seeley's sweetheart, mony-hp, bendypinkone & Shniblet47: Thank you all for your feedback.

mony-hp: The meeting between Syd and Simon was set up for the Covenant to determine whether she had any memory of the past two years.

Chapter Ten:
But Not Anymore

"Vaughn," Sydney's tone was firm. "I trust you with my life. But whatever this is about, it is not about trust."

"Then what is it?"

Sydney hesitated. "I wanted to have answers for you. To explain my actions. But I don't. All I have is a two year blank and a person called Hope. But what I do know- and I know this because I know who I am- is why I didn't tell you...Not because I thought you couldn't protect me. It was because I was trying to protect you." She reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder. "What you, what we both need to focus on is not that I didn't come to you. It's the why I didn't that is important. When I get that reason why, everything will make sense."

"Are you and Weiss close to finding that reason?" Vaughn asked.

Sydney shrugged. "I have no idea. We keep hitting dead ends and then all of a sudden new information presents itself," she said, thinking of Simon Walker. "I just have to keep telling myself that the answers are near."

Weiss entered the coffee place somewhat warily. Vaughn's message had been brief and Weiss wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to see him. He was thankful about meeting in a public place, though. It was a definite security blanket. It meant that whatever conversation was to take place would have to be at a socially acceptable level. With no fists.

Weiss spotted Vaughn straightaway, seated at one of the back tables, a steaming mug of coffee already in front of him. Taking a deep breath, Weiss approached.

"Hey."

Vaughn looked up. "Hey."

Dropping into his seat, Weiss looked around the café for a few seconds. "Sooo…"

Vaughn cleared his throat. "I owe you an apology."

Weiss gave a short nod. "Yeah, you do."

Vaughn couldn't help but smile at his friend's bluntness. "I had no right to attack you the way I did. You were just helping a friend and I acted like a jerk."

"Yeah, just a bit," Weiss agreed.

"And I was being ridiculous about the whole you and Syd thing…" Vaughn trailed off.

"Well, you weren't the only one," Weiss said.

"Huh?"

"We've been getting looks around the Rotunda," Weiss said. "It wasn't until you blew your lid that I figured out what might have been going around."

"Yeah, well…I wasn't only talking about my suspicions," Vaughn started. "I was talking about my reaction."

Weiss's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"How I reacted at the idea of you and Sydney. I did move on…and if something were to happen, I should just accept it. You…you would make her happy."

Weiss stared incredulously at Vaughn for several seconds before bursting into loud laughter. "Are you crazy?"

"But…" Vaughn looked slightly bewildered.

"First of all, me and Syd? That would be like hooking up with my sister. I love her to bits but so, so, so not in that way." Weiss paused, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes. "And secondly, there's only one person out there for her. Like there is only one person out there for you."

Something in Vaughn's mind clicked. "That's why you did a complete 180 about Lauren. You found out that Sydney was alive."

Weiss nodded. "That killed me. To think that Syd could return at any moment to find you with somebody else."

"Does she hate me? She said that she was ok, but I don't know…"

"The complete opposite," Weiss reassured him. "Patience, Vaughn and your time will come again."

"Ok," Jack sat down on an arm chair in Sydney's living room and then looked up at her and Weiss. "I got all that I could on Simon Walker."

"Anything that could be linked to me?" Sydney asked.

"I haven't gone over it yet," Jack replied, opening his briefcase and removing the paper work. "This is what we need to start with- details of jobs that Walker is suspected of completing on behalf of the Covenant."

"So if Sydney was working with Walker for a time, then there should be something in there," Weiss said.

Jack nodded. "We are going through these until something jumps out."

"Hang on," Sydney said. "Are we all forgetting the very small fact that I remember nothing of the past two years? How is something supposed to jump out if all I have is a big, blank space?"

"Sydney, sometimes all the mind needs is the smallest trigger to bring back a memory. A scent, a name, a particular song," Jack replied. "What we are hoping to find is your trigger."

"Ok then," Sydney conceded. "Let's get started."

"Ok, so we have got three jobs here," Jack started. "There was a break in at a medical facility in Helsinki, a robbery of an art gallery in Washington and then—"

"Stop," Sydney sat up straighter. "Did you say a gallery in Washington?"

Jack nodded. "Yes- the date was a little over fourteen months ago."

"That's around the time that you came back," Weiss said. "Do you think that could be why you were back in the States?"

"I have no idea," Sydney replied. "But what I do know is that I have a safety deposit box in Washington."

"You remember that?" Jack pressed.

"Yes- because I had it before I disappeared," Sydney stood up, her eyes shining with excitement. "It's at the Hotel Principe. Box 147. I have no idea if there is even anything in there, but…"

"I'll organize flights for as soon as possible," Jack said, pulling out his phone. "Weiss, can you accompany Sydney?"

"Of course," Weiss replied, glancing at Sydney. Both their eyes were filled with astonishment, finding it hard to believe that they just might find themselves an answer.

It didn't take long for Sydney to doze off on the plane. The idea that this search for answers was actually going somewhere had enabled her to really relax. They had been in the air all of ten minutes and she was already in a deep sleep.

Weiss tried to keep himself occupied with a book, but was failing miserably. How was he supposed to concentrate at a time like this?

After about 45 minutes of reading the same two pages over, Weiss heard Sydney stir. Grateful for the distraction, he looked up at her to find her staring into space, with a slightly odd expression on her face.

Weiss couldn't help but laugh. "What is up with you? You looked like you've walked into tour kitchen and found that your fridge is missing."

"Oh ha ha…I just had a really weird dream."

"Do you need to get your journal out?"

Sydney shook her head. "No, I don't think so…I dreamt that I was Hermione."

Weiss cocked his head to one side. "From Harry Potter? So…that would make Vaughn Ron and me the boy wonder himself! Hmm…you know, Sark would make a brilliant Malfoy and—"

"No," Sydney cut him off with a laugh. "Hermione from The Winter's Tale…you know, Shakespeare."

"Unfortunately, I never read that one. My high school forced Romeo and Juliet down our throats. What's the deal with Hermione?"

"Well, here's the extremely shortened version. She was married and nine months pregnant to the king of Sicilia. He became convinced that she had been having an affair with his best friend, and publicly accuses her of infidelity, saying that the baby was illegitimate. She gets thrown into prison and gives birth to a baby girl while there. Her husband, Leontes, rejects the child and orders one of his men to abandon her. After the baby is taken, an Oracle informs all that Hermione is innocent. But before anything can be rectifies, news comes that Leontes son has also died. Hermione faints and is carried away. Her friend later reports that she is dead," Sydney paused, taking a breath. "You got that?"

Weiss was nodding. "Yeah."

"Hermione's daughter, Perdita, ends up being raised by a Shepard. How she survived is a whole another story. Anyway, Perdita eventually ends up back in Sicilia and Leontes realizes that she is his daughter. A statue of Hermione is revealed, which then comes to life. Hermione- restored to life, reunited with her husband and child."

"Sounds like a pretty cool story," Weiss said.

"It is," Sydney replied. "I love it; it's one of my favourites."

"Do you think that it means anything?"

Sydney was shaking her head. "Apart from the whole coming back from the dead thing, Hermione and I have absolutely nothing in common."

Sydney signed the form in front of her and handed it back to the clerk behind the desk.

"Thank you, Ms. Bristow," he said. "If you will just follow me, I'll take you directly there."

Sydney and Weiss followed in silence, the air feeling as if it were crackling with anticipation. They were close. They just had to be.

Coming to a door at the end of the hallway, the clerk swiped a security card through the slot by the handle. Turning to Sydney, he handed her a key.

"I'll give you some privacy. Press the intercom by the door when you are ready to leave and I will send someone to escort you out."

Sydney nodded, took the key and then entered the room. Walking directly to box 147, she placed the key in the lock and then froze.

"Syd," Weiss stepped up beside her. "What is it?"

"What if there's nothing in there?" she whispered. "I don't think that I could handle that."

"You can handle whatever is thrown at you," Weiss said, his tone dead serious. "So open that box."

Drawing in a deep breath, Sydney turned the key and opened the small metal door. Inside there was only a single white envelope.

Curiously she pulled it out. Taking a look at Weiss's encouraging expression, she slid a finger nail through the flap, ripping it open. Inside, she felt what she thought to be a photograph.

But when she removed it from the envelope, she saw that it was not exactly a photograph. And as Sydney stared at what she was holding, she felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. A searing ache ripped through her head, and she had to put a hand on the wall to stop herself from collapsing.

When Weiss saw the item, his jaw dropped. "Sydney?"

"Oh my god," she murmured, the pain in her head getting worse.

"Is that…were you…"

Sydney looked up at him. "I remember…oh my god…I remember."

Vaughn was ripped from his slumber by a loud knocking on his front door. Stumbling out of bed, he threw on a t-shirt before he made his way to the front entrance, his limbs awkward with lethargy.

All ready to rip shreds through whoever felt the need to stop by at this hour, he stopped short when he saw that it was Sydney standing on his front porch.

She looked at him, her face stained with tears. "Vaughn." He had never heard her sound so vulnerable.

"Sydney," he stepped forward, guiding her into the house. "What is it?"

"I know," she whispered. "I know who Hope is."

"Who is she?"

She drew in a shaky breath. "Our daughter." With that she handed him the sonogram image she had recovered from the security box.

Vaughn felt time stop around him and was acutely aware of the sound of his thumping heart, as his eyes stared at the black and white image. "Our…we have a daughter?"

"We did," Sydney replied as tears spilled over her cheeks. "But not anymore."

A/N: Only two more chapters to go...