Author: Kim Phan

E-mail: hibiscus_sweetie@hotmail.com

Rating: PG for now, maybe PG-13 later

Disclaimer: Look all I own is my journal which I barely even write in. I don't Alias, its characters, and/or anything else. Don't sue! Please I don't think I'll even have money for college.

Archive: Don't have one at the moment, but if you want it, take it. Just credit me and an e-mail would be nice. :)

Feedback: Please, pretty please?? Be easy on me though. It's my first ever fan fic.

Summary: This takes place 10 years after SD-6 is gone and Sydney has quit the CIA. She is not with Vaughn and has moved back to L.A. after being in New York for the past 7 years. She is not alone though, and by chance the two people she hoped would never meet, somehow find each other. Not what you think! Total S/V fic!

Author's Note: Thank you to all the readers for such wonderful reviews. I'm sorry I had to leave you hanging like that. I know what that's like considering the many fan fics I've read. Don't worry. I'll be writing more chapters throughout the day. Probably less cliffhangers.

Chapter 3

"Sydney! Sydney!" Vaughn cried. *What is she doing here? and Mom? Joey's her son??* Vaughn thought as he tried to get Sydney to wake up. Finally after a minute or two, she seemed to be coming around.

"Hmm.. Vaughn?" Sydney mumbled as she began to wake up. Suddenly she remembered what had happened and wanted to faint again. *What is he doing here? Why is he Joey's coach??* Sydney thought as she pulled herself up.

"Mom? What's going on? Do you know him?" Joey asked, clearly confused. Although he had just introduced them, they seemed to know each other well. When his mom had passed out, his coach had started to panic and there were worry lines on his forehead. *Something was not right* Joey thought.

"What? Oh no, Joey. We've just met. Look why don't you go practice some more, okay? I'll talk to Mr. Vaughn here about the hockey team." Sydney lied as she started to sit up. Joey didn't believe her for one second, but thought he would leave it be for now. Turning around, he skated into the ice rink. Sydney sighed.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in New York?" Vaughn said angrily. Sydney looked at the ground. She dared not look into his eyes for fear of what she might find. Gaining her logic back, she realized something and started to get angry too.

"Me? What about you! I thought you were moving!" Sydney replied just as angrily. *I'm going to kill Francie! She told me that Vaughn was moving!* Sydney thought.

"Moving? Who told you I was moving?" Vaughn asked, "Wait a minute. Did Francie tell you that?" Although Syd and him weren't together, he still kept in touch with Francie to see how Sydney was doing. He couldn't figure out why Francie didn't tell him that Sydney had moved back though.

"Yeah, so?" Sydney replied.

Vaughn sighed. "Well, the truth was I was going to move, but decided to stay here. My sister's kid wanted to play hockey, but there's no little league team here so I volunteered. Moving didn't seem that important," Vaughn explained, "What about you? What in world brought you back to LA?"

"Well, I missed home, and when Francie told me you were moving, it seemed like the perfect time to move back." Sydney replied quietly getting ready for his angry remark. She just knew it was coming.

"What? Do you hate me that much? You know you were the one who left in the first place. I should be the angry one! I should be the one avoiding you, not the other way around!" Vaughn replied angrily, trying to keep his voice down.

"Excuse me? You were the one sleeping with that bimbo!" Sydney cried. She couldn't seem to talk rationally. Maybe it was best they don't continue this conversation right now.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Vaughn replied. By now, they had the attention of all the parents on the benches. Their kids all forgotten at the moment so they could focus their attention on the bickering pair.

Finally noticing the parents, Sydney calmed down and answered, "Look, it's obvious we have an audience. Why don't we continue this somewhere more private?" Vaughn sighed and nodded. They didn't need to argue in front of his hockey players' parents. He didn't want to make a wrong impression on them already.

"Why don't we go outside and.." Vaughn said before he was interrupted by his pager.

"Oh, no! I completely forgot about my sister's wedding anniversary. I was supposed to take Eric home and then get ready for the party," Vaughn remembered. Sydney breathed a sigh of relief. If they did this later, at least everyone involved would be more calm and she could have time to figure out what to say.

"Look, here's my number. Call me and we can meet somewhere to talk," Sydney said handing him a piece of paper with a number on it. Vaughn ran his fingers through his hair and nodded silently. *God I wish I could run my fingers through his hair! Why am I thinking like this? I should concentrate on our problem.* Sydney thought.

"Well, I better go," Vaughn replied. Sydney looked up and saw the anguish and confusion in his eyes. Standing up, he walked down the benches and said something to the assistant coach before he walked out the door. She turned her attention back to the ice rink to find Joey and all the other kids skating out of the ice rink. *Practice must be over* she thought.

"So, Mom? Can I join the team?" Joey asked as he meet his mom at the exit. Sydney realized Vaughn and her hadn't even discussed it or Joey at all in fact. She silently sighed.

"Um. Sure Joey. Why not?" Sydney gave in. *What's the point? It's not like she would be able to keep Vaughn out of Joey's life once he found out the truth. At least Joey will be happy for awhile.* Sydney thought.

"Yes! Thanks Mom!" Joey smiled.

On the ride home, Sydney could barely concentrate on the road. Her mind was on Vaughn and their conversation. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to say that he should be the hurt one. She gripped the steering wheel harder.

Once they got home, Joey ran into his room to watch the Kings game. Sydney was relieved. She really didn't want to answer any of Joey's questions at the moment. Grimacing, she realized that she probably ran a ton of red lights on the way home.

As she started to relax on the couch, Sydney heard the phone ring. *Ugh! Who could be calling right now?* Sydney thought as she picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Syd! What's up?" Francie asked. She remembered what had happened at the ice rink. Sydney couldn't believe the nerve of her best friend. . Francie had known all along that Vaughn wasn't moving.

"I saw Vaughn. He's coaching Joey's classes." Sydney asked in an angry tone, "Francie! I can not believe you! You knew he wasn't moving! You knew I didn't want to see him again and yet you set me up! Why?"

"Look Syd. Please don't be mad at me. It's just that he seems so sad when he talks about you and you're always asking about him. I just didn't understand why you guys just didn't talk to each other. I was sick of being the middle person. Besides Michael has a right to know about his son. He's a good guy, Syd. You know that. The least you could do for him was let him see his son. I was going to set something up for you two to meet, but it seems like you met by fate." Francie explained.

"Fate? You mean you didn't know he was Joey's coach?" Sydney asked confused.

"No. I didn't even know he coached hockey. It's been awhile since I last talked to him." Francie replied.

"Well, still. You should have told me he wasn't moving." Sydney reasoned.

"But Sydney.." Francie started but was interrupted by Sydney.

"No buts!" Sydney said as she sighed, "Look, it's complicated, okay? Besides you have no right to take the decision out of my hands like that. Joey's my son. I'm sorry if you thought you were stuck in the middle of us but you still shouldn't have lied to me." Sydney said.

"Look Syd. I just hated to see the both of you suffering like that. Michael has become a good friend of mine. We get together once a month and talk. It's mostly about you. He misses you so much. When he told me he had thought about moving and changed his mind, I knew I had to get you to come back. What if he had moved? He would have never had the chance to meet Joey. Would you really want that?" Francie reasoned. Sydney sighed realizing that Francie was right and that she still didn't call Vaughn, Michael.

"I guess not. Why do you have to be right? I hate it when you're right. I can't stay mad at you if you're right." Sydney said. Francie laughed.

"So tell me, what happened?" Francie asked eagerly.

"Well, Joey said he wanted me to meet his coach because Joey wanted to join the hockey team. So I was dragged over to Vaughn who I didn't see at first. I saw the assistant coach, but then he skated over to us and Joey introduced us. As soon as he was done with the introducing, I fainted..."

"Wait, you fainted? Wow. You must have been really shocked." Francie interrupted.

"Anyways, as I was saying, I fainted and when I woke up, I remembered what had happened. I told Joey to go practice and then Vaughn and I started arguing. At one point we got so loud that all the parents of the hockey players were watching us. We were going to go outside to continue our conversation when Vaughn's pager interrupted us. Apparently, he had to go to his sister's wedding anniversary and was already running late. I gave him my number so that we could get together and talk and he left," Sydney finished.

"Hmm... interesting. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you didn't tell him that Joey was his son," Francie said.

"Well... no. There was no time. We were still talking about what we were doing there." Sydney explain.

"You are going to tell him though right?" Silence. "Sydney?!?"

"Yes, of course I'll tell him. Just maybe not yet," Sydney said.

"Well, you better tell him soon. Look, I gotta go. My restaurant got a new chef and I've got to go make sure he hasn't burned down my kitchen," Francie replied wryly. Sydney laughed. Francie was always worried about her chefs. She keeps saying she has nightmares about them burning down the kitchen.

"Alright. I'll talk to you later. Are you still coming over tomorrow night?" Sydney asked.

"Of course. I know you. You probably only have one box unpacked." Francie replied. Sydney laughed. Francie knew her too well.

"Bye."

"Bye."

* So? What did you guys think? See no cliffhanger this time. I've decided that I might do a whole other story about Vaughn perspective in all this. What do you think?