It began to rain on Sydney as she headed out of Will's apartment complex. She was crying and now the rain was hiding those tears. Everything in her life had to be hidden, including herself. She couldn't even love who she wanted to, much less be with them. As the rain intensified, Sydney knew she had to go somewhere for the night, but where? Jack lives across town, Francie would ask too many questions, Will has turned into a possessive idiot, and Michael, well, she just didn't trust herself to stay at his place overnight, not to mention how dangerous it would be. 'If I was a normal person,' Sydney thought, 'I could carry a wallet and have a credit card for a hotel room….but if I was a normal person, I would be at home asleep at 3 in the morning instead of standing on the sidewalk getting soaked.' She then decided that there was only one place she could go and be safe for the night…

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Vaughn arrived at work the next morning with a lovely shiner on his cheek from his face begin smashed against the door's glass by the water wall. Vaughn collapsed into his chair in his office as Eric appeared in the doorway. 'Great, he is the last rat I want to see right now…maybe except for Haladki…'

"Can I help you Eric?"

"What the hell happened to your face man?"

"I'm sorry, I don't really want to talk about that with you," Vaughn was getting angry just looking at Eric.

"Oh really? Why's that? Did Sydney get mad at you and give you a little one-two?"

"No, Agent Bristow did not do this to me. I have some work to do so if you don't have any business to discuss, I'd appreciate it if you'd leave." Vaughn knew that Eric was trying to apologize in his own weird way for turning into a backstabbing company man, but he was in no mood for his bs now.

"Look man, I just want you to know that I only told Devlin about your hunch because I knew you might have been overlooking something. Not to mention that I knew you wouldn't ever forgive yourself if something happened to her."

"Yeah, well, I appreciate your concern, but, like you said, trust is a tricky thing. I will keep in mind what your concern did for me and my file the next time I decided to tell you anything. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with Agent Bristow and I have to go." Vaughn grabbed his sport coat and walked quickly past Eric and out of his office.

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"I assure you that Sydney will be back from the university as soon as she can," Jack told Arvin Sloane.

"Good. As soon as she gets back, I need to send her to retrieve some newfound intel in West Samoa."

"Why does Sydney need to go? Can't Dixon or another agent…"

"No," replied Sloane, "I think Sydney is the better choice for this operation."

Jack looked at Sloane, trying to get inside that twisted mind, but instead, got up and left Sloane's office. Sloane did not seem to suspect anything about their whereabouts the previous night, but his poker face was hard to see through.

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Vaughn had no planned meeting with Sydney. In fact, he wasn't even driving in the direction of the warehouse; he was just driving, trying to get her out of his head. He already knew this wasn't going to be easy, trying to separate his feelings for Sydney from their jobs, hell; he had a tough time before they kissed. But now… Now all he knew was that he had to see her again before he went insane.

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Sydney's eyes opened to the light of a fluorescent bulb, softly humming above her. She sat up on the crate she had slept on, stretching her limbs that had ached throughout the night. She spent the night here because she could think of no safer place than her and Vaughn's warehouse. After she had cried her eyes out, she laid down on the crate Vaughn usually sat on, when he did sit, and fell into and deep sleep. She dreamt of nothing, and when she awoke the next morning, she was glad she hadn't had nightmares about her second trip to Taipei. She looked around the warehouse; nothing seemed unusual, just as empty as ever. She wondered what time it was, and almost panicked about being late to work when she remembered that she was 'at the university.' Jack would remind Sloane of that, he always did. Just then she heard a car pull up outside and the door open and shut. She was instantly alert. Could it be Vaughn, no, they didn't have a meeting scheduled. Then who… why would someone come to kill her in the daylight, when they had all night? Maybe they just found her, just figured out what she had been up to. She silently slid off the crate and crouched behind it, waiting for the person (persons?) to enter.

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OK, so calling Francie's number was a bit stupid, Sydney wasn't at home, she was at Will's; another thing he didn't like… surely she had her cell- phone on her, but it just kept ringing and ringing as Vaughn got out of his vehicle. 'OK, maybe it just didn't go through,' Vaughn thought to himself, trying not to panic as he entered the warehouse. He quickly hit send again, and his phone redialed Sydney's cell as he heard a voice quietly say, "Vaughn?" This confused him for a moment, it was Sydney's voice, but it was not on the phone. Just then he saw a figure appear from behind a crate – Sydney. She ran to him and jumped into him, hugging him tightly. She pulled back and they looked into each other's eyes…..

A/N: I'm sorry, but I have to go to work! eg Really though, I do have to be there in 13 minutes, but don't worry, I won't leave you guys hanging for long! ;-)