Sydney broke away in mid-kiss, pushing a slow-reacting Vaughn away from her. She gave a little gasp as she looked over his shoulder.

"Oh, Jim Bob, what did I tell you that your sick little fantasies would get us into trouble one day?" Sydney was suddenly spouting off in a thick Southern drawl. Vaughn turned to find an extremely large, muscular guy standing before them. He was holding a flashlight on them, but Vaughn couldn't tell if he was also packing a gun beneath his black windbreaker.

"I'm sorry, sir, but this was all my boyfriend's idea." She looked extremely repentant as she clutched his jacket tightly around her body. "It's like he has one of them…fetishes?" Sydney wrinkled her nose in confusion. "I don't know why it is, but he just has this powerful need for us to do it in high places. His little brother's tree house, the bell tower in our church. Back home, his favorite place is the water tower, but of course, it isn't anywheres near as tall as this." Sydney was babbling, but she looked extremely alluring while doing it, so Vaughn thought the security guy was buying her act.

"This area is supposed to be off limits to our guests." Security Guy said to them in a gruff tone. "There are signs posted everywhere."

"Well, I know, and we did see them," Sydney admitted guiltily. "But, see, this is our first visit to Las Vegas and Jim Bob just had to do it on the roof of one the fancy hotels." She showed off her dimples and for the first time, the security guy relaxed. Vaughn was in awe of her.

"Aw, Loretta Lou, why do you have to go airing all our secrets? Can't we keep anything private or do you have to blab everything about our sex life to a perfect stranger?" Vaughn sputtered at her in a perfect Southern twang.

Sydney's eyes widened when she heard Vaughn speak and it was all she could do to keep from bursting out laughing. Luckily, Security Guy was focusing on him and not paying any attention to her.

"Well, I'm only trying to explain what we're doing up here, so that we don't get arrested again like that time you just had to have some when we were at that spot overlooking the Grand Canyon." She said crossly. Um, what was that she was going to tell Weiss about too much embellishment?

"How was I to know those nuns would come walking by?" He flung back at her, his eyes daring her to top that.

"The sign said, 'Scenic Photo Opportunity!'" Sydney practically yelled at him.

Security Guy had heard enough. "Okay, okay, I don't want to hear anymore." He cut them both off. "Why don't you two just go down to your room and finish what you started in there?" He looked at Sydney. "What floor are you on?"

"Thirty-seven." She replied in a meek tone.

Security Guy looked at Vaughn. "Well, the hotel's only got forty stories. I think that's high enough, don't you?"

Sydney couldn't help the loud guffaw that escaped from her throat, but then she started coughing uncontrollably when she tried to cover it up.

"Come on, your girlfriend's going to catch a cold and that would ruin your vacation, wouldn't it?" Security Guy started directing them towards the emergency door. It was locked, but he had a key. "I have to finish my rounds up here, but when I come back, I don't want to see you two around." He pulled open the door for them and let them pass by.

Once they were alone in the stairwell, the only thing they could do was stare at each other for a few moments. Then they broke out into uncontrollable laughter. She fell against him as she giggled over his good-ole-boy drawl. He felt unbelievably solid next to her and that got her to thinking about what had happened before they had been so rudely interrupted by the security guard. Suddenly, being in such intimate contact with Vaughn didn't seem like such a good idea. Sydney backed off and let the wall hold her up instead.

He couldn't stop thinking about their kiss. It had shaken him to the very core of his being and he wanted to talk about it. Did she feel the same way? Was she sorry it had ended so abruptly? Would it ever happen again?

"You know, seriously, that acting thing might be the way to go for you." She gasped, trying to catch her breath. "You have great improv skills."

"Gee, thanks, I can just see the name, 'Jim Bob Vaughn' up in lights." He cracked.

"Sorry, it was just the first name that popped into my head." Sydney grinned.

"Well, I almost called you Loretta Lynn by mistake, so I know how that is." Vaughn smiled back at her. "Do you think we ought to get out of here?" He jerked his head towards the door, referring to the security guard's request that they not be around.

"Let's just climb down a few floors." She suggested. "I'm still a little wound-up over everything that's happened."

"You don't think he'll see us?"

Sydney gave him an overly patient look. "Vaughn, he's not going to climb forty flights of stairs to get to the ground floor. He'll just go down to the fortieth floor and take the elevator."

"Oh." He looked sheepish.

Sydney and Vaughn made their way down to the thirty-fifth floor. She stopped to sit down on the bottom step. He leaned against the railing.

"I'm sorry, I know you must be exhausted and I am, too, but I always get a little manic afterwards." She apologized. "It takes me a little while to come down."

"Come down after what? Another triumphant mission?" His words were slightly cynical in tone.

She looked up at him with mild surprise. "Well, I did do what I was supposed to do, so it was a success." She was a bit confused by the odd note in his voice.

"That's not what I'm talking about, Sydney." He shook his head. "It's just the whole idea that Sloane will slip out of the noose once again. Someone has something on him, he figures out a way to diffuse the situation, and presto, suddenly there's nothing hanging over his head anymore."

"You know, even though I absolutely detest everything about your old boyfriend Durant, a part of me kind of wishes that he could've turned the screws on Sloane a little while longer." Vaughn grimaced.

"I know what you mean." Sydney grinned as that image flitted across her brain. "Even though I hate to fail, I wasn't above hoping that I wouldn't find the photos, either. I mean, I know that even if I hadn't, Sloane would just send someone else in to get them, but at least he would have had to sweat it out a few more weeks."

"Although, do you know that I've never actually seen him sweat?" She suddenly shot him a mischievous look. "It's totally freaky how he always manages to stay so cool under pressure. He probably has it written down somewhere in one of his pacts with the devil that sweating shall not be permitted." She intoned.

Vaughn looked at Sydney and Sydney looked at Vaughn. They were both dying to say it.

"I know what you're thinking."

"Do you?"

"I always thought he was the devil." They said in perfect unison.

"God, I'm starting to feel like Weiss in one of your comedy routines." Sydney shook her head. "But seriously, Vaughn, Sloane isn't going to get away scot-free with this."

"What are you going to do? You know you can't leak those photos. He'd kill you."

"Who said anything about leaking the photos? I want him to think he's gotten away with it." Sydney said carelessly. "But just because I can't show them to anybody doesn't mean I don't want a few dozen copies for myself." She looked sly.

"And then when SD-6 has been brought down and Sloane is in some nice maximum security prison and you need some information from him?" She tilted her head to look at him. "Let's say you want him to give you the name of an arms dealer or tell you who was funding the agency or even where he bought his handmade Italian suits? Well, then you can just whip out a photograph and see him go into absolute shock." Sydney's eyes closed as she smiled beatifically. "How I wish I could be there to see the look on his face when he realizes I doublecrossed him."

Vaughn gazed at her adoringly. Even when she was being just a little bit evil, she was still the most beautiful woman he'd ever known.

Sydney opened her eyes and his mask fell into place again as her doe-brown eyes met his. "Sorry, was that wrong of me to rejoice in another person's misery?" She was trying to look contrite, but failed miserably.

Vaughn grinned. "Ordinarily, I'd say yes, but we are talking about Sloane here and he deserves every bad thing he has coming to him." He gave a sigh. "So what now?"

"Well, you have to go meet Weiss and retrieve the photos." She shot him a wicked grin. "And don't be too gentle when you rip the tape from his body. Tell him I haven't forgotten about that crack he made about my costume."

"I'll do that." Vaughn's mouth quirked. "So you want us to take the photos back to L.A. and make the copies in the photo lab at Headquarters?"

"I think that would be best." She nodded. "Since you're driving back, you won't be subjected to any random searches at the airport. I'll call you when I get back and we'll arrange for me to get the photos from you."

"Will you be seeing Durant again?" His voice took on a hard edge.

"I have to." She replied. "Besides wanting to check out how he's dealing with the robbery, if I don't make up some excuse for leaving town, he might come looking for me."

"What are you going to tell him?"

"Well, I had something planned, but now I just think I'll tell him the truth." She shrugged carelessly. "That I don't want to associate with a man who tried to rape me."

"Brutal honesty is always best." Vaughn said approvingly. "Just make sure you're not alone when you tell him."

"Yes, Dad." She rolled her eyes at him and then yawned. "God, I can't believe how long this day has been."

"Yeah, a lot has happened…" Was now the right time to bring it up? He had a feeling she would be out of it soon and he couldn't just leave things hanging like this.

"I can hardly keep my eyes open." She said sleepily.

"Yeah, you look tired." Smooth move, buddy. He could hear Weiss' chastising voice in his head. The one comment no woman wants to hear in regard to her appearance is that she looks like something the cat dragged in.

"Sydney, I know you're beat, but we have to talk about it." Vaughn said quietly. "What happened…on the roof…" He let his words trail off.

Her eyes flew open and she suddenly looked wide awake. "What about it?" She asked, her face a mask of caution.

"Well, I mean—that is, we…kissed." Vaughn stammered out.

Sydney jumped up, seemingly a bundle of restless energy now. "I know." She kept her back to him, so that he couldn't see her face. She didn't want to let him see how deeply his kiss had affected her. She couldn't let him know how she really felt about being held in his arms, crushed against his chest as he kissed the entire breath from her being.

 "Don't you think we should talk about it?" God, why did he feel as if he were in high school again? He could remember vividly the sweaty palms and the tongue-tied speech and the way his face always felt as if it were on fire whenever he tried to talk to a pretty girl. Of course, those agonizing moments had taken place over fifteen years ago and he thought he'd gotten past it. He'd had numerous girlfriends since high school and none of them had ever affected him to the point where he became that awkward high school kid again. Yet with one electrifying kiss, Sydney Bristow had suddenly sent him back in time.

"What's there to talk about?" Sydney struggled to keep her voice even and neutral. If it cracked even once, she was afraid she'd fall apart.

Vaughn gave her an odd look, but she still wasn't looking at him, so she didn't see it. "Well, it was the first time…" The minute the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. The first time? Didn't that sound as if he thought there would be a next time?

She whirled on her heels to face him. "And the last." Sydney added brusquely, her eyes flashing, even though she didn't really mean it. Just looking at him, standing there so stiffly, was enough to make her go weak in the knees. All she wanted to do was to go to him and bury her face against his shoulder.

He colored. "Of course. I didn't mean to imply that there would be a next time." He said stiltedly.

"Definitely not."

The way she kept answering him in that callous, clipped monotone was beginning to annoy him. The Sydney he knew was not some cold, heartless creature without any light or passion in her eyes. If she had felt even a tenth of what he had felt…but then why couldn't she express it?

"You know, Syd, you're not going to appear like some weak little female if you let yourself express some emotions here." Vaughn said tightly. "We're the only two people here and I know better than anyone that you're no fragile china doll."

Her eyes became stormy. "You want me to express my emotions? Who are you? Dr. Phil on the Oprah show?"

"Sydney!" He said exasperatedly. "You and I just kissed. Maybe you don't want to admit it, but we've been leading up to that for a long time."

"I have been nothing but professional with you!" She said heatedly. "If you choose to see it another way, that's your problem!"

Vaughn let out a snort. "There certainly wasn't anything professional about the way you grabbed me tonight!"

"That was done in context with the situation!" Sydney flared. "I was only trying to make sure that security guy didn't report us to the authorities for suspicious activity. Never mind what it would mean for both our covers, but you know Jason would have pressed assault charges against you!"

"So it could have been Weiss up there with you and you would have done the same thing?" He challenged her.

Sydney's irate retort died on her lips and she clamped her mouth shut. Vaughn gave her a smugly triumphant smirk.

"So admit it, Syd," He goaded her. "You took advantage of the situation."

Sydney glared at him. "What do you want me to say?" She asked roughly. "That I wanted to kiss you?"

"That would be nice." His sensual lips curved into a smile and she could feel her anger slowly draining away. It was slowly being replaced by a warm feeling spreading throughout her entire body. "At least, then I would know you're not just some kick-boxing robot in the guise of a beautiful woman."

Was there a woman alive who didn't melt when a man called her "beautiful?" Sydney was far from immune to Vaughn's considerable charms and her resolve was weakening. "I'm not a robot." She said with a pout on her face. "And I have feelings, too."

Vaughn closed the space between them until he was standing in front of her. "So tell me what they are." His voice was low and husky.

"I don't think I should." She couldn't look him in the face, but then that meant staring at the hollow near the base of his neck, which she had a very clear view of in light of the fact that the top buttons on his shirt were undone. Don't even think about what it would be like to kiss that spot right next to his shoulder blade! God, she was damned if she did and damned if she didn't.

"I'm not going to fall apart if you tell me it wasn't majorly earth-shattering for you." Okay, so maybe that was a lie. Truth was, he would be devastated if she told him that kiss hadn't rocked her world.

"If I said that," She said slowly. "It would be a lie." Sydney finally forced herself to look him in the eye. "And that's something I never want to do with you. You're the one person in my life with whom I can be completely honest and if I started lying to you now, I don't think I would like myself very much."

"Well, see, now was that so hard?" He teased her as if speaking to a child.

Her face broke out into a small grin. "Don't speak to me as if I'm a mental case." She scolded him. "You have no idea how difficult that was for me."

"Yes, I do, Syd." Vaughn brushed a lock of hair away from her face. "I know all about what you've gone through these past nine months. You are the strongest person I've ever known and how you've managed to pick up the broken pieces of your life and put them back together into a somewhat orderly manner is a constant source of amazement to me."

"You call my life orderly?" She gave a short laugh. "My father's a double agent, I work for a madman, I lie to my friends every day of the week--"

"I didn't say it was perfect." Vaughn deadpanned.

 She looked at him with troubled eyes. "I also can't…be with anyone," She gave him a meaningful look. "At least, not until SD-6 is gone for good."

"Yeah, I know." He said soberly.

"So even though what you and I shared was truly…amazing, we shouldn't let it happen again." Sydney felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. Had she been cursed in some way that she couldn't have the most important people in her life remain a constant? Her mother had been taken away from her when she was a child, Danny was gruesomely murdered and now she couldn't be with Vaughn in the ways that everyone else on the planet took for granted.

All she wanted was a normal life, where she could be free to make her own decisions and love whomever she chose. She didn't want to have to worry that just being seen with her could cost someone their life.

But unfortunately, her life would never be normal as long as SD-6 existed. Like it or not, they owned her and they would until she could destroy it.

"That's very easy to say," He was gazing at her with those soft green eyes. "But it will be very hard to actually follow through with it."

"Sydney, whenever I'm with you and, increasingly, even when I'm not with you, the only thought in my head is what it would feel like to hold you and kiss you and make love to you." His voice was warm and velvety. "At least if I die tomorrow, I'll have fulfilled half of my dreams." He smiled tenderly at her.

"But that's just it!" Sydney burst out in frustration. "Don't you get it? I don't want you to die! I don't want anything to happen to you because of me!" She suddenly found herself crying into his shoulder. "I've already had that happen to me once with Danny and I don't think I could go through it again."

"Oh, Syd," Vaughn crooned into her ear as she sobbed. "It won't be like this forever." He stroked her hair, which felt like spun silk beneath his fingers. "There will come a day when SD-6 is no more and when that happens, you and I will be free."

Sydney wiped at her eyes, her crying jag subsiding. "I don't even think I know what that word means anymore."

"It means that you and I will be able to do what whatever we want without being afraid someone will see us." Vaughn ran his fingers along her cheek. "We'll be able to go jogging in the park together. We'll be able to go to that hockey game. We'll be able to go out to dinner at night and argue about who will go out to get breakfast the next morning."

Even as she was crying, Sydney let out an involuntary laugh at his audacity. "Well, somebody is certainly sure of himself, isn't he?"

Vaughn gave her a playful grin. "Well, shouldn't I be?" He raised an eyebrow.

Sydney met his gaze and found herself mesmerized by his jade green eyes. "Yes." She uttered that one single word and it was enough for him. He would wait for her until they were old and gray and then he would wait some more. However long it took, he would be there for her.

"Okay, then." He nodded contentedly.

Sydney suddenly felt panicky. She shouldn't have said that. It was wrong of her to ask him to wait for her even if that was the one thing in the world she wanted. "Vaughn, I can't ask you--" She started to protest, but he cut her off.

"You're not asking me, Sydney." He said gently. "I'm just telling you how it's going to be."

Her eyes grew cloudy. "You shouldn't throw your life away because of me!"

"Throw my life away?" Vaughn repeated. "How would I be doing that?"

"You'd be doing it if you waited for me."

"I don't think so, Syd." He shook his head. "Because I know how incredible it will be when we can be together and when that day comes, all the sacrifices will have been worth it."

"You don't know that." She said weakly, her resistance waning.

"I know you." Vaughn tipped her chin up to make her look at him. She gazed back at him with those big brown eyes, bright with tears. "And that's enough for me." He leaned down to touch her lips with his. There was none of the passionate ardor from their first kiss. This time it was gentler, sweeter, and filled with a promise. A promise that they would find a way to be free—to live and to love—together.

THE END

Author's Note: I took a break on the Action stuff to end on an S/V shipper note because that's what I ultimately hope will come about for these two. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read and review! I really do appreciate the feedback.