A/N – Sloane doesn't know about Sydney in Taipei right? Well, that's what is going on in this chapter and he also doesn't know about Sydney's mom being 'The Man'.

-- (Something here) ---    means that Vaughn is telling 'the' story. Right now you don't know what 'the' story is, but you will.

The Vaughn POV is very long, since he has to tell 'the' story. But I guess you don't care.

I thought: "Hey, I haven't had a chapter out in a very long time, so let's make this one long and full of stuff." Here you go.

Sydney's POV

                As I slid into my small, little desk, I glanced behind me to Dixon. I don't know if he's going to rat me out or not. But right now I don't really care. I got away with being gone and while I was gone, I got kisses from Michael Vaughn! I couldn't care less about dying right now.

                "Sydney…" I heard Dixon say. When I spun around, he was standing. "We have a meeting with Sloane. He's got some new information and a new mission." He was saying it through clenched teeth, I could tell.

                As I sat at the table, I gave Sloane and Marshall a short smile.

                "Ok, let's get through this quickly…" Sloane told us. My father slid into his seat across from me. "We've been doing some research on Khasinau and his 'helpers'. Mr. Sark is the only one we could get any information on." Sloane stopped for a moment and clicked a button. A large house appeared on the screen. "This is Sarks' house. From some valuable people we have found out that he lives here, in France, with his partner, working partner, not girlfriend. It's been… what was it Jack?" Sloane looked to my father carefully.

                "Three years." Dad looked at me. There was something in his eyes… about the girl…

                "Her name is Lillian Vaughn." Sloane told Dixon and I.

                I snapped my face to my dad, but kept all emotion in my eyes. Vaughn. Daughter… no… Niece?

                "We are sending you to France to set a bug in his house and also to figure out anything you can about Khasinau, Sark or anyone else." He slid down two folders to Dixon and me. "Your flight leaves tomorrow."

                I stood up and left with my father following me. As I walked, I heard my father click on the lighter and pulled me into a small room.

                "Lillian Vaughn?" I asked and he nodded. "Vaughn…"

                "Niece." He replied. "I haven't contacted Agent Vaughn yet, because I think that you should talk to him. He'll listen to you…Get any information you can. I have talked to Devlin and he says that his niece and him had a fight right before she moved to Franc. Haven't seen each other since. Here's a folder with her info. Such as, how old she is and who her parents are… were."

                I nodded. "Ok." A beeping sound interrupted.

                "Have a good trip, Sydney." He nodded and left.

                Ok, here we go.

                "Hey Will." I smiled as I opened the door to me and Francie's apartment. "Feeling any better?" I slid onto the edge of the couch.

                "Huh?" Will turned towards me. "I haven't moved all day… with the exception of getting something to eat and going to the bathroom." He smirked at me and shivered.

                "Lucky." I muttered and went into the kitchen. "Did you drink all the diet Coke?!" I called back to him.

                He laughed. "You expected me not to?" I could tell he was laughing and smiling as he said this.

                Then the phone rang.

                "Hello?" I smiled as I answered the phone.

                "Joey's Pizza?" The voice on the other end questioned.

                "Sorry wrong number…" I hung up the phone quickly and grabbed my jacket. "Will, I'm gonna go get some diet Coke. You want anything?" I turned to the couch, he was nodding.

                "Get some Doritos or something, cause you got no junk food." Will smiled and lied back down.

                "I'll be right back." I smiled and closed the door behind me.

Vaughn's POV

                Jack is keeping something from me. This morning he was in the office for his new weekly meetings with Barnett. When he came out he had an irritated look on his face, but when he saw me all the irritated ness just vanished. You know… went 'Poof'.

                The Joey's Pizza call was simple. The waiting in the warehouse part wasn't. I tapped my foot against the metal of the lonely chair. Sound echoed through the warehouse… it was that one sound until I heard footsteps coming in.

                "Hey." Her smile lit the room and I couldn't help but smile back.

                "Hey Syd." I walked a little closer, but not too close. But she closed the distance and kissed me. It was sweet and perfect… just like her.

                "How you been?" She put her arms around my neck and smiled.

                "Other then the fact that my mother thinks it's strange that I won't touch water… I'm good." I smiled.

                Then she pulled back and smiled lightly. "I'm going to France."

                "I heard." I pushed her hair back and shivered at the thought that I was actually touching her… and she wasn't pulling back.

                "There is something about the mission that I'm supposed to talk to you about…" Her voice trailed, her eyes darkened and I narrowed my eyes in confusion.

                "What?" I sat back down in the chair as she sat on the desk across from me, but still close.

                "Sark has a partner that he lives with in France. What I've heard is that they hate each other… but that's not the point." She swung her legs a little and took a deep breath. "The girl… her name is Lillian…" I guess I looked confused. "That's not the part that got me… do you have a brother?"

                Her question caught me by surprise. I stood up and went over to her, resting my hands on her knees. "One… Jared, why?"

                "Cause Lillian's last name is Vaughn." I took a step back and looked down.

                "Lily… it's her… she works for them?" I looked back up and Sydney had her eyes set on me.

                "Yeah. She's Sark's partner." Her head nodded slightly.

                Lily. My only niece was part of Them. And all I could wonder is if Jared knew what his little girl was into. He's my big brother… she's my niece.

                "My father gave me this file on why she went to France, but I couldn't read it." She looked at the folder in her hands and handed it to me. "I wanted you to tell me…"

                I looked in her eyes and nodded. Memories of my little angel fluttered. I smiled. "Where to start…" I mused. "How about when she was born. That was only… nineteen years ago…" I looked up and placed my hands back on Sydney's knees.

                --- I was only fifteen when Jared had her. Everyone thought he was too young to have a kid… he was only twenty. But the three of us (Jared, his wife and I) all thought she was precious. Jared got to name her and he named her after his favorite flower. The minute I saw my niece in the pink blanket and being held by her mother, she was 'angel'. The nickname stuck, but if anyone but me called her that she'd get mad at them. ---

                I looked up and smiled at Sydney. "When you called me your guardian angel, I remembered her and the nickname. Hard to forget…"

                "You better sit if you're going to tell me the long story." Sydney pushed me towards the chair. I took a deep breath and sat.

                --- Jared… he was twenty and positively in love with his wife of two years, Diana. Everyone loved her. Our father would have too. Diana was an optimist… never worrying. When Lily came, she was glowing so much. She was born to be a mother. But, like everyone, she was also born to die…

                For a few years, my family had lived in San Francisco. My mother had refused and lived in Los Angeles. When Lily was six, I had been over the house, helping Jared and Diana clean up for the company they were having over. I remember that Lily was in her room, and Diana had just realized that they didn't have any wine. So, after kissing Jared on the cheek and saying 'I'll be right back' she grabbed her car keys and left. Half an hour passed, but we didn't really notice. Traffic could've been bad, since it was rush hour. But then an hour passed. After an hour and a half the phone rang. ---

Flashback

                "Jared?" Danielle's voice entered my ear.

                "No, it's Michael. What's up Danielle?" I listened closely. Something was wrong. She was sniffling, crying.

                "Have you turned on the news yet?" She asked hurriedly.

                "No. Why?" I looked to Jared and nodded for him to turn the TV on. He clicked it on and made his way to the news channel.

                "It's Diana." She stopped.

                I almost dropped the phone when I saw what was on the screen.

                The newscaster stood in front of the large car accident as the ambulance pulled out a stretcher.

                "Twenty minutes ago, two cars collided on South Broadway. One of the officers on duty commented saying that one driver, Mark Davids, had been driving drunk and had curved when the cars hit. The other car had been driven by Diana Vaughn, who is being rushed to the hospital…"

                At this I really dropped the phone.

                "Mike, I'm going to the hospital. Wait until I call and then bring Lily please." Jared grabbed his jacket and his keys. I nodded and opened the door.

                "Uncle Michael, where's daddy going?" Lily walked out of her room and stopped in front of me.

                I scooped her up and quickly changed the channel on the TV to some cartoons.

                "He went out for a little while and were gonna go see him in a bit, Angel. Why don't we watch cartoons while we wait?" I sat down, with her on my lap and as she smiled brightly I wondered what would happen if Diana died. What would happen to Lily and Jared?

                The phone call was only ten minutes later, but it felt like hours.

                "Mike, before you come, put Lily on the phone." Jared's request shocked me a bit as I handed the receiver to the six year old.

                "Daddy?" Lily asked into the phone. There was a small silence. "Promise." I wondered what Jared made her promise, but I knew that right now he was telling her where Diana was. When she hung up the phone and looked at me that was it.

                "Come on… let's go see mommy, Angel." I let her jump down and grab her small jacket as I took mine. My keys felt cool in my hand and when I opened the door I realized it was raining.

                I didn't think the car could have gone fast enough. Finally, we got there, Jared was sitting in front of the room, head in his hands.

                When he saw us come up to him, he scooped up Lily and whispered. "Mommy's sleeping and they don't know when she's going to wake up." Then he looked at me and sighed. "I gotta call mom." Then he put Lily on the plastic chair and walked away.

                I sighed and slid into the seat next to her. Running my hand through my hair, I glanced at Lily.

                A few minutes later, Jared came back. "Mom's coming here. She says she'll go to the house when she gets here." He stopped short, talking and looked into the hospital room. "I'm gonna wait in there…" He bent down and kissed Lily on the head. "I'm gonna go wait with Mommy." He left again.

                "Uncle Mike?"

                "Yeah?"

                "What's gonna happen?"

                "I don't know, Angel. I don't know."

Flashback Ends

                --- Diana died the next morning. I had woken up and realized that Lily had slept in my lap on those uncomfortable plastic seats. Jared had his head down on the bed, next to Diana's hand. That's when her heart stopped beating. The sound of that long, annoying and sad beep filled my head for years after that. Lily was devastated and so was Jared. The funeral was unbearable. I wondered what Jared would do, not that it was just him and Lily. But he seemed confident that he could handle himself and his six year old daughter by himself. So, I moved here, to Los Angeles with my mom. At first, I didn't want to. I stayed in her house, ready to go back to San Francisco at the blink of an eye. But soon, I found myself looking for an apartment and finally moving out on my own. I was worried about Lily and Jared, but there was nothing I could do. They were doing just fine. ---

               

                "Almost seven hours away…" Sydney mused, looking at me with this sadness in her eyes that I couldn't bare. I didn't want any pity. For some reason, especially from her.

                "Yeah, the first month I was going out of my mind." I smiled and then I laughed. "I hated it."

                "So, what happened to Lily and everyone? Why did she go to France?" Sydney rested her hands on each side of her legs and continued to swing them back and forth.

                "I'm getting there… there's another part of the story…"

                --- Lily was sixteen and I had been visiting for three days when Jared met Caroline. We had been at this club and they had started flirting. I didn't think anything would happen. Neither did Lily… she was too busy with her boyfriend Kyle. Jared was getting back into dating and flirting. But things got serious between him and Caroline. They started going out regularly and before I knew it, Caroline had moved in with Jared and Lily. Lily hated her, but Jared wouldn't listen to her pleas, or my reasons. The next year, they got married. Caroline tried to get along with Lily, but you can't push Lily. She won't listen to you if you're trying to hard. So Caroline gave up and they started to fight on occasion. Lily was going t turn eighteen in one week and she had already started to look for an apartment away from her step-mother. Caroline had been saying the whole time that Lily was too young... She made that mistake… ---

Flashback

                "Dad?" Lily walked into the room he shared with Caroline. I had been visiting again and was helping Jared with his computer.

                "Yeah, Lils?" Jared spun the chair around and smiled at her.

                "Have you seen the list of apartments that I hade on my desk?" Lily moved aside so that Caroline could enter the room. Caroline had been cleaning the house and was just starting on her own room.

                "No, Caroline did you see them?" Jared turned to his wife.

                "How could she? She's not supposed to go in my room…" Lily told Jared and looked at Caroline.

                "As a matter of fact, I probably did see them, but I might've thrown them out. I was trying to clean your room a bit." Caroline made a mistake in telling her that.

                "You were in my room?" Lily narrowed her eyes in anger. "Why were you in my room? I told you…"

                "I'm sorry, I was trying to make your room look more presentable." Caroline countered, putting down the papers she was holding. "You'll have to just look up those apartments again."

                "That's not the point." Lily snapped. "You are not supposed to be in my room. I thought we already talked about that." She ran a hand through her blonde hair. "My room stays private."

                "We have people coming over, I want everything clean and with your room looking like that…" Caroline let her sentence trail.

                "What do you care? Close the god damn door if you don't want them seeing it." Lily walked into the hallway. Caroline followed.

                "Don't talk to me like that. You have no right…"

                "I have no right? Then who the hell gave you the right to go into my room? Who gave you the right to take over my god damn life?" Lily grabbed her backpack and threw her notebook inside of it. She slung it over her shoulder. "I'm going out. Do I have a right to do that?" I listened as the door slammed and looked at Jared. He ran a hand through his hair and looked up.

                They all thought that she'd come back. They were wrong.

Flashback Ends

                --- Lily didn't come back. She did once, but we never saw her. She left a note saying that she was leaving and couldn't stand living there anymore. She was eighteen and had a life. Didn't say where she was going… didn't say if we would ever see her again. All it said was that she took all her things and left. Caroline wasn't all that sad, but Jared broke down. His little girl left him. After that, we tried to find her. I had been with the agency for a while so I tried to look her up. I looked under Lillian Vaughn. Nothing. I looked under Lillian Kelsey, her mother's maiden name. Nothing. Jared and I tried everything possible, but we never found her… until now. ---

                "Wow." Sydney broke the silence. I got up again and walked over to her.

                "I want to come with you." I stated, clear and to the point.

                "I don't know…"

                "I'll ask Devlin, I'll ask anyone… I have to see her again, Sydney." I nodded a bit and held Sydney's hands to the desk.

                "Ask Devlin." Sydney smiled. "If not, then I guess I'll just have to tell you what I find out." I smiled and kissed her. I was going to find out about my niece. Angel. I can't tell Jared or mom or Caroline, but I don't care. I'll find her and I'll see her… And if I talk to her then I'll convince her to come back… but right now I have to learn to control this feeling of happiness… too much in one day could be fatal.