AN:Sorry this took a little longer to post then the others, the last few chapters will be up soon. Stay with me :)

Blame

Vaughn –

He was vaguely aware that he was being lead down corridors. He heard a couple of gun shots and was now slowly coming to realisation that he was moving yet he was still. He looked up through his right eye, the left somehow painful to open.

He saw Sydney's jawline facing to his left, when he strained to follow her line of sight he saw Jack sat opposite them, in a black van.

Jack hadn't noticed he was awake, he was focusing on whatever Sydney was saying. It was hard for Vaughn to hear, his ear was sore and he wasn't fully conscious.

He caught a mumbled response from Jack, that even whilst half asleep Vaughn could still hear his angry tone.

Sydney –

So apparently this was all Vaughn's fault. I knew he would blame him, I knew it.

Sydney was angry at her father's reaction. They'd gotten out alive and even found out that Dixon ad managed to set up the transfers after Jack's quick intermission earlier. The mission was a success, which was all Sydney cared about. Second to whether Vaughn would be ok.

She could see him continuously going in and out of consciousness. He had taken a pretty hard hit from that Scar faced bastard.

She was angry at that too. The sight of Vaughn's swollen eye and that horrible scar on his cheek. She wanted to take him away and kiss every inch of it. She wanted to tell him he was ok and that the mission hadn't failed. But most importantly, she didn't want to have to tell him that Jack seemed determined to put the blame in him.

It wasn't like Vaughn's job was at risk or that he'd suffer any real punishment, but Sydney knew that Vaughn would be hurt by her father's disapproval. She always felt herself that her Father disapproving of Vaughn wouldn't prevent them from making a future together, yet Vaughn didn't seem to think of it that way.

A week earlier –

"Vaughn?" Sydney call for him as she entered his office at APO. They had arranged to go to dinner at quite an expensive Italian restaurant. But as she wondered around his office she saw no sign of him. She looked upon his desk, she saw a coffee mug that looked still fairly warm. Where is he?

Sydney waited for twenty minutes then decided to leave the office to see if he'd be occupied elsewhere. Weiss bumped into her as she left, "Hey Syd. You looking for Mike? I saw him go down to the shooting range earlier, might wanna go and talk him away haha" He'd said with his usual happy attitude.

"Talk him away? What's happened?" She asked him, "I won't say, I'm sworn to secrecy." He joked, but when he didn't offer her anything Sydney knew something bad had happened.

She ran down the steps to the shooting range and heard the continuous shots before seeing him at the far stand. He was stood with perfect posture. This gorgeous man whom she was supposed to be gazing at over a table of hot pasta.

She put on her safety glasses and ear protection then checked out a pistol and stood at the stand next to him. She started shooting with perfection form. Vaughn had stopped firing.

He stood behind her and watched as she completed a round then slowly took off her safety gear and facing him.

"Don't suppose they serve margherita pizzas down here?" She'd said to break the tension between them. Vaughn had smiled briefly but quickly pulled his lips back.

"Sydney. I don't know if we can do this anymore." He spoke slowly with a stern tone.

Sydney was not worried however. She knew if something was so strong as to break them up, she would know about it. And right now, she had no clue.

"Ok. Why not?" She replied flatly, trying not to reveal anything in her expression. At the moment it was nearly laughable.

But the mood soon changed.

"Your father came to see me. He told me that if I so much as thought about going near you again then he'd kill me." He knew that Jack's threat was most likely nothing more, but could he really be sure.

"Vaughn. My father is stupid. He thinks what is best for me is being locked up without anyone else in my life. He'd hate any man that got close to me, this isn't just about you." She tried to reassure him.

Vaughn heard how sure she was of her opinion, but he was going to stand his ground.

"Except me Sydney. With me, he'd rather see me dead then even talking to you now. And it's all my fault."

"So what? I'll talk to him, I'll let him know that if he ever hurts you he'll have me to deal with. I won't let him treat you this way. He isn't going to kill you Vaughn. As far as I'm concerned that's his way of admitting that he doesn't know how to deal with you. He's mad because of Lauren and he doesn't want us to be together, but do you know what? I don't care and neither should you."

He was a little shocked at her reaction. He thought this would be a lot easier.

"Sydney, he isn't going to just stand around and let me get close to you because you said so. I can't be near you here and if I have to go to work each morning knowing I have to be careful even talking to you, then, then, I can't do this anymore".

He'd stumbled a little on that last part. She knew without doubt that as much as he meant what he was saying, he would be waiting for her to talk him out of it. He didn't want to leave her, he knew that. And so did her.

"Vaughn, my father is not in this relationship" – Oh great image there Sydney, well done. She continued,

"We are not governed by his appraisal. He knows that I won't stop seeing you because he isn't happy about it. That's why he threatened you, not me. He isn't happy so he's throwing his toys out the pram, that's all. He has nothing, Vaughn. If he broke us up then he knows, deep down, he knows how upset I would be. And even though he would have 'done what's right', he wouldn't be any happier than he is right now. He is not going to get between us." She gave him a strict look. Please agree so we can leave and I can finally eat something.

Vaughn considered her dad's empty threat and his anger if he knew how close they already were.

"I'll give it some time" He replied. He wasn't prepared to push it all aside. "But I don't know how far we can push him Sydney. He" Vaughn was interrupted as Sydney's lips suddenly engulfed his. Her body was pressing against him as she felt his take a sigh of relief. She pulled away keeping her head close to his,

"Let's get dinner. I shall shoot my father tomorrow, sort the whole thing out."

Now –

He'd grinned and they'd spoken no more about it over dinner that night. Of course, she was joking when she said she'd shoot her father, but it didn't seem like such a bad idea at the moment.

Jack was trying to contain his anger over the mission, but Sydney could see the angry looks he kept flashing at Vaughn, even whilst out of it.

"Dad, we completed the mission, this doesn't have to be a decision on who to blame, there is no blame – we got the money!" She couldn't understand why he couldn't let it go. She carried on, determined on making him drop the whole thing before Vaughn was fully awake,

"None of us knew about the trackers, we couldn't have predicted that. If anything it was my fault for directing attention to the computer room". Sydney did feel responsible. If she had been more careful after she realised she needed help, she might not have ended up falling into the room where Vaughn was.

Jack was keeping quiet, but she could see his jaw clenching hard to stay shut.

"Dad. You are not going to blame this on Vaughn. He could have left me and got help which I know would have been the better option for the mission. But he didn't. He made sure I had a chance of getting out and he was the one who went against that stupid giant of a guard and now look at him!" She got increasingly angry as she spoke. It had just dawned on her that Vaughn would never have had to face Scar face if it wasn't for Sydney getting them captured in the first place, or if Sydney had managed to get Vaughn out before he started trying to break her free.

She leaned closer to her dad, "He saved me Dad. Not you." She knew that sounded harsh. Without Jack helping her when she carried Vaughn out of the building, she couldn't have done it.

She was well aware that Jack had in fact saved her, but so had Vaughn, and if Jack continued to be so narrow minded, that would soon be forgotten.

Jack cleared his throat, gave another look at Vaughn who was starting to sit up.

"That didn't go quite as planned." Vaughn muttered as he stretched and sat up straight, blinking. He still couldn't open his left eye and he could feel the bruises forming on his arms.

Sydney's hand still rested on his back, gently. He could feel her warmth and reassurance, but Jack's facial expression was not so obvious.

The van slowed to a halt, the doors opening. Dixon reached out a hand for Vaughn to hold, but before he could stand,

"Your welcome." Was what Jack replied, staring only at Sydney. He stood up slowly then made his way out of the van straight past Dixon and Marshall.

Later on at APO, Sydney –

He was weak but he would be fine. Vaughn's eye would take time to heal so he was bound to desk duty for a while. The thought of Vaughn safe at a desk made her feel at ease after today's events.

She'd made sure he'd got sat down at the main meeting room in the centre of APO, but he was now walking ok and refused to let her help him. He steadied himself in the moving chair then turned so he was facing Sydney who'd sat beside him.

"You remember a while back when your Dad threatened me?" He asked her softly. He took a big sigh then looked Sydney in the eyes, "Well even though he managed to somehow let it slide for a bit, I think him seeing me at your place the other night and now this screw up, I don't think he's going to be 'ok' with us anymore."

There was a silence after that. His gaze remained on her but her eyes and thoughts were jotting around the room.

My dad is going to be the reason I lose Vaughn for the second time. Why does this have to be so complicated?

She faced him, "Vaughn." She spoke softly also, in the hope that Vaughn wouldn't retaliate with his sometimes short fuse.

"I'm not losing you again. I can sort this". She didn't wait for his response before bolting up and out of the meeting room.

The debrief was supposed to commence in a few minutes but she knew where Jack would be and she wanted to talk to him before he gave some speech about the mission going hazy when Vaughn ignored protocol and remained inside the building meaning we'd have to go back in.

So, with clenched fists, Sydney made her way to the roof.