She stood speechless for a little while longer, until her brain finally reminded her that it was her turn to say something. The problem was that in all of the languages she spoke fluently she couldn't remember a single word. Finally she regained her thinking ability enough to repeat his words, "Hi."
She cleared her throat and started again, "What are you doing here?"
His brow furrowed and he shrugged, "It's a nice place to come to think."
"Maybe I should rephrase that." She said her voice more steady now, "What are you doing alive?"
He looked back out over the rail for a second before answering, "I didn't know if Devlin told you."
"Told me what?" She asked.
"I didn't actually die in Taipei," He responded.
She was in no mood for games. "Really? I had no idea!"
"Sorry, I only just arrived in L.A. this morning. It was about a month ago when they rescued me." He said.
"From where?" She asked in a much gentler tone.
"A Taiwanese prison. I got out of the lab after the tidal wave, but I was later captured by......by The Man," he said after giving her a cautious look.
She nodded, "My mother, I know."
He studied her for a moment before continuing, "They held me for a while, I think it was a three maybe four months. Then once they were satisfied that they weren't going to get any more information out of me, they decided to just throw me into this prison instead of executing me. Don't ask me why."
Sydney listened intently while he was talking, "How long were you in there?"
"I don't really know," He admitted, "But from what I've heard it must have been at least three years."
Three years, she couldn't imagine. "Vaughn.....I'm so sorry," She whispered.
"It wasn't your fault Syd," He said.
"How did you get out?" She asked.
"There was a riot. A few of the inmates took over control of the prison, so the Taiwanese government sent the army in to retake control. Once they found me there they contacted the CIA, and had an extraction team come get me," He said, "They kept me at Langley for a while to go through trauma evaluation and reintroduction into society."
"Wow," She said leaning onto the rail, "I don't really know what to say."
"Me neither to be honest.....it's really odd seeing all these people who thought you were dead for so long," He said.
"Well, I was certainly surprised to see you," She responded.
"Really? I didn't notice," He said, his eyes twinkling playfully.
She laughed, then fought back tears that threatened to spill over her eyes. "Vaughn, I-" She started, but was interrupted by her cell phone ringing.
"Hello?"
"Syd? Hey, are you alright?"
"Francie?" She asked.
"Yeah," Francie said.
"What's the matter?" Sydney asked.
"I was worried about you! You were acting so weird at the party, and then you said you'd be right home but it's been half an hour!" Francie said, her voice getting louder with each word.
Sydney glanced at her watch. Indeed it had been that long. "Francie I'm sorry, I just went for a drive to think and lost track of time. I'm fine really."
"Are you sure?" Francie asked again.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be home soon sweetie. Bye," She responded and hung up the phone, "Sorry.....Francie." Vaughn smiled faintly and nodded.
"I should get home before she has a heart attack," Sydney said and then hesitated. They didn't work together anymore so after leaving here there would be no reason to see each other again. She didn't want their first meeting in four years to be 'Hi, glad to see you with a pulse. Have a nice life.'
"Listen umm......I think.....I mean......we should......" She stammered. 'Dear God, when did I turn into Marshall?', "I.....I don't want to just, just walk away."
She rolled her eyes at herself, 'Oh sure, that made a lot of sense.'
He nodded, "I know Syd. I understand.......I'm happy to see you too."
She smiled, "You still owe me that hockey game."
He smiled back, "You remember that?"
"Of course I remember that," She said, "when have you known me to forget things?"
He laughed for the first time that night. Something about it made her extremely happy, "Well I may have to wait a little while longer. Hockey season's over."
"Oh well," She shrugged, then got serious again, "We should talk more about everything that's happened though."
He nodded, "Yeah you're right we should. There's lots of bureaucratic protocol I have to go through to come dead though."
She frowned at the mention of the word 'dead', but nodded, "Yeah, I'm pretty busy too. There's a coffee shop on the other side of here, we could meet there on Friday."
"Okay, I'll see you then," He said. She nodded and stood place, not wanting to break their gaze.
"Well I better, go. Um.......bye." She said. She walked away quickly, knowing that if she hesitated for even a second she would probably go running strait back.
"Bye," He whispered after her disappearing form.