Author's Note: Beginning is slightly R-rated.  Please read at your own discretion.

*     *     *     *     *

A shaft of morning sunlight filtered into the room through the open curtains, hitting Michael Vaughn squarely in one eye. It was enough to rouse him from the best night of sleep he'd had in weeks and he groaned, turning over onto his side. He tried to go back to the dream he'd been awakened from, but it was no use. He let out a mildly irritated sigh and opened his eyes. What he saw made him realize that it hadn't been a dream.

Sydney was lying beside him in bed, the sheets tangled around her body rather enticingly. The sexy curve of one of her legs peeked out from beneath the pale gold silk while the rest of her was discreetly covered up. Her normally silky-smooth brown hair lay slightly tousled against the pillow and her lovely face was in complete repose. She looked at peace for the first time in weeks.

Vaughn wanted to reach out to touch her--just to be sure she was real--so that he would have tangible proof that his deepest fantasy had finally come true. The night they had spent together had been everything he had hoped it would be--from wild and rapturous to gentle and giving to sensual and intimate. Sydney was beautiful and alluring and passionate and the fact that they were now lovers added an exciting dimension to their already complex relationship.

The goddess suddenly stirred and stretched her arms above her head, the top of the sheet slipping down just slightly enough to reveal the slope of her breasts, much to his delight. Sydney opened her eyes to find him gazing at her.

"Hi." She said softly, giving him a blissfully happy smile.

"Hi." Vaughn smiled back at her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mmmm." Sydney purred like a kitten having her tummy rubbed, which affected him more than he thought it would. "You?"

"The best night I've had in months." He replied, unable to resist her any longer. His hand snaked under the sheets in search of her warm body and he kissed her good morning with only one intention on his mind. Sydney responded in kind, her fingers grasped the back of his head as she pulled him on top of her.

Her arousal matched his own with an intensity that made their coupling all the more pleasurable. She gave herself freely to him and he made sure he was equally as generous.

Some time later, the two of them were lying around, still in bed. Vaughn was propped up against the pillows while Sydney was on her stomach resting on her elbows, a pose which presented him with a very enjoyable view. "Michael, do you remember what you asked me last night?" She suddenly asked.

"I asked you to marry me and you said yes." He cut his eyes at the vaguely apprehensive expression on her face and his forehead creased. "Are you having second thoughts?" He asked, equally anxious now.

"No!" She said quickly. "Are you?"

"No." Vaughn replied without a moment's hesitation.

"Really?"

"Syd…" If there was one thing she had learned about him after a few weeks of spending every day together, it was that he hated when she waffled and didn't tell him straight out what she was feeling.

"Okay." She gave in. "I just want to be sure you didn't ask me because we just had sex for the first time." Sydney remarked in an unusually frank manner.

"Sydney!" Vaughn pretended to be appalled.

"Well, it was an emotional moment, Michael." She pointed out unnecessarily.

"I think I can separate love and sex, Sydney." He said dryly.

"Great sex, I might add." She gave him an impish smile.

"Phenomenal sex." He agreed and then caressed her cheek with his hand. "I asked you to marry me because I'm in love with you, Sydney, and I fell for you a long time before we ever slept together."

"Good answer." She gave him a sunny smile, which faded rather quickly. "Michael, do you think we'll ever be able to do this for real?"

"Are you telling me that everything that happened last night and this morning hasn't been real?" Vaughn asked teasingly. "I know it felt real to me every time it happened and you had obvious physical proof of that." He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Michael, you know what I mean." Sydney felt a blush rise to her cheeks. This slightly racy side of him still took some getting used to, but the fact that it even existed was something she adored. It made her reflect about all the things she had yet to learn about him and the thought of having that chance thrilled and excited her. She never wanted him to be able to stop surprising her. "Will we ever be able to do a simple thing like take a vacation together without worrying the wrong person might see us in a shop or having dinner or even just holding hands?"

"Oh, you mean like normal people do." He said exaggeratedly.

"Yeah, like normal people take for granted." She said soberly. "When I was a kid, I equated normal with boring and I swore to myself that I would never be like that. Now I would give anything to have a normal, boring life."

Vaughn gave her a sympathetic look. "Come here, Syd." He gathered Sydney into his arms. "We just have to be patient, sweetheart. Our first priority is to get away from Irina. Once we do that, we can go home and get back to our main objective, which is to take down SD-6."

"And that'll happen one day, right?" Sydney wanted him to reassure her. "SD-6 will be obliterated, Sloane will go to prison, the Alliance will be destroyed and I can have my life back?"

"Right, Sydney." Vaughn said softly. "We will have everything we want. The four-bedroom house, the two-car garage, a flower garden in the backyard and a nice big lawn I get to mow every Sunday in the front."

Sydney giggled at the thought. "You like to mow the lawn?"

"No, actually, I hate it because it was one of my chores as a kid and we had this old push mower that wasn't gasoline-powered." He made a face. "But having to mow the lawn would be a sign of a normal life and I would welcome it."

Sydney looked up at him and smiled. "You know, four bedrooms is an awful lot of space for just you and me." She pointed out with a suggestive look on her face.

"I thought we had to have a lot of bedrooms for all those kids you wanted." He teased her. "Didn't you mention something about having two pairs of each to that pretty little hotel clerk?"

"I think I was exaggerating." Sydney rolled her eyes. "I don't even know if I could handle one."

He brushed a strand of hair that had fallen across her face. "You'll be a terrific mom, Sydney."

She smiled at him. "And you'll be a great dad." The two of them wondered silently about their future and how long they would have to wait for it. They both knew it wouldn't come as quickly as they wanted it to.

"Well, all of that is something we have to look forward to, but in the meantime, we can get a lot of practice time in." Vaughn shot her a fairly lascivious look. His arms tightened around her and he felt something stirring as her naked body squirmed against him with pleasure.

"Practice does make perfect." Sydney murmured with a giggle. She saw him grin right before he lowered his head to claim her lips with his own.

*     *     *     *     *

Sydney and Vaughn had showered, dressed and were ready to leave by nine-thirty that morning. She wanted to get back to the hotel to check on what Sark was up to plus they still had things to do before their mission later on that afternoon.

Vaughn was doing a last onceover of the room to be sure they hadn't forgotten anything when he spotted Sydney's rings on the bedside table.

"Hey, don't forget these." He handed them to her as she came out of the bathroom.

"Thanks." She replied. "Is your finger turning green? I think mine is." She made a face as she slipped the rings on her finger.

Vaughn examined his finger. "No, it looks okay so far." He picked up her hand to inspect it. "I think you're imagining it."

"I see a green tinge happening." She insisted.

"Whatever, Syd." He kissed her hand and then held it a few seconds longer to gaze at the "diamonds" on her finger. "Incidentally, my marriage proposal does come with a real engagement ring to be followed later. I kind of caught myself off-guard by asking you before I was prepared, but I just couldn't wait." He gave her a sheepish look, which touched her heart.

"It's okay." Sydney smiled at him. "The important thing is that you asked and I said yes."

"I know, but I wouldn't want you to think these fake rocks you're wearing are all you're going to get from me." He looked adorably shy for some reason.

"Oh, Michael," She kissed him gently on the lips. "I wouldn't care if my ring was clear glass as long as you're the one giving it to me." Sydney declared emphatically and then a twinkle came into her eyes. "Of course, if you're asking for suggestions, I am rather partial to platinum and as many carats as my finger can hold without being weighted down." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and Vaughn laughed at her.

After an excellent breakfast prepared by Signora Bertolucci, Sydney and Vaughn took a taxi back to the Hotel Bellini. Sydney felt vaguely self-conscious as they climbed out of the taxi dressed in their evening clothes, but no one on the street seemed to pay them any mind. A thought came to her mind as they walked into the lobby of the hotel.

She grabbed hold of his arm to stop him in his tracks. "Mi--François, do you think Sark is staying in our hotel?" Sydney murmured to him in French.

He looked thoughtful. "I think it's a possibility. If his plan was to bug our room, it would have made it easier for him to plant them if he had access to the upper floors."

"No doubt he used some of his questionable charm in order to dupe one of the chambermaids into letting him into our room." Sydney said distastefully as she threw a glance at the lone desk clerk standing behind the check-in desk. "Do you mind if I go look into it?" She motioned to the desk clerk.

"Be my guest." Vaughn kissed her cheek and wandered into the gift shop.

Sydney walked up to the desk clerk, a fully-dimpled smile pasted on her face. The tall skinny man with dark hair and eyes was not immune to her charms and returned her smile with a warm one of his own.

"Buon giorno, how may I help you?" He asked pleasantly, openly admiring the radiant young woman standing before him.

"Buon giorno…Marco." Sydney's eyes lit upon his nametag and then leaned over the counter in a conspiratorial fashion. "I was wondering if I could find out from you if my brother has checked into the hotel." She gave a flutter of her eyelashes.

"Ah, I'm sorry, sig--" The clerk made a swift glance down to her left hand and noted the wedding ring with some regret. Oh, well, there was no harm in looking, was there? "--signora, but it is against hotel policy to give out information on our guests."

"But I'm his sister." Sydney said cajolingly.

"I am sorry, signora, but I have no proof of that and even if you were, it would still be against hotel policy." Marco said regretfully.

She settled her face into a pretty pout. "Please, won't you reconsider? He's my baby brother and I haven't seen him in ages. When I found out he was in Rome, I knew he would come here to his favorite hotel!" Sydney looked appealingly winsome.

The desk clerk appeared to be weakening. Beautiful women had always been his downfall. "Well, I suppose I could check the computer. What is his name?"

Sydney struggled to keep from giving him a blank look. Uh-oh, she thought frantically. She didn't have a clue as to what name Sark would use while undercover. Then she spotted the old-fashioned leather sign-in register on the counter next to the computer and realized she would have to use her talent for embellishment once again.

"Would you mind if I looked at that register?" She smiled sweetly.

Marco raised a questioning eyebrow. "Signora?"

"Look, I'm going to let you in on a little family secret." She began in a whisper. "My father is an extremely wealthy man, but he and my brother have never seen eye to eye on anything. My father likes to be in control of everyone and everything, including my brother. That's why he ran off, to get away from our father." Sydney pretended to get choked-up.

"Now I find out he's in Rome, but I know he's not going to use his real name wherever he is because my father would find out and drag him back home." Sydney gave the clerk a final lip quiver. "If you would just let me see the register, maybe I could figure out what name he is using."

The soft-hearted desk clerk felt sorry for the distressed young woman standing before him and he couldn't stand to see her looking as if she was about to cry. He gave a surreptitious look around and then handed her the register. "Please hurry." He exhorted her in a low voice.

"Oh, thank you!" Sydney wiped a non-existent tear from her eye and opened the leather-bound cover.

Her eyes quickly scanned down the list of names. She knew Sark wouldn't be so foolhardy as to use his real name, so she was looking for a French surname to play along with the fact that she and Vaughn were posing as French tourists.

Unfortunately, none of the people who had checked in after they did yesterday had a name sounding even remotely French (well, there was someone by the name of Moreau staying at the hotel, but somehow she didn't think Sark would be going by the first name of Vivienne), so she flipped the page back and perused the names of the guests who had checked in the day before.

A-ha! She thought triumphantly. Sebastién Daigneault – Check-in time 3:00 pm. Sydney rolled her eyes at Sark's amateurish attempt to remain incognito. Hadn't Irina taught him anything about being a spy? You didn't choose an alias based on your real initials!

"Excuse me, it appears my brother checked in two days ago." Sydney pointed at the name in the register. "Could you give me his room number?"

"I'm sorry, signora, but it is against hotel policy to give out information on our guests." Marco went through his old song-and-dance routine once again.

"But you just let me look at the register!"

The clerk looked nervously at the hotel manager's office. His boss had just come in and was hanging up his coat. He could not break the rules in front of the boss, not even for the beautiful woman standing before him.

"I'm sorry, signora, but if you would like to use the hotel phone, the operator will connect you to your brother's room." He gestured towards the alcove around the corner.

No, that wouldn't work, Sydney decided. If she wanted to stick it to Sark, he had to be able to see her doing it. "Never mind, I think I will let my brother sleep in a little while longer. Molte grazie." Sydney gave him a smile that showed off her dimples and went off to retrieve Vaughn.

Vaughn was by the newsstand, reading a copy of USA Today. Sydney's eyes widened. A Frenchman wouldn't be reading an American newspaper. Well, he could, she supposed, but it might raise a few eyebrows after they'd gone to so much trouble pretending to be French.

"François!" She said curtly.

Vaughn looked up, a guilty look on his face. He knew exactly why she had used such a sharp tone with him.

"Je suis désolé, Amélie." (I'm sorry.) He said sheepishly, rolling up the newspaper and putting it under his arm. Vaughn then took her into his embrace and leaned in close. To the casual observer, the man was just kissing his wife on the cheek. "I'm sorry, Syd. I guess I was just feeling a little homesick." He whispered softly in her ear. He placed a kiss near the base of her ear, partly for show, but mostly because he wanted to.

Sydney's expression had softened by the time they faced each other again. "I understand." She murmured softly, brushing her fingers lovingly against his cheek. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Come on." She led him towards the exit.

"Wait, I thought we were going to confront Sark?" Vaughn said in a low voice as soon as they were outside the confines of the hotel.

"The clerk wouldn't tell me his room number, but I did find out that the little sneak checked in a whole day before we arrived!" Sydney fumed.

"How did you find that out?"

"I looked at the register." She replied matter-of-factly.

Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "They let you look at the hotel register, but they wouldn't give you Sark's room number? Isn't that like closing the barn door after the animals have escaped?"

"I think he got squeamish when the manager arrived." Sydney shrugged.

"Oh, it was a he." Vaughn's eyes gleamed. "No wonder you managed to charm your way into getting to see the register."

"Michael!" Sydney tried to look embarrassed, but failed miserably. "Okay, so I might have used a little of my feminine wiles, not that it did me much good." She looked pouty.

"That's because you used them on the wrong man." Vaughn said superciliously. "Your feminine wiles should only be used on me."

A slow smile spread across Sydney's face. "And then I get everything I want, is that it?" She melted against him and felt supremely safe and protected when his arms went around her.

"Everything I can give you." Vaughn promised, right before he tightened his arms around her and he bent his head to kiss her.

"Oh, Michael," Sydney sighed a few moments later as she rested her chin on his shoulder. "I can't believe we're doing something as normal as kissing in public and people aren't descending upon us to drag us apart."

"Someday, Syd, someday." He murmured. "Do you want to forget about Sark and go upstairs to change? We still have to go over our specs and double-check our equipment before tonight."

Sydney suddenly spotted the phone across the street. "Wait a minute." She started to cross the street. "We can still get Little Brother yet."

"Michael, do you have the number of the hotel?" She dug up some change from her handbag and inserted the coins into the phone.

Vaughn checked his wallet. "Here." He handed her the hotel receipt he had signed when they checked in.

Sydney dialed the number and connected to the operator. "Buon giorno, you have reached the Hotel Bellini. How may I direct your call?" A pleasant-sounding woman's voice came over the line.

"I'd like to speak to one of your guests." She said in a crisp voice. "Sebastién Daigneault's room, please."

"Grazie, I will connect you."

There was a momentary pause and then Sark's voice came over the line. "Yes?" He sounded harried as if he hadn't slept all night.

"Oooh, someone sounds as if he got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!" Sydney chirped sweetly.

"Where the devil are you?" Sark bellowed into the phone. Sydney noted with amusement how his accent became more pronounced when he was stressed. "You're at the American Embassy, aren't you? You've deserted Mother just as I always knew you would." His voice was filled with smug satisfaction.

"Think again, Sherlock." Sydney said, annoyed in spite of herself.

"Well, I know for a fact that you're not in your room!"

"And just how would you know that?" She countered. "You bastard, you did bug our room, didn't you?"

Sark's moment of silence said it all. "Someone had to keep an eye on you, Sydney." He replied glibly, seemingly unconcerned that she had found him out.

"So that's why you're here?" She gave a brittle laugh. "You did a real bang-up job of keeping an eye on us, didn't you, Little Brother? Mummy will be so disappointed in you." Sydney cooed sarcastically.

Sark hated when Sydney mocked him like that because he never wanted to do anything to displease Irina and he didn't like being taunted about it when he did so.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but Mother doesn't trust you as much as you think she does." His voice was snide.

"Or maybe you whispered in her ear that I couldn't be trusted." Sydney shot back at him.

"And evidently that was the case, considering you ditched the hotel." Sark retorted.

"Only because you were so obviously inept about spying on us, Sebastién." Sydney goaded him. "Don't you know anything about choosing an alias?"

Sark flushed, grateful that Sydney could not see him. He had thought using his initials would make it easier to remember, but he had clearly made a grand faux pas when it came to playing spy games.

"Where are you?" Sark abruptly changed the subject.

Sydney smiled to herself. Baiting Sark was such fun because she knew she could always get a rise out of him. Although she wouldn't miss him, she would kind of miss their antagonistic sibling repartee.

"Take a look outside your window." She suggested sweetly.

Sark ran over to the window and pushed the curtains aside with an impatient gesture. Sydney and Vaughn were down below on the opposite side of the street, waving at him from a payphone. They were still dressed in their evening clothes and for some strange reason, looked deliriously happy.

"Oh, so you and the boytoy stayed out all night, did you?" Sark smirked. "Did he finally get some last night?"

The grin left her face immediately, much to his delight. "Don't be crude." She said witheringly. "Or are you just jealous because you know you don't have a chance in hell of getting laid anytime soon when you're tied so tightly to Mummy's apron strings?" Vaughn, who was at her side listening in, raised an eyebrow at that one.

"Now who's being crude?" Sark remarked dryly.

"Look, I really don't want to discuss this with you of all people." Sydney said dismissively. "Just tell me if you're here to observe or here to help."

"Well, I was actually not supposed to reveal myself until later on today when you were ready to leave for the mission." Sark admitted. "But since you've found me out ahead of time, the least I can do is help to make sure that things run smoothly." He reasoned. "So let's call a truce, Sydney, at least for today?"

She didn't trust him, but she agreed. If he was in her line of sight, she could at least keep tabs on him. "Fine."

"Good, now why don't the two of you change into more appropriate daytime attire and I will do the same." Sark suggested. "Then we will meet in my room for breakfast and a bit of strategizing."

"All right." Sydney replied. "What room are you in?"

"Right next door to yours, Sis." He cackled softly.

She angrily hung up the phone. "He's in the room right next door to us, Michael." Sydney said through clenched teeth. "That's how he got in to bug our room."

"Through the connecting door." Vaughn nodded.

She gave a frustrated sigh. "Well, come on, let's go upstairs to change our clothes. He wants to meet in his room to go over the plans."

Vaughn took her hand and led her across the street.

*     *     *     *     *

Twenty minutes later, Sark greeted them at the door to his room with a knowing smirk on his face. Sydney ignored him and stepped into the room, Vaughn closely on her heels. Room service had obviously come and gone, as a breakfast cart holding a carafe of hot coffee and a basket of croissants and pastries was already set up in the corner of the room.

Sark played the role of courteous host as he invited them to join him in his morning meal. Since they had already eaten at the B&B, both Sydney and Vaughn declined. Sark replied with a shrug and then asked Vaughn if he could see the schematic of the sewer. Business matters dominated the conversation for the next half hour.

"Sydney, why are you being so stubborn?" Sark frowned at her.

"You're not coming with us on the mission, Sark." Sydney shook her head.

"But I'm here, so I might as well help." He pointed out.

"Well, that's the operative word here, isn't it?" She arched an eyebrow. "I'm not sure how much of a 'help' you'd be."

"Why would I do anything to sabotage the mission, Sydney?" Sark feigned a wounded look. "If you're successful in obtaining the portrait, it's good news for all of us. I'm certainly not going to cut off my nose to spite my face."

Sydney reluctantly agreed that he had a point. He was so devoted to Irina that there was no way he would deliberately undermine the operation. For Sark, it was all about pleasing Irina; he simply hated to see her disappointed.

She looked at Vaughn. "Should we let him drive the van?"

"I don't see how it could hurt." He replied. "We might need to make a quick getaway, so we don't want to be fumbling for keys in the dark."

Sydney nodded and then looked at Sark. "Okay, you can drive the van, but I swear if you do anything to screw with us, I will beat you up." She said without a trace of a smile.

Sark understood that she wasn't kidding with him. "I won't let you down, Sis." He said solemnly.

"Not if you know what's good for you." Sydney said dryly, tucking away a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Where did you get that?" Sark suddenly pointed at her, the look on his face positively thunderous.

"What?" Sydney looked down at herself in confusion. "Did I spill coffee on myself or something?"

"That ring!" He barked out.

Sydney stared at him. "Get a grip, will you?" She said chastisingly. "They're fakes. Irina gave them to us before we left Taipei."

"Sydney and I are supposed to be married, you know." Vaughn put in.

"And Irina's all for putting a realistic touch on everything." Sydney added ironically.

Sark gave her a flabbergasted look. "I thought women were supposed to know about things like diamonds." He said derisively.

"Sark, they're not diamonds." She said exasperatedly. "I just told you it was a prop!"

Sark clenched his teeth. "Sydney, that 'prop,' as you call it, is a cherished family heirloom!" He hissed at her.

Her mouth dropped open. "Are you crazy?" She burst out.

"That ring was our grandmother's engagement ring, Sydney." He informed her haughtily. "As soon as she came back home from tending to you all those years, that ring never left her finger until the day she died."

Sydney looked down at her left hand in utter shock. She caught Vaughn's equally stunned gaze and held it for a few moments.

"Why would Irina give me her mother's engagement ring?" Sydney asked slowly.

Sark narrowed his eyes. "Think about it, Sydney!" He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Michael?" Her voice was hollow, uncomprehending. "Why did she do it?"

"I don't know, Sydney." He was just as bewildered as she was.

"Do you think she knew about our plans somehow?" She asked, just to say something, not expecting him to know the answer. "Did she want me to have something to remember her by just in case we were successful in getting away from her?"

Vaughn shook his head. "No, I can't believe she would have even let us off the estate if she knew what we were planning to do."

"Then I don't get it." Her legs felt shaky and she sank onto the bed.

"Syd, she couldn't have known that you'd find out about the ring." Vaughn remarked. "Sark told us that he wasn't supposed to make contact with us until we were due to leave for the mission and at that point, he would have been more concerned that things were running on schedule. He certainly wouldn't have been paying attention to any jewelry you might be wearing."

"Then she did it to try to manipulate me." Sydney said darkly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how she's constantly trying to strengthen her maternal bond with me and what better way to do that than to use her own mother?" She queried. "She knows I loved the woman who I thought of as Mrs. Tennyson, that I saw her as the grandmother I wished I had. So she uses it against me by pawning off her mother's engagement ring on me."

"Only she doesn't tell me straight out that it's some precious family heirloom because she knows I would be suspicious that she was trying to play with my emotions." The more Sydney began to plot out her mother's intentions, the more upset she became. "Instead she has you give it to me and since it's coming right after she gave us the phony wedding rings, naturally I assume that it's a fake as well and I don't think anything about it."

"But you think she had some ulterior motive?"

"I think she was planning to spring it on me after the mission was over." Her eyes narrowed. "She knew I would eventually return the rings to her and that's when she would say in her oh-so-innocent way, 'No, no, Sydney, your grandmother would want you to have it.'" Sydney pretended to simper using her mother's accent.

"Of course, I would be as shocked then as I am now and she would take advantage of that by launching into some flowery speech about the great love her parents shared." Sydney looked angry. "Then when I was sufficiently moved to tears, she'd segue into some lame-assed story about how I was conceived in a similar fashion." Her voice oozed with sarcasm. "She's already set the scene by telling me that she actually cared for my father. That she wasn't just working him like some puppet on a string."

Vaughn gave her a surprised look. "You never told me Irina professed to have some real feelings for your father."

Sydney shot him a guilty look. "No, I guess I didn't." She admitted.

"Why not?" He asked, but not in an accusatory way. He just sounded curious.

Sydney hesitated slightly before speaking. "Michael, you of all people know how much I complained about all the time she made me spend with her. In the beginning, it was absolute torture for me to sit there and nod my head and say all the comforting little things she wanted to hear from me." She cut her eyes at him nervously. "But towards the end, before we left, I don't know if I was pretending all that much." Sydney finally told him about her mother's late-night visit from a few nights before.

"But now I feel like an absolute idiot!" Sydney burst out frustratedly. "She was trying to make me love her again and I was actually falling for it!"

Vaughn moved to take her into his arms. "Sydney, it's okay." He stroked her hair with a loving hand.

"No, it's not, because I don't want to love her again!" She wrenched herself out of his arms because she didn't feel worthy of being comforted by him. "Not when I know about all the terrible things she's done!"

"Syd…"

"Michael, she killed your father!" Hot tears sprang to her eyes. "How can I love the person who did that to you?"

"Sydney," Vaughn reached out to her again. "Don't feel as if you have to hate your mother for my benefit."

"I will admit I'm not very happy that she's somehow gotten you to believe in her again." He said quietly. "To me, Irina is the person who took my father away from me and my mother and there's no way I will ever accept her, Syd."

"I know that." Her lower lip trembled. "And I don't expect you to, not even for me."

"However, that being said, I'm not going to go all control freak on you and dictate how you should feel or who you should love. It's not my place and it's certainly not my right." Vaughn tipped her chin up to make sure she was looking at him. "Whether I like it or not, Sydney, she's your mother and she's always going to be your mother. I can't change that and neither can you."

"No matter how much we both want to." She said ruefully.

"Right." He agreed.

"I just feel so guilty, Michael." Sydney looked at him with troubled eyes. "I mean, what does that say about me that she could break down my defenses like that and make me start to care about her again?"

"It says you are a forgiving person and that's nothing to be ashamed of. We should all be so magnanimous."

"So you don't hate me for feeling this way?" She looked at him anxiously. "Michael, I don't want you to think I'm being disrespectful to your father--"

"Syd, be quiet." Vaughn gave her a tender look as he put a finger to her lips to silence her. "How can you even think I would ever hate you? That is simply beyond the realm of possibility." He gently kissed away a tear that had fallen onto her cheek. "You can care about your mother--you can even love her if that's how you feel--and I'll do my best to accept it because I love you. There doesn't have to be anymore to it."

Sydney gave him a look of unabashed adoration. She loved this man with her heart and her soul and everything she had to give.

"Have I told you lately that you truly are the most wonderful man in the world?" She wound her arms around his neck.

"Well, no, not in the last half hour, but I'd be willing to overlook it on one condition." Vaughn said with a mischievous smile.

"And what's that?" Her lips curved upward.

"You can kiss me until I beg you to stop." He laid a gentle hand on her cheek. "And since that's never going to happen as long as I have a breath in my body, you'd better be prepared to pucker up."

Sydney let out a lovely, joyous laugh and happily complied.

To be continued…

Author's Note: Okay, I know, Vaughn is rapidly approaching unattainable perfection, but I can't help it.  Oh, well, this is partly a fantasy, right? Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for the great feedback everyone has been giving me.  The fluff is going away for awhile as we get back to the story, but there's a very good chance that it will make another appearance as we head towards the finale.

See ya later!