For the rest of the night her feelings went from happy, to numb, to awkward, to angry at the CIA for not telling her immediately, and back around again. Finally she got so exhausted by all of it that she simply went to bed emotionless. She was still emotionless the next morning when her father called to break the news to her that 'Agent' Vaughn was alive.
She spent the rest of the week going through the motions of her normal routine, pretending that she wasn't looking forward to when she would see Vaughn again. Finally Friday rolled around, it was her day off teaching, instead she spent Fridays working at the CIA office. She managed to get about an hour worth of work done before she was called into Devlin's office to review her last mission. Apparently he found some time to see her before Tuesday. All in all it lasted five hours. The first 30 minutes were spent waiting outside his office, for the next hour and a half they discussed the previous mission, when her next assignment would be, she had to remind him yet again it would have to wait for a couple of weeks until after Will's wedding.
She ran into her father outside Devlin's office. They discussed new information on her mother, as they always did when meeting at work. Sydney had escaped from Irina in Taipei, and the CIA had been on her trail ever since. A trail which seemed to get colder by the day. After meeting her mother in person, Sydney understood why Jack didn't want Irina to be found, though she still felt a need to find her mother, if only to bring her to justice.
At the end of their meeting Jack tried to bring up something about Vaughn coming back, then quickly decided against it. Just as she thought she was home free Barnett caught her, and passed on an official order from Devlin for her and Weiss to be evaluated. She sat in a chair outside Barnett's office while Weiss met with her, then was called in herself. She stiffly answered all of the questions Barnett had for her. Giving away only what she thought was pertinent information for the CIA. Next Barnett called both Weiss and Sydney in for a joint session, in which they discussed Weiss's friendship with Vaughn and how they felt about him being Sydney's handler after Taipei.
Once everything was done she dragged herself back to their office just long enough to pick up her brief case and say goodnight to Dixon. She slipped into a hot bath and relaxed at home for the rest of the afternoon. She thought several times about what exactly she would say to Vaughn when she saw him. The first time it had been such a shock that she could barely think, and since then, for the sake of her sanity, she had immersed herself in work to avoid thinking about the next time they met. Fortunately, Francie was working at the restaurant that evening, so she wouldn't have to go through a big inquisition that would only make her more nervous.
When she arrived at the coffee shop, he was already waiting for her there. 'As always,' she thought to herself. Their initial greeting was awkward. In situations where they met in public she was used to coming up beside him and talking out of the corners of her mouth. Even though those days were long past it still felt odd to go right up to each other and make eye contact. They ordered two lattes, and took them over to where their cars were parked in an isolated, far away, corner of the parking lot. Even though it was no longer a danger for them to be seen in public, the things the were going to be discussing was not information that civilians in a coffee shop needed to overhear.
"So how have you been doing?" she asked.
"I'm adjusting," he answered.
She nodded, "You seem.......more comfortable now than you did at the pier."
"Yeah, listen I'm sorry about that, I was a little out of it that night," He apologized.
"It's okay really, I understand," she quickly said and then chuckled, "I mean I recognized you before I even came over, but I knew it was impossible, and I already thought I was losing it after I heard your voice at the rehearsal dinner."
He started down at the ground for a minute. "I didn't know if you were there that night or not," He said.
She nodded, "Yeah I was."
He nodded back, but made no response. She felt a sudden cold sweep over her and wished that she'd brought along a jacket. She clutched her cup tighter and shivered lightly.
"Are you okay?" Vaughn asked.
"Yeah, just cold," she responded.
"You're cold?" he laughed questioningly.
She snorted, "I can tell you're related to Chase. He loves to rip at me about feeling cold in the summer!"
He looked thoughtful for a second, "Well I think I have a jacket in the trunk if you want it."
He didn't actually wait for a response before sliding off the hood and heading around to the trunk. A different kind of shiver ran through her at the thought of wearing Vaughn's jacket, also it seemed so domestic. She struggled to not smile too much as she thanked him for the jacket and pulled it on.
"So.......how do you know him?" He asked hesitantly.
"You mean Chase?" Sydney asked, "He works with Will. It's a long story. Will wrote a story about SD-6 and gave it to his editor before he was kidnapped. Dad pulled it just before it was published, but Will ended up getting fired. He eventually got a job at anther newspaper, and became good friends with Chase. So good in fact that he's now marrying Will's sister."
Vaughn nodded. He had made the connection quickly when he heard the name of who Chase was marrying. He wondered at the time how it had come to happen that his cousin was marrying the sister of a man who had a connection with Sydney. It now seemed to be simply coincidence.
Sydney sat silently for a few moments before changing the subject, "So how did everything go with Devlin?"
"Just fine. They're going to let me start again as soon as I can..........though I hear I'll have quite a few new colleagues to meet." he said looking directly at her, "Congratulations about SD-6."
"Well....it wasn't just me. I mean The Alliance slowly started the crumble. When they finally fell permanently all the sections just followed suit," She explained.
"I read the official report. You did a lot more to make it possible than you think.......I'm proud of you Syd," He said.
His eyes were so deep with emotion that she actually felt herself blush lightly. "Thank you," she simply said for lack of anything better. What response could you possibly give when someone said something that touching to you? She downed the last of her coffee and hopped off the hood to stretch. "Well I guess it's getting kind of late."
"Yeah," he agreed and also stood up. They stood looking at each other for a moment.
"So um...I'll see you around again, sometime soon?" she asked.
He looked down for a brief second, then met her eyes and nodded, "Yeah."
She nodded back and felt tears falling down her cheeks before she had a chance to stop them. She sniffled lightly, "Vaughn, I really missed you. I spent four years thinking I'd never see you again-"
He showed an equally pained expression, "I missed you too, Syd."
She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. He returned the embrace, lightly stroking her back. "I'm not going anywhere now, though."
She nodded. She believed it. For so long he had been simply a memory, a photo in a file marked "Missing: Presumed Dead", a cause that all hope had been given up on. Now he felt like something real, an actual living person. She never thought that she would see him ever again, and here she was with him now. That fact made her feel bold and free. She allowed herself to lay hear head on his shoulder, and feel the life flowing through him in his scent, in the feel of his arms around her, in the rhythm of his heat beating through his chest.
They finally broke their hug and pulled back, but kept a light hold on each other. Both of them searched for something to say, finding nothing. Sydney looked up into his eyes for a second. Her inhibitions crumbled as she made a split second decision, she leaned up and their lips met for one precious moment before he gently pulled away..........