Author's Note: Hi everyone!  As promised, here's the latest chapter of my story.  Hope you enjoy and please review!  Thanks!

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On the evening of the museum reception, Sydney was preening in front of her full-length mirror. She looked stunning in her red sequined gown and she knew it. The dress skimmed her body like a glove, flaunting every curve she possessed and even the ones she didn't. Her makeup was skillfully applied, highlighting her flawless skin, smoky eyes, and dramatic red lips. She decided to wear her hair down, her locks artfully tousled, the ends grazing her shimmery bare shoulders. If Vaughn was like any other normal red-blooded male, he wouldn't be able to tear his eyes away from her.

The doorbell rang and Sydney went downstairs in her bare feet to answer the door. Her father was standing on her doorstep, looking quite distinguished in his traditional black tuxedo.

"Hi, Dad, come on in." Sydney stepped back across the entryway. "I just have to find my earrings and I'll be ready to go." She was already heading back up the stairs, leaving Jack to ponder why his daughter was apparently pulling out all of the stops with her appearance tonight.

"So what do you think?" Sydney was back downstairs in two minutes, twirling before her father.

Jack gave her the briefest of smiles. "You look very nice." The words came out sounding stiff and awkward. He wasn't used to paying compliments to women, even if the woman was his daughter.

"Gee, Dad, that just makes me feel warm and tingly all over." Sydney said mischievously, feeling in such a good mood that she could tease her father. "You look very nice, too." She said dutifully, patting his lapel.

"Thank you." Jack acknowledged politely. "Sydney, you don't think the dress is a bit…much?" He asked hesitantly.

She gave her father a wide-eyed look of innocence. "I'm not sure I know what you mean, Dad."

"Well, it's not as if you have to go out of your way to attract Agent Vaughn's interest." Her father pointed out. "I mean, it's part of the plan that he's supposed to pay attention to you in order to distract Anna."

If you only knew… "But, Dad, it's not as if I could go in there wearing a housecoat and bedroom slippers!" Sydney protested. "I'm supposed to be playing the part of the intoxicated vixen." She said with a dramatic flair, fluttering her eyelashes in an overly coquettish manner.

Jack looked slightly taken aback. "Just as long as you don't get too involved in your role, Sydney." He said warningly as Sydney picked up her wrap and handbag.

"We do have to make it look realistic, don't we?" She countered, as her father opened the door for them to leave.

Jack didn't like where this conversation was headed and he intended to find out specifically what Sydney had in mind for Agent Vaughn.

He brought up the subject again as soon as they were on the road. "Sydney, I don't mean to pry, but what exactly are your feelings towards Mr. Vaughn?" He began tentatively.

"My feelings?" She echoed in a guarded tone. "He's my handler." She said evasively, stating the obvious.

"You've told me his occupation, not how you feel about him."

Sydney remained silent for a long moment. "He's also my friend." She said finally.

"And nothing more?"

"Why would you think there was anything more?" She hedged.

"Well, you became quite upset when you thought he was dating Anna." Her father pointed out.

"I was only expressing my concern for his safety." Sydney protested weakly.

Jack gave her a knowing look. "Okay, let's say it wasn't Anna Espinosa of K-Directorate fame. What if she had just been an ordinary woman Vaughn was seeing?"

Sydney's silence told Jack all he needed to know. He let out a sigh. "Sydney, I know I don't have to tell you how colossally dangerous it would be for you to enter into any of kind of relationship with Mr. Vaughn."

"I know, I know." Sydney said, a bit frustrated. "I know it would be stupid and difficult and heartbreaking, not to mention suicidal. Believe me, Dad, I have lain awake at night making lists of all the reasons why I shouldn't feel anything towards him."

"Yet you still allow yourself--"

"Allow myself?" Sydney interrupted. "Dad, if you're attracted to someone, it's hardly in your power to fight it. You might want to deny it--especially in this case because it would mean dire consequences for us both--but sometimes the connection you have with someone is just too strong to ignore."

Jack let his daughter's words sink into his brain. He knew quite well what it was like to love someone who was completely wrong for you. Even when he found out that Laura had only been using him as a cover for her KGB activities--that their whole courtship and marriage had been a sham--he wanted to hate her, but it wasn't in his power to do so.

"So where do you expect to go with this?" Her father asked.

"What do you mean?"

"If you were to tell Agent Vaughn how you felt about him, what do you think would happen?" Jack's tone was clipped but not curt. "You certainly couldn't go out as a normal couple. You couldn't introduce him to your friends. You would have to settle for sordid rendezvous at that warehouse you always meet in."

"Dad!" Sydney cried out embarrassedly. "There's no reason to be crude."

"Sydney, I'm just trying to spell it out for you." Jack said patiently. "A relationship with Agent Vaughn would be doomed from the start and I don't want you to be hurt again."

Sydney experienced a flash of gratitude and it showed on her face, but her father didn't see it because of the darkness. "I appreciate that you want to protect me, Dad." Sydney said carefully. "But you don't have to badmouth any possible future we might have just because you don't like him."

Jack had the temerity to look affronted. Before he could protest, Sydney silenced him with a look.

"Dad, you intimidate every person who crosses your path and you love it." She scolded him. "Now normally, I get a big kick out of it, but I wish you wouldn't try so hard to be Big Bad Dad in front of Vaughn."

"I believe I have been nothing but civil to Mr. Vaughn." Jack said stiffly.

"Exactly my point, Dad." Sydney rolled her eyes. "You could be a little more…receptive to him. Maybe he wouldn't feel so much like something you wanted to scrape off your shoe."

Jack's mouth quirked. "If he would behave in a more appropriate manner, I would have no problem with Agent Vaughn. I disapprove of some of the actions he's taken in regard to you and the management of your case, but there have been signs that he has the markings of becoming a fine agent if he could just exercise a little self-restraint."

"Self-restraint?"

"He's let himself become too emotionally attached to you, Sydney, and sometimes it clouds his judgment." Jack said tersely.

Sydney let out a frustrated groan. "God, are those like the hot, psychological buzzwords at the moment? 'Emotionally attached?' What the hell is wrong if he cares whether I live or die?"

"There's much more to it than that, Sydney, and you know it."

"I should've expected this from you." She gave an exasperated sigh. "Fathers since the beginning of time have never liked their daughter's boyfriends."

"Sydney!" Jack gasped sharply. "You just said there was nothing--"

"I know what I said and he's not and we're not." She cut in cryptically. "But that doesn't mean it won't happen someday."

Jack cut his eyes at her but said nothing.

"Maybe you don't want to hear this, but I'm going to say it, anyway." Sydney kept her voice even. "I didn't even realize it myself until we had this separation forced upon us, but I found myself missing him. He's the only person I can talk to about my crazy, twisted existence and that's not something I want to give up."

"I want Vaughn in my life, Dad." She went on in an emphatic manner. "I know you wish it would just be as my handler, but it's already too late for that. Right now he's my handler, but he's also my friend and I care about him."

"And just to prepare you, one day I'm going to want more from him and hopefully he'll feel the same way." She added.

Jack sighed audibly. "Daughters since the beginning of time have always wanted the men their fathers disapprove of."

Sydney had to grin. "Dad, I'm not sixteen years old and this isn't some teenage rebellion phase I'm going through. Not that you haven't given me enough ammunition in my life that I could go down that route, but as I said, I'm not a kid anymore."

"Sydney, it's just not sensible--"

"Whoever said love was." She finished softly. "Dad, I don't know what's going to happen between me and Vaughn. If we never take down SD-6, then he and I are doomed to be a couple of star-crossed lovers who can never be." Sydney's voice was subdued, not wanting to even let that thought cross her mind.

Then she brightened. "Or--if you'll allow me a slight exaggeration--we can be one of those great love stories you always hear about, overcoming insurmountable odds, staring down certain death, beating the bad guys and all that good stuff." She tried to coax a smile out of her churlish father. "Don't you want a happy ending for your little girl?"

The look on Jack's face was telling unto itself. "There is nothing I want more than for you to be happy." He said quietly. "Happy and safe."

"Well, with a little luck, Vaughn will be able to help me with both of those." Sydney replied, a hopeful note in her voice.

To be continued…