keep giving me feedback. It's a lot more important now, since I'm writing this part more as I go along and not from a plan. Thanks! And enjoy!

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"Because I wanted to be with you. I didn't want you to have to go through this alone. We've been together on this the whole way. I wasn't about to bail out on you now," he said with a small smile. His words truly touched her, and she quickly felt her eyes fill up with tears. Blinking them back, she reached out and took his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"Thank you."

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Chapter 9: Life in Hiding

"So, I think it's about time for me to get out of this damn bed before my legs forget how to walk," Sydney said suddenly, completely changing the mood of their conversation. Vaughn smiled at her. That was his Sydney, always wanting to push herself.

"You sure?" He asked, though he already knew her answer.

"I'm going to have a permanent pillow-imprint on my face if I stay here one second longer. Yes, I'm definitely sure," she replied, already throwing the covers off of her legs and swinging them over the side of the bed.

"Okay, but let me help you, at least at first. It may not seem as long to you because you've been out for most of the time, but you've been in bed for about 48 hours straight. Your legs are going to be a little shaky," he said, his hand on her shoulder to halt her efforts while he spoke. She looked at him a moment before she gave in and nodded. She scooted her body until she was sitting at the edge of the bed, her feet touching the floor. He bent down and brought her arm around his shoulders, while his went around her waist. Their efforts combined, she was quickly in a standing position. He looked unsurely at her for a moment until she nodded at him that she was ready to walk. Slowly, with his support, she took small steps until she reached the door of the room, which was thankfully left open. Once they reached it, she stopped.

"I think I'm ready to try by myself," she insisted. He didn't let go right away, but looked at her instead, his eyes silently questioning her. Her determined brown eyes gave him the reassurance he needed and he gently let go. She brought her arm down from around his shoulders and grasped the side of the door for a moment before letting go and taking a step. Her legs were shaky, but she was able to hold herself up as long as she walked slowly and carefully. She didn't bother to turn back to look at him. She knew he was watching her and saw for himself. She slowly made her way down the unfamiliar hall and out into what appeared to be the living room. The house, she saw, was almost cabin-like. It was a typical house for being in the mountains. The living room was a very open room with a nice carpet, two chairs, a couch with a coffee table in front of it, and a television. She noticed that the set-up was similar to her house in the way that the living room was connected to the kitchen with a counter and stools in between the two rooms.

Opting for the closest spot, she made her way over to the couch so she could sit before she overdid it on her legs. Vaughn, who'd been a few steps behind her the whole way, made sure she was seated before making his way into the kitchen. She heard him opening and closing drawers for a few minutes.

"They've got this place pretty well stocked. Do you want anything to eat? There's some crackers here. They should be easy on your stomach. How about those?" He called while still fumbling through drawers and cupboards. She smiled at how considerate he was when it came to her.

"Sure, that'd be fine," she called back as she reached out to the coffee table and grabbed the remote. She turned on the television to find the CIA had not only sprung for cable, but also for satellite. Not bad. She channel surfed until she found a channel that was playing "Notting Hill." Just as she started to get lost in her own thoughts, she saw Vaughn walk over with a box of saltines and a glass of water. He handed her the box and put the glass of water on the coffee table in front of her. She smiled her thanks to him as he sat down next to her and looked at the TV.

"'Notting Hill,' huh? Such a chick flick," he joked with a smile that completely lightened his features. Unfortunately, his comment unknowingly made hers darken.

"You're right. Francie and I rented this the night I was diagnosed. She wanted to have a movie marathon to take my mind off things," she said sadly. Vaughn mentally slapped himself.

"Syd, I'm sorry-"

"No, it's okay," she said, cutting him off. Vaughn watched her for a moment, as she looked beyond the television and out the window, her eyes sad.

"She's safe, you know. We're making sure of that. She'll be fine, and Will too," he assured her softly.

"I know. I do, it's just." she trailed off as her focus shifted from the window to studying the carpet at her feet. He watched her a moment before reaching out and resting his hand on her back to comfort her.

"Yeah. I know," he said softly. She raised her head so that she was looking at him. She gave him a sad smile, which he returned. They continued to look at each other until they heard the front door open, and their attention quickly turned to see who was entering. They both smiled when they heard Weiss's voice muttering something about how cold it was as he entered with an older man in tow. Vaughn rose from the couch, but rested a hand on Sydney's shoulder before she was able to. She knew he was trying to tell her to stay put, but he walked away before she could argue.

"Everything go okay?" Vaughn asked Weiss.

"As planned," he replied. "This is Dr. Anderson," Weiss said, gesturing to the older man behind him, who was in the process of removing his coat and hanging it beside the door.

"Hi," Vaughn said, shaking hands with the doctor. "Michael Vaughn."

"Hey, Syd, you're up!" Weiss said, looking past Vaughn. Vaughn turned and was surprised to see Sydney walking up behind him. He sighed inwardly, knowing he should have known better than expect her to listen to him.

"Hey Weiss," she said, smiling.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm fine."

"Good. Oh, this is Dr. Anderson. He'll be in charge of your treatment for as long as we're here," Weiss explained. "Dr. Anderson, this is Sydney Bristow."

"Hi," Sydney said sweetly as she shook hands with the doctor.

"Hello Agent Bristow," the doctor greeted.

"Sydney's fine," she told him.

Dr. Anderson nodded. "I've met your father before," he told her. Sydney only nodded, the mention of her father causing her to wonder when she'd ever see him again.

"Well," Vaughn said suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You guys probably want to get settled in. We have a lot to go over later." Everyone agreed before Weiss and Dr. Anderson gathered their luggage and disappeared down the hallway.

Vaughn and Sydney both turned to look at each other, the silence in the room growing somewhat awkward.

"I, um, I think I'm going to go lay down for a little while," she told him, hating to use the excuse because she knew Vaughn would worry, but knowing it would easily give her a while by herself.

"Okay," he said, nodding. "Call if you need anything."

"I will. Thanks," she said before turning quickly and making her way back to her room, thankful that her legs were able to support her the whole way there. She reached her room and shut the door behind her. She walked over and sat on her bed, staring at the ground. A million thoughts raced through her head. She wondered if she'd ever get her old life back, if she'd ever be able to see the people she loved again. The tears came hard and fast.

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Everyone reconvened in the kitchen a few hours later when dinner was ready. The mood was tense, but Weiss soon broke it by teasing Vaughn good- naturedly about how he'd hidden his cooking skills for all these years. Sydney couldn't help but laugh when Vaughn blushed. They then took a few moments to learn a little more about Dr. Anderson. He informed them that he actually wouldn't be staying with them the entire time. He lived nearby and therefore, would stay when needed, be on call 24 hours a day for them, and check in frequently when he wasn't staying. He was, however, staying for a while in order to start Sydney's treatment.

"So, Dr. Anderson, how exactly do you plan on treating Sydney from here? I mean, we only have access to basic medical equipment. I'm assuming she'll need to have MRI's and X-rays and such to evaluate her progress. How do you plan on treating her without that?" Vaughn asked the doctor, surprising Sydney with how much thought he'd put into all of this.

"Well, actually, that's mainly why I was selected for this assignment. For the last decade, I've mainly just been doing work for the CIA, but I've been working out of one of the local hospitals. I worked there as an oncologist before I joined the agency and I've continued to do some work from there over the years, so I can take her in for testing periodically and no one at the hospital will really question it," Dr. Anderson explained.

"Are we permanently assigned here, or are we moving around periodically?" Sydney asked.

"For now, we've been ordered to stay here unless there's any indication that we've been discovered. So I guess it all depends," Weiss replied. "Aside from going to the hospital for testing, though, you and Vaughn should try not to leave the house." Sydney and Vaughn looked at each other. They both knew that of the four people in the house, they were the two that were truly in danger.

Dinner finished without much more in the way of conversation. When they were finished, Dr. Anderson quickly excused himself, saying that he wanted to bring Sydney into the hospital for testing tomorrow and he needed to go over her medical files before then. Vaughn and Weiss started to clear the table. Sydney tried to help, but neither man would let her, both of them ordering her over to the couch. Rolling her eyes and muttering that she wasn't an invalid, she walked over to the couch and sat down.

Moments later, Vaughn and Weiss both joined her in the living room. Vaughn sat on the opposite end of the couch and Weiss took one of the chairs. None of the three reached for the remote, not really in the mood to watch television.

"You'd think if they assigned us to stay in this house for an undetermined amount of time, they'd at least leave us all they could to keep us occupied," Weiss joked.

"Besides a closet full of old board games," Vaughn commented.

"A closet full of board games?" Sydney asked.

"Yeah, in the hallway. I found it when I was putting some of my stuff away," Vaughn said, pointing towards the hallway. Sydney smiled mischievously and got up, making her way towards the hall. Vaughn and Weiss both looked at each other, puzzled. They heard her open the closet door and rummage through it for a few minutes before she came back to the living room, a box in her hands. She sat down on the couch and put the box down on the coffee table, still smiling.

"Trivial Pursuit?" Vaughn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Unless you'd rather play Candyland," Sydney joked.

"It's not like we have anything better to do," Weiss said, taking the cover off the box.

"I haven't played Trivial Pursuit since I was about twelve years old," Vaughn stated.

"Well, if you have any better suggestions, I'm anxious to hear them," Sydney said, looking at him expectantly. Vaughn rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I call blue!" Weiss declared.

An hour later, Sydney added another colored wedge to her pie while Vaughn and Weiss groaned. She'd completely dominated the global, news, innovations, and literature categories. She was a little shaky on the entertainment category and not so great on the sports category, but she was still winning by a lot. When a sports question came up that started with "name the Los Angeles hockey team that." Sydney grinned at Vaughn and answered, "The Kings." He gaped at her as she added the orange wedge to her pie.

"I win!"

"Man, that was the most pathetic game of trivial pursuit I've ever played," Weiss commented as he started to put away all the pieces.

"Agreed," Vaughn said, while Sydney smiled smugly at them. Vaughn shook his head at her and they both helped Weiss clean up and put away the game.

"Okay kids, I'm going to sleep," Weiss said, getting up from the chair.

"Goodnight," Sydney said.

"See you tomorrow," Vaughn said, as Weiss began heading down the hallway.

"Don't make too much noise! 'Night!" He called to them. Sydney shook her head and laughed. Vaughn got up and stretched.

"How about you? You must be tired," he said, as he stretched his arms above his head.

"Actually I'm not. I think my sleep schedule's kind of messed up from being out for so long. I think I'm just going to stay out here for a while and watch some TV," she told him, already reaching for the remote.

"Want company?" He asked. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Sure, if you're not too tired."

"Just so long as we don't watch some cooking or decorating show. If we do, I'm making no promises about not falling asleep," he said. She laughed.

"Okay, we'll find a movie to watch."

"Good." He rejoined her on the couch, this time sitting right next to her in the middle instead of on the other end. She flipped through the channels, passing over a few news channels and late night talk shows. Finally, she found HBO and stopped flipping for a moment to see what they were playing.

"Oh! 'Practical Magic!' I love this movie!" She said, excitedly. "Think you can bear another chick flick?"

"I think I'll live," he replied, smiling. She smiled back and set down the remote. They watched the movie for about ten minutes in complete silence. Sydney suddenly noticed that the room had gotten progressively colder and she could hear the wind rattling the windows. She felt a shiver run up her spine. Of course, Vaughn noticed right away.

"You cold?" He asked.

"A little," she admitted.

"Yeah, it did get kind of cool in here," he said as he got up off the couch and walked over the chair. He reached over and grabbed a blanket that was draped over the back of it. He walked back over and draped it over her shoulders before sitting back down next to her. She laughed and shook her head at him.

"Aren't you cold?" She asked.

"Not really," he said. She reached out and picked up his arm, which was clearly covered in goose-bumps. He smiled sheepishly.

"Liar," she said with a smile. "Vaughn, the blanket's big enough, have some." She took the blanket and reached out to put it over his shoulder. He smiled at her, taking the blanket and wrapping it around himself as well as they both moved a little closer to each other. They both continued to watch the movie, acutely aware of each other's presence. After a while, Vaughn felt Sydney lay her head on his shoulder. He looked at her, surprised, but her focus was only on the movie. He smiled and rested his head on top of hers. Still looking at the TV, Sydney smiled and let her eyes drift close. Twenty minutes later, they were both fast asleep.

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Sydney awoke coughing. *hard*. She covered her mouth to try to muffle her coughs and got up off the couch as quietly as possible so as not to wake Vaughn. She made her way quickly to the bathroom. Once there, she braced herself against the sink and let the coughs rack her entire body. She didn't remember ever coughing this hard in her entire life. She gasped for breath as the fit continued. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Syd, are you okay?" She heard Vaughn asked. She tried to nod, but only kept coughing. He moved his hand so that it was rubbing her back. It was another minute or two before, finally, her coughing fit subsided. She brought her hand away from her mouth and was surprised at what she saw.

Blood.

"Oh my God. Syd."

To be continued.

A/N: Wow, this part took me forever. I spent all week writing this. I swear, I had writer's block after writer's block after writer's block. It was quite frustrating. I wrote and rewrote so many parts, so please please please give me some feedback and let me know what you thought. Reviews are so important to me at this point, so please just click that little button and write a few words lol. It'll make my day, really! I'll try to get the next part out ASAP as usual. I have to work on an English paper for the next few days, but hopefully, I can work on this in between (I really hate that class lol). Thanks for reading! Now go review!!!