Sydney left her house as soon as she hung up the phone. She probably broke several traffic laws in racing over to the warehouse, but she got away with it as well as managing to shake the car that frequently followed her whenever she was out on the town.

She pulled into the parking lot and quickly got out of her SUV. Vaughn's government-issued vehicle was already there and she gave it a little pat before going inside. As always, she was struck by the dead silence in such a cavernous building.

Her strides were long and swiftly paced. She desperately wanted to apologize to Vaughn for their argument a few days earlier.

A lone figure had his back to her as she reached the chain-link fencing. Her brow creased into a frown as she recognized Weiss' dark hair and burly stature.

"Where's Vaughn?" Sydney blurted out in way of a greeting as she wrenched open the gate.

Weiss turned, an uncomfortable look on his face. "Not here." He replied.

"But he called me." She said insistently. "I recognized his voice."

"The regular guy wasn't available." He quipped with a careless shrug. Weiss didn't think it fit to mention that Vaughn had practically begged him to do it just so that he could hear Sydney's voice. Man, he had it so bad for her.

"So why are you here?" Sydney kept her voice just below rudeness (this had nothing to do with Weiss, after all), but it was a struggle.

"I've been temporarily assigned as your handler." Weiss informed her matter-of-factly.

Sydney was floored. "For how long?"

"I can't say." He hedged.

"Did Vaughn request this?" She asked urgently. Oh, God, was he so mad at me that he would ask for a reassignment? He had taken her concern for him in completely the wrong way and now he was washing his hands of her.

"I can't tell you that, either."

"Well, what can you tell me?" Sydney snapped in frustration.

"I can tell you about your counter mission." Weiss replied mildly.

"I meant about Vaughn." She growled.

"All I can say is that he's fine." Weiss so wished he didn't have to be in the middle of their (non-)lover's quarrel. Vaughn was one of his best friends and he liked Sydney, too, but he didn't approve of how their relationship was progressing. He hadn't said anything to Vaughn yet, but one of these days, he knew it was going to cause problems. "He's just taking a break from your case."

"A break?" Sydney repeated. "Weiss, what is going on? I know he's involved in something because Sloane thinks he's some stockbroker named Russell Phillips. Why would he have a fake name that actually checks out if this wasn't work-related?"

"With someone like Anna Espinosa, sometimes it's better that she doesn't know your real name." Weiss offered lamely.

Sydney just stared at him. "You cannot be standing there telling me that Vaughn gave her a sanctioned CIA alias simply because he wants to get into her pants!" Her voice rose a few decibels.

Weiss stood his ground for a few moments, but then he caught the slight tremble of Sydney's lips. He folded like a house of cards.

"Okay, you're right." Weiss admitted reluctantly. "I don't see how it could hurt to tell you now that everything will be going down tomorrow night."

Sydney let out a deep breath. "What is he doing?"

"He's undercover as Russell Phillips because he was the one who spotted Anna in town." Weiss told her. "He realized something was up when he saw her at the museum, so Devlin sent him to find out what Rambaldi artifact she was after."

"And how was he supposed to do that?"

Weiss gave her an embarrassed look. "By any means possible, I suppose."

"He was supposed to wine and dine her?" She persisted. "Act all witty and charming?"

"Some women like that." He mumbled.

"What else did he have to do?" Sydney asked, stone-faced. She could just imagine what Anna might expect from the handsome "Russell Phillips." He was a man, she was a woman…

"You know, Anna is not above using her body to get what she wants." Sydney only had to think back a year ago when she walked in on Anna and that high-ranking official from the Venezuelan parliament in flagrante delicto on the official's leather sofa. Her jaw tightened. "Tell me Vaughn didn't do the same thing."

"Sydney, how could you ask such a thing?" Weiss chastised her. "You know Vaughn."

"I also know Anna." She said dourly. "If the only way he could get into her hotel room was to sleep with her…" Her voice trailed off as her eyes narrowed.

"He wouldn't do that." Weiss said adamantly. Sydney might not know about Vaughn's absolute devotion to her, but he did and Weiss knew he wouldn't betray her like that.

"Do you know how he found out which piece she was after?" She pressed him.

"No." He admitted.

"Then you don't really know for sure, do you?" She could feel the sting of tears at the corners of her eyes.

Why was it that when you thought you might lose something you wanted it that much more? You never cared when it was always there right beside you but the minute it was out of your sight, you couldn't wait to get it back.

"Weiss?" Her voice was tentative, but as least it didn't crack.

"Yes?"

"What is my counter-mission for tomorrow night?" On the outside, Sydney was behaving as the consummate professional, but appearances were deceiving. If she had been alone at that moment, Sydney was quite fearful that she might break down.

Weiss wisely pretended not to notice Sydney's suddenly subdued demeanor and got down to business. "Well, we know that SD-6 has instructed you to let Anna steal the brooch and then get it away from her, but since we already know which piece she's after, we don't want to let it get that far."

"Vaughn has already been told to arrive some time after eight, so you and your father will have to be there about a half hour earlier just to give you time to scope out the situation."

"So you want me to get the brooch before Anna does?"

"That would be the ideal circumstance." Weiss nodded. "To insure that, we have come up with a way for you to distract Anna from her mission." Weiss gave her an unintentional pained look at this point and it registered on Sydney's radar.

"And what might that be?" She inquired suspiciously.

"Well, since Sloane has already told you that you are supposed to appear…inebriated at the reception, we thought you should take it one step further." Weiss gave her a nervous glance. "We want you to pretend you've got the hots for Agent Vaughn."

Sydney gulped. "You want me to do what?" She blurted out.

Weiss was quick to explain. "Look, Sydney, we don't want Anna to be able to execute the theft before you have a chance to get the brooch yourself and so we want to keep her out of the exhibition hall as long as possible."

"And how is my…putting the moves on Vaughn going to accomplish that?" She questioned.

Weiss gave her that ill-at-ease look again. "Well, Vaughn has indicated that Anna might become…jealous if another woman came on to him."

Sydney narrowed her eyes. "Oh, he said that, did he?" She fumed. "Are you sure he's not over-exaggerating Anna's interest in him?" She demanded to know.

"He's assured us that she's pretty taken with him." Weiss replied. 

Sydney was livid. Apparently, Vaughn was throwing himself into his undercover role with more gusto than was required.

Weiss went on to explain the rest of her mission in detail as well as giving her a few little gadgets that would be able to aid and abet her in her act of thievery. As Sydney was slipping the items into her bag, a thought came to her.

"Weiss, does Vaughn know about this little addition to the master plan?" She raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

He shook his head. "Since this was just communicated to me this morning, he doesn't know about it yet."

Ah-ha. "Well, would you mind doing me a favor and not tell him?" Sydney asked.

Weiss gave her a studied look. "Look, Sydney, it's not his fault that he had to deceive you--"

"I'm not blaming him for anything." She interrupted, a low-key but forceful edge to her voice.

"So why do I get the feeling you want to twist the screws a bit?" Weiss said shrewdly.

Sydney gave him a grudging look of respect. "Come on, Weiss, can't a girl have a little fun?" She said cajolingly.

"Sydney…"

"I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize the mission." She informed him. "I just want to--"

"--torment him a little for keeping his undercover job a secret from you?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"I resent your implication that I would take pleasure in seeing Agent Vaughn squirm." Sydney said haughtily.

Weiss covered a smirk. "I notice you're not denying it, though."

She suddenly shot him an impish grin and Weiss could see why Vaughn had fallen as hard as he had for this woman. "So do I get my way or not?" She demanded sweetly.

Weiss gave a sigh. "Just don't make the guy suffer too much."

Sydney flashed Weiss another brilliant smile and then went off in search of a certain sequined red gown she had in mind as her method of torture.

To be continued…

Author's Note: As always, many thanks for your encouraging reviews!  They are much appreciated and you all are great to let me know you like my story.