After several lingering moments of leisurely exploration, they both drew apart at the same time. Sydney let out a contented sigh. "That was definitely a keeper of a first kiss." She murmured against his lips.

"Well, there's plenty more where that came from." Vaughn said with a smile.

"Are you sure you're strong enough after your grueling ordeal?" She teased.

"I think I'll be able to muster up something." He grinned and then it quickly faded as he realized their budding romance should not have been the thought foremost in his mind.

"Michael, what is it?" Sydney asked anxiously.

He gave her an affectionate look. "Syd, don't get me wrong. I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of our time together, but we both know this isn't some cozy little love nest in the Swiss Alps." Vaughn grasped her hand, hoping she wouldn't become offended. "You need to tell me what's going on now."

"I guess I should." She sighed. "I know I was just putting off the inevitable, but I wanted to feel what it was like to be normal for a little while."

"I hate to break it to you, Sydney, but you will never be normal as long as you do what you do." Vaughn said regretfully.

"Did you have to remind me?" She made a face at him and then she became serious. "Okay, first off, what do you remember?"

"You mean about the warehouse?"

Sydney nodded silently.

"I remember seeing what I thought was a tidal wave coming down a hallway." Vaughn said slowly. "I remember you running towards me and then you were past me and I still hadn't moved. I remember gunning towards the door and me not making it before it closed." He closed his eyes and grimaced as the memories literally came flooding back into his consciousness. You would think getting body-slammed against the door by that towering wall of water would have been the worst part of it all, but for him, it was seeing and hearing the roar of that great torrent of water as it rushed towards him, knowing that he was simply a helpless non-entity who unfortunately stood in its path. 

Sydney's eyes filled with tears as she remembered the desperation and despair with which she had tried to break the glass in order to afford him a few more precious minutes of life. Then she remembered the sheer hopelessness she had felt when he disappeared from her sight.

"Syd?" He was alarmed at seeing the tears in her eyes. "Syd, please don't cry!"

"I tried to break the glass, Michael! I really did!" She cried out with a sob.

Vaughn reached up to brush away a loose strand of hair that had fallen across Sydney's face. "Shhh, Syd, I know. I saw you." He said comfortingly, bringing her head down to rest on his shoulder. "I know you tried." He brushed his lips against her forehead.

"I don't remember what happened afterwards. I must have passed out from the lack of oxygen and I guess whoever found me realized I was still alive and then they brought me here." He looked around the room. "Wherever this is."

"We're on an estate. I haven't had a chance to get the complete layout yet, but I have been in the main house." She informed him. "There are armed guards on the premises, so I'm guessing the security is pretty tight."

"The house is situated on a mountaintop, so it won't be easy to flag down a passing car if we ever manage to make it out to the main road and I think we're about an hour away from the city, so it would definitely be too far to walk." She went on. "You can just barely make out the city skyline from my upstairs window."

"You have a room in the main house?" Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "Why am I stuck out here in the guest cottage?"

"Well, at first I thought it was because they didn't want a dead body in the house," Sydney said delicately. "But now I realize that they didn't know who you were, so they didn't want a potential wolf inside the henhouse."

He gave her a stunned look. "Sydney, are you saying that these people know who you are? Do you know them?"

Sydney hesitated a moment before speaking. It wasn't going to be easy to tell him about Irina. "Michael, I don't know if you saw it before you got swept away, but I was attacked while I was trying to break the glass. They managed to sideswipe me and I wasn't able to fight back because you had just disappeared and I was shocked and horrified and I wasn't paying attention." She swallowed back the lump in her throat. "They knocked me out and when I woke up, I was in a room, tied to a chair. That's when things got really bizarre."

"Khasinau came in and he was holding a plate of food." She told him. "For some reason, he was trying to get me to eat, but I refused. I told him I had questions for him and that's when he stood up and said I needed to talk to his boss."

Vaughn shot her a look of confusion. "Wait, I thought he was the boss."

"That's what I said." Sydney replied. "Turns out he's just the front man."

"For whom? Is there someone else we don't know about involved in this mess?"

"There is someone else, but unfortunately, we do know who it is." Sydney's brow creased. "Michael, I know this is going to be hard for you to accept, but my mother, Irina Derevko, is The Man." She bit her lip uncertainly.

"Your mother?" Vaughn echoed uncomprehendingly. "She's really here? Alive?"

"Alive and apparently thriving." Sydney gave him a pained look. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this. I know you hate her because of what she did to your father…" Her voice trailed off. There was nothing more to say.

"I won't deny that." He eyed her concernedly. "What about you? How are you taking all this?"

"Michael, please don't think that you have to comfort me." She said sternly. "This hits you just as hard as it does me."

He nodded, a slight tremble in his lips. "I never thought I would ever get to meet my father's killer." He said quietly. "I know you thought she was still alive, but I never--it never crossed my mind that she could actually pay for what she did to him."

Vaughn gave Sydney a grave look. "Sydney, I know she's your mother, but you have no idea how much I want to take her down for what she did to me and my family." There was a hard, bitter edge to his voice.

"Michael, I don't consider that woman my mother." Sydney shook her head vehemently. "My mother was Laura Bristow and to me, she died in a car accident twenty-two years ago. That woman, Irina, I have no feelings towards her." She said stoically. "And I want her to pay just as much as you do."

Vaughn took her hand and squeezed it. He knew Sydney well enough to know that in spite of the fact that she talked a good game, there was probably a small part of her who was still the little girl who adored her mother. She felt hurt and betrayed, but there would always be something in her that wanted her mother's love.

But she was pushing that aside--at least for now--and in its place was her unwavering support for him and a fierce determination to see justice rendered. He loved her for that and for so much more.

"So I'm assuming she wants something from you?" Vaughn prompted. "That's why you're here?"

Sydney nodded. "We talked earlier and it didn't go well. She was going on and on about how she's been waiting almost thirty years for this grand plan of hers to come to fruition." Her jaw hardened. "Michael, she told me that ever since she disappeared, her main goals in life was to be reunited with me and for me to join forces with her against SD-6 and the CIA." 

"Well, I hope you told her to go to hell when she made her offer." Vaughn said darkly. Sydney shot him a guilty look, which he caught immediately.

"Syd?" He gave her a penetrating glance. "You did tell Irina to shove it, didn't you?"

"Not exactly." She admitted warily, preparing herself for his inevitable outburst.

"Sydney!" Vaughn looked at her as if she was crazy. "Don't you dare tell me you're thinking of turning traitor to your country!"

"No, Michael, that isn't something I would ever want to do!" Sydney declared with an impassioned tone in her voice. "At least, not willingly."

"Is she holding a gun to your head?" He demanded.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking, she is!" Sydney burst out. "Michael, she's giving me no choice! She's already told me in no uncertain terms that if I refuse her offer, I'm to be kept as a prisoner because she doesn't want it to get out to the world that Khasinau is not The Man." She gave him a beseeching look. "And if she would do that to her own daughter, you know you're going to suffer an even worse fate."

"So you're doing this to protect me?" Vaughn frowned. "You think I'd really be a dead man this time?"

"I don't believe she would hesitate for one moment to get rid of you, especially if she knew how much it would hurt me." Sydney said firmly.

Vaughn had a reflective look on his face. "I find that sort of ironic, don't you?" He remarked. "The same person who killed my father would be responsible for my death as well."

"No, I'm not going to let that happen!" Sydney erupted. "Michael, that's why I think joining up with her is the only way to go."

"I'll make a bargain with her that she has to send you home before our agreement takes effect." She went on. "Once I know you're safe, she'll own me." She said with an air of resignation in her voice.

Vaughn gave her a frustrated look. "Sydney, I thought we just went through all this that I don't want you to worry about me! Do you think I want you to sacrifice yourself and everything you believe in just to save my life?"

"I would do all of that and more just to save your life!" She cried out. "That's part of what love is. Sometimes you have to put the welfare of the person you love before your own."

"Love is not martyring yourself!" His voice rose significantly. "How will I be able to stand it knowing you're halfway around the world from me working for someone you despise just so I can be at home in my crummy little condo eating chili dogs and watching the hockey game in my underwear?"

In the midst of their heated disagreement, Sydney suddenly burst out laughing. "That's a very vivid mental picture you've just put in my head, Agent Vaughn!" She looked at him, hoping to coax out a smile, but he was still in his loud-and-argumentative mode. "Would you smile if I told you I was having some extremely naughty thoughts right now about what I could do to take you away from that hockey game?" Sydney gave him a very persuasive come-hither look and she could see the corners of his mouth twitching.

"Sydney, this is no time for joking around." Vaughn said soberly. He was calmer now and he treated her to a small grin to show that she had gotten him to cool down. "We're not talking about pretending to be one of the bad guys for a few months. We're talking about the rest of your life!"

"Michael, it's no different from the situation I'm currently in now." She said mildly. "Not that I think I have to remind you, but I already am working for someone I despise." Sydney pointed out. "I would just be replacing one tyrannical boss with another."

"Sydney, I won't let you do it!" Vaughn said, his voice becoming adamant again.

"Well, it's not your choice to make, is it?" She said, feeling a bit huffy in spite of the fact that she had wanted to tone things down. "You can't tell me what to do, Michael." Sydney looked stubborn. "I thought you knew that about me."

Vaughn's shoulders suddenly slumped and he let out a sigh. "I absolutely do know that about you." He looked defeated. "You go ahead and tell your mother you'll work for her." His tone was listless.

Sydney stared at him. Had his near-death experience taken more out of him than she realized? Where was his fight? "You're giving in?"

"Why not?" He shrugged. "I know it's pointless to argue with you when you dig in your heels."

Sydney felt an ache in her heart. "Michael, you know this is not something I want to do." Her voice grew thick with tears. "This is something I have to do."

"Fine, you do what you have to do and I'll do what I have to do." His manner was brisk and businesslike.

She didn't like the way he said that. "And what do you have to do?"

Vaughn looked her straight in the eye. "I have to stay here with you." He said matter-of-factly.

"Michael!" Sydney looked chagrined. "I don't want you to get caught up in my family power struggle!"

"Sydney," Vaughn gave her a tender look. "In case you haven't noticed, I already am caught up in it." He said gently. "I know everything you know and it would not be in Irina's best interests to let me go. You said it yourself that she doesn't want to give up Khasinau as her front man and she would be doing that if she released me."

"You could give her your word that you wouldn't say anything." Sydney suggested, all the while knowing he wouldn't make such a promise.

"My status as an agent for the United States government precludes me from making any covert deals with wanted criminals." He said succinctly, as if reciting from the CIA Agent Handbook.

Her heart swelled up with love for him. "Michael, are you sure? This is a huge sacrifice you're making. You're giving up your career and your family and your friends. Am I worth all that?" She gave him a skeptical look.

"Sydney, you are worth every sacrifice I can make if it means that you and I can be together." He stroked her cheek with his finger. "Do you really think I'm going to let you go just when you and I have found each other?" Vaughn gave her a heart-melting smile.

Sydney burrowed herself against his chest, closing her eyes. She loved this man so much and she would thank God everyday that he had been given back to her.

"Were you always this stubborn before?" She asked, her voice muffled.

"Before what?" Vaughn said amusedly.

"Before I realized I was in love with you."

Sydney felt his chuckle come from deep within his chest. "Probably, but I think I hid it from you, so that you would always think you were getting your own way."

"Are you telling me I'm a victim of false advertising?" She lamented in dramatic fashion and then snuggled closer to him. "Oh, well, I guess it's too late now since I couldn't stop loving you if I tried."

They sat like that for a few minutes, Sydney's head resting on his shoulder and Vaughn's arms around her soft, warm body. Despite their present circumstances, he knew there was no place on earth he'd rather be.

Finally, Sydney was ready to talk again. She sat up and Vaughn noticed the old fire back in her eyes. "Okay, then, if you're going to stay, we have to come up with a viable story as to why she should want you around."

"Isn't the fact that you're going to be the one doing the asking enough?" Vaughn quipped at her.

"Are you telling me you want to become a kept man?" Sydney pretended to be aghast. "My little studmuffin I get to come home to after a rough, tough mission in Morocco or Queensland or Timbuktu?" She grinned teasingly at him.

"Hey, I think I could get used to that." Vaughn pretended to consider that arrangement.

"No, Agent Vaughn, if you stay here, you're going to have to earn your keep." She said definitively. "I wonder if Irina would consider letting you be my partner."

"Partners?"

"Sure." Sydney nodded. "I'm going to need one and it has to be somebody I trust."

"Well, we do work well together." He said thoughtfully, warming to the idea. "We'll play up the fact that it would be an ideal situation for us if we stay and work for her because then we would get to be together."

"So you want me to tell her about us?"

"Yes, I think it's absolutely necessary." Vaughn replied. "Maybe it'll speed up the trust issue if she thinks you're willing to talk about your personal life with her."

"Ugh, mother-daughter bonding?" Sydney groaned. "Do you know how much that idea totally repulses me?"

"It's for the greater good, Syd." Vaughn said sympathetically. "The faster she trusts you and me, the sooner she'll send us out together and then hopefully we can make a break for it."

"I suppose you're right." She grimaced. "God, I just hope all that phony kissing-up to her won't turn me into another sycophant like Sark!" At the mention of her…whatever he was, Sydney suddenly remembered she hadn't even had a chance to tell Vaughn her other big news.

"Sark? He's here?"

"Yes, he's here and it appears he has a bigger role in Irina's organization than we originally thought." Sydney said matter-of-factly. "Maybe even over Khasinau."

"I don't get it." Vaughn shook his head. "What is he? 24? 25? How is he so high up on the food chain at such a young age?"

Her mouth quirked. "He's 22, actually, and I think his high standing might have something to do with the fact that Irina is his mother." Sydney was surprised she didn't gag as those words came out of her mouth.

"She's his what?" Vaughn was flabbergasted. "Sydney, that means that he's--"

"--my brother, I know." She finished for him, shuddering at the thought.

"Whoa," Vaughn was absolutely floored. "No wonder he's been able to rise so quickly through the ranks."

"Nepotism at its finest." Sydney said sarcastically.

"Do you think it's the truth or do you think they're just trying to mess with your head?"

"It's possible they could be lying to me, but I don't know why they would do it unless they want me so shell-shocked I can't think straight, like you said." She shrugged. "The thing is, he seems to worship the ground she walks on and it just doesn't feel like an act with him." Sydney wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"You know, I used to wish I had a brother or a sister when I was a kid, especially after Irina left us and my dad was away so much of the time. I thought I wouldn't be so lonely if I had someone around who was going through the same thing." She made a face. "I guess I should be careful what I wish for."

Vaughn nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, I actually felt the same way after my dad died. My mom focused all of her attentions on me and it got stifling once in awhile. If there had been someone else around, it definitely would have taken off some of the pressure."

Sydney became silent and Vaughn thought she was thinking about her father. "This is going to be real tough on Jack, isn't it?" He took her hand in his, massaging her knuckles with his thumb. "I mean, finding out he's had a son for all these years and never knew it?"

"That's another reason why I hate her!" Sydney suddenly jumped up off the bed, startling Vaughn. "Because of what this is going to do to him!" She went over to the window and leaned against the wall with her back to him. He saw her shoulders heaving as she sobbed and it tore at his heart.

Vaughn stood up on his wobbly legs and walked over to her. "Syd, there's more to this than just the fact that she kept Sark a secret all these years, isn't it?" He said gently, bracing himself by holding on to her shoulders as he turned her around. "What else is there?"

Sydney turned a pair of stormy eyes on Vaughn. "Sark is not my father's son." Her voice was wooden. "He is the product of an affair she had with Arvin Sloane." She suddenly crumpled into his arms.

Vaughn caught her and held Sydney close against him, stroking his hand lightly over her hair. "I can't believe this, Sydney. Your mother and Sloane?"

She pulled back to look at him. "My father once told me that she detested him, but obviously a little thing like loathing doesn't mean squat in the spy game." Her voice was harsh.

"Finding this out just makes me despise her even more!" Sydney spat out. "How could she let him touch her? How could they do that to Emily? Besides the fact that Emily was her friend, I can't believe that someone who is always going on and on about how devoted he is to his wife would do such a thing! It's just a load of crap."

Vaughn looked grim. "They both must have had their reasons, however twisted."

"Twisted is a good word for it." She agreed bitterly. They suddenly heard a loud gong reverberate through the trees. Sydney turned her head to look out the window. The late afternoon had turned into dusk.

"I think that's the dinner bell." She surmised. "Irina told me she wanted my answer by then."

"Do you think I'm invited?" Vaughn asked hopefully. "I'm starving."

Sydney looked at him and her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, God, I am such an idiot! You haven't had anything to eat or drink for almost 24 hours! I should have had one of Irina's minions get you something the moment you woke up!" She gave him an apologetic look.

"Well, we were busier with more important topics of conversation." Vaughn smiled lazily, nuzzling against her neck.

"Mmmm," Sydney purred like a cat. "I am sorry, though, Michael." She murmured. "Can I at least get you a drink of water? We've been talking so much and your throat must be dry--" She was suddenly aware that Vaughn had stopped kissing her neck and had pulled back to give her an odd look.

At the same time, Sydney realized what she had just said. "Oh, Michael, I guess even looking at a glass of water isn't very high on your list right now, is it?" She said sheepishly.

"I think I can honestly say I have no desire to ever go to the beach, take a shower, ride a water slide…" Vaughn said matter-of-factly and then he grinned at her to show he was only joking. "Seriously though, Syd, it was definitely a traumatic experience and I will need some time to get over it, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go all Pigpen from the Peanuts cartoon on you."

She smiled at his joke. "Good, because I kind of like the way you smell after you've just come out of the shower." She said coyly.

Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "And just how do you know how I smell when I come out of the shower, Ms. Bristow?"

"A couple of times your hair was still wet when we met at the warehouse." She replied with a saucy grin. "I figured you must have just come from the gym."

How could he have ever thought she never noticed him? Sydney laughed at the adorable flush reddening his face and then kissed his cheek.

"Michael, I'm going to leave you now to go talk to Irina about what we've decided to do." She told him. "You go clean up a bit and in the meantime, I'll ask if she'll let you move into the main house."

"All right." Vaughn caught her hand just as she turned. "Sydney?" Her fingers felt warm in his hand.

"Yes?" She looked at him expectantly, marveling again that he was here and he was alive.

"I just wanted to tell you again that I love you." He said softly, giving her a little smile.

Her heart nearly melted. "I love you, too, Michael." She murmured, showing off her dimples as she returned his happy grin. "I'll see you in a bit."

To be continued…

Author's Note: Nothing to say really; I've just gotten used to leaving these at the end of a chapter.   I hope everyone is enjoying the ride so far and if you are, please let me know about it because your feedback is what keeps me going!  Thanks for your time.☺