Sydney returned to her apartment after she finished her shopping and put the pen in a box and carefully wrapped it. She made the phone call to set up the meeting and wrote in the card she'd give to Vaughn and drove over to the warehouse.

As usual she found Vaughn waiting for her. She noticed he was wearing casual clothes, jeans and a black sweater. There were two paper cups sitting on the table next to him. The hot coffee in them made little clouds of steam that rose into the air. Vaughn handed a cup to her.

"Thanks." Sydney said before sitting down in the empty chair next to Vaughn. "I'm sorry for calling you out here on non-work related stuff. I know how careful we have to be." She added.

"No, it's not a problem. I said you can call me anytime. Is something the matter?" He asked looking concerned.

"No, no I'm fine." She quickly responded.

"Oh!" He said visibly relieved. On the drive to the warehouse he had wondered why Sydney had called him. All sorts of scenario's played out in his mind. None of them were good.

"Ijust wanted to give you this." She said nervously. She handed over the wrapped box and envelope.

"What's this?" He asked genuinely surprised.

"It's a birthday gift. Happy Birthday!" She smiled.

"How did you find out? I can't remember telling you when it was."

"Eric. Although he said I couldn't tell you he told me."

"Makes perfect sense now!"

"It's not much." She said apologetically. "But I don't want to get you into any trouble." Sydney knew that there should be no obvious connection between them. If she left a trail back from herself to Vaughn, they'd both be risking possible punishment from Devlin.

"You didn't have to get me anything, but thank you." He smiled secretly pleased she had wanted to get him a gift.

"You can open it." She said eager to see his reaction.

Vaughn carefully undid the wrapping and opened the box. He pulled out the pen from the box and examined the engraving on it.

"My father gave the pen to me when I was 15." Sydney explained.

"I can't take something so important to you." Vaughn put the pen back in the box and immediately handed it back to Sydney.

"No, it's okay. I want you to have it." She lifted her hands up so that she couldn't take it back. "I did want to get you something better, something a friend would give. But I know I can't raise suspicions. So a pen was the best I could come up with. At least now it's more personal."

Vaughn understood exactly what she meant. He had never told her it had taken him forever to choose that Christmas present for her. Something she would like and yet something that couldn't be linked to him.

"It's a lovely pen. I guess I should open the card too!" Vaughn expected maybe just a 'happy birthday' hurriedly scrawled. Instead he got:

'Happy Birthday! I'm truly grateful for all your support and advice, but most importantly, for your friendship.'

Sydney didn't sign the card, but that didn't matter to Vaughn. He closed the card and saw on the front of it a painting of a woman on the edge of a cornfield looking into the distance. On the other side of the cornfield was another figure, a man maybe walking towards the woman, maybe away from her. As Vaughn's eyes lingered over the picture, he couldn't help feeling that it summed up their entire relationship. It seemed to him as if the cornfield represented all the obstacles that stood in the way of them being able to be totally honest with each other. Perhaps now, that was how Sydney viewed it too. They both understood their situation and it gave him some comfort. He looked up at Sydney's face.

"Thank you." He finally said.

"I should thank Eric since you never would have told me it was your birthday!" she said trying to lighten the atmosphere. Vaughn just smiled sheepishly. "I should go." Sydney reluctantly added.

"Yeah." Vaughn nodded his head and turned around to see her walking away.

"Sydney?" Vaughn tentatively said.

"Uh-huh?" Sydney spun around to face him again.

"I know I keep saying it to you, but it will all get better one day. When you bring SD-6 down, it will get better." He said not only to Sydney, but to himself as well.

"When we bring SD-6 down." She replied as she walked up to him. "I can keep going as long as you keep telling me it'll get better, Vaughn." She whispered. She moved closer and gently kissed Vaughn on the cheek. She smiled briefly and turned to walk out again.

Vaughn waited for a few moments, just listening to the sound of Sydney's footsteps gradually fading away. He then opened the box and lifted the pen out once again. As he noticed how the dim overhead light reflected off the silver on the pen, he tried to think of a time before he had known Sydney. He knew that his life was far simpler back then. But he realised that he preferred having her in his life. Being the only person she could talk with honestly and him listening to her was enough for him, for now.

Vaughn walked into his apartment, throwing his suit jacket and keys onto the chair near the doorway. He remembered the card Sydney gave him was still in his jacket pocket. He fished it out and walked over to his CD player. He switched it on and pressed play. He then placed the card by the side of one of the speakers. He smiled briefly to himself as he flopped onto the couch. He liked how the card would occasionally remind him of Sydney when he'd least expect it. Perhaps while watching a game on TV, he'd glance across to the corner of the room to the card and Sydney's face would appear in his mind. It would let him remember a good time, the nervous expression on her face when she handed him the gift thinking he wouldn't like it and the relief on her face when he finally accepted it.

The next day Vaughn sat in his office, twirling the pen that Sydney gave him around in his fingers. He was deep in thought when Weiss walked in, interrupting his reverie.

"Michael!" He exclaimed, wanting to startle him.

"Huh? What?" Vaughn said finally noticing Weiss standing there.

"What's up with you? You usually look like that when she's on a mission."

"I'm fine." Vaughn said looking directly at Weiss. "Besides Sydney's not on a mission."

"Okay! It just looked like you were a million miles away."

"What are you doing here?" Vaughn asked trying to change the subject.

"Lunch, of course." Weiss knew better than to push Vaughn for an answer. Vaughn stood up and discreetly put the pen in his pocket hoping Weiss hadn't noticed it.

"Is that the time?! I'm starving, let's go." Vaughn said leading the way out of his office.

Sydney opened the door of her apartment. "Francie?" Sydney called out.

"I'm in here." Francie replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just back for lunch. I can't stay long." She answered.

So did that guy in your department like his birthday gift?" Francie asked.

"Yeah." Sydney said heading to the fridge and opening the door. "Yeah, I think he did." She added trying to hide a smile that despite her best efforts, soon became a grin.

I think that's the end- if only because I can't think of a way to continue the story!

And thanks for the positive reviews! I really appreciated them.