The next day, Sydney reported to Sloane and handed him the forged artifact.

"I trust you had no problems?"

"Piece of cake."

He smiled. "Good. There's something I need to talk to you about. Come with me."

Sydney nervously followed him into his office, worried that one of her counter-missions
had been detected. There was an open file on Sloane's desk, and several pictures were spread
over the surface.

"We have reason to believe that you're under surveillance by an enemy agency," he told
her, handing her the photos.

She looked down at the glossy black-and-white prints and immediately recognized her
"shadow."

"Do you know him?"

Sydney fell silent, unsure of how to answer. If she told Sloane that she didn't know
Michael Vaughn, he might issue an order to kill. If she did claim to know him, she could
put both of them at risk.

"I don't think he's dangerous - maybe we just wind up in the same places."

"Maybe. But we don't want to take any chances."

She sighed. "You'd rather issue a death warrant for someone who could be innocent?"

"I don't want to, but I will if it becomes necessary," Sloane paused. "Unless, of
course, you know him."

Sydney sighed. "His name's Michael.. we met at a coffee shop.."

"There.. was that so hard?"

"Yes, considering what happened the last time I was involved with someone."

Sloane was quiet. "You bear part of that responsibility, Sydney. I don't want it to
happen again."

She nodded and stood to leave the room. A million possibilities flew through her head.
She saw Vaughn as she had once seen Danny - sprawled dead in a bathtub, covered in blood.
She had to tell him. During her lunch break, she managed to slip out of the building. She
quickly took out her cell phone, dialing the familiar number.

"Hello?"

"Vaughn, we have a problem."
----------------------------------------------------

They met again, but not at the warehouse. Sydney chose a small restaurant. The
actual Joey's Pizza. Ironic, considering her usual correspondence with the man she
was waiting for. he came in a few minutes later, shaking rain from his trench coat.
He took the seat across from her.

"You're sure nobody will see us?"

"It doesn't matter."

"What do you mean?" Vaughn asked, looking genuinely confused and
concerned.

Sydney sighed. "I've been under surveillnce. Sloane showed me pictures.
He thought I was being followed."

He was silent.

"He was going to have you killed, Vaughn. I told him I knew you."

"Oh..."

"I said that we'd met in a coffee shop - that we were getting to know
each other."

"Are you sure that was a good idea? He might check my records. He'll
know I'm CIA. He'll know that you are."

She sighed. "I couldn't just let him kill you."

Vaughn was silent again. "I'll ask Jordan to alter my records. What
else did you tell Sloane?"

"Just that we were friends; that you weren't a shadow."

He nodded. "Well... I guess I can look at you in public now..."

"I'd like that."

"And I won't have to pretend to be calling a wrong number just to
talk to you."

"Francie will certainly want to know about any guy who starts
calling for me... I should tell her about you."

"Yeah... does, uh, Sloane think we're..."

"Not that I know of. He doesn't even know your last name."

"Good. That'll give me time to get a cover set up."

"Any ideas? We should probably get a story straight."

Vaughn thought for a moment before speaking. "Ok - we met at
a coffee shop."

"I said that."

"We ordered the same thing, and you were a few people behind me."
"It was raining." Sydney smiled. She loved making up stores. Part
of her, however, was sad. If only they had truly met outside of work.

"I held the door for you on the way out. We shared a taxi to the
bank. I had to make a deposit."

"No. We both went to the library. For the same book."

"What? Smiley's People?"

She smacked his arm.

"Maybe something you read for a class," he amended, "would be safe."

"Well, in my French Lit. class, we just read Camus. The Plague and
The Stranger."

"The Stranger, then," Vaughn decided. "One of my favorites."

Sydney nodded slightly. "Yeah.. me too. I sometimes worry that I'm
turning into somebody like Meursault, though. Numb. Indifferent..."

"That will never happen, Sydney. You'd never let it."

She smiled again, somewhat sadly, before standing. "You should come
over. I'll introduce you to Francie and Will."
--------------------------------------------------------

As Sydney walked to her car, she felt filled with excitement. He was
going home with her - of course, not in the bedroom sense, but it was the
basic concept that counted in this case. It was odd, on the way home, to notice
the same car behind her and not worry about being followed. It felt strange not
to be trying to "lose a shadow." She smiled, remembering that it was Vaughn driving
the car, and turned into her driveway. He parked along the curb in front of the
building. She led him into the house.

"I called the office."

"Oh? What did Devlin say?"

"The files are fixed. But I should use this situation to my advantage. As
your handler, that is."

"Right... Francie should be home soon, and Will's likely to wind up eventually
when he gets hungry."

Her predictions were proven true as the door opened and both of her
friends entered."

"So I told her that if Charlie didn't give it up..." Francie trailed off,
noticing Sydney.

Will saw Vaughn and stopped short in his tracks. "Syd?"

Both he and Francie stood, staring at the stranger.

"Will, Francie," Sydney spoke up, "this is Michael Vaughn."

Vaughn smiled somewhat shyly. "It's, uh, nice to meet you. I've heard
a lot about both of you."

"I wish I could say the same," Francie said with a smile. "How do you
two know eachother?"

Will was staring with an intense jealousy. Sydney sighed. "Well, um, we
ran into eachother at the coffee shop, last month. We've been having breakfast
ever since."

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room.

"I, uh, should go," Vaughn broke in, "I've got an interview to
get ready for."

Sydney looked up at him gratefully. "Ok. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course. Will, Francie - nice to finally meet you." And with that,
Vaughn quickly left.

"So why haven't we heard about this Michael before?" Francie asked, rushing
towards her friend.

"Umm... I've been busy, Fran.. I just haven't had the time to remember
to tell you."

"You're a terrible liar, Syd."

Sydney laughed and dodged the skeptical look her friend shot her and
went into the kitchen.

"Oh, come on, Syd - I saw the way you two looked at each other. You didn't
forget."

"I hardly know him, Francie. There was never anything to tell."

"Then what was he doing over here?" Will questioned, entering the room.

"I was giving him back a book he lent me last week."

"What book?"

"The Stranger. Will, you've been a reporter too long."

He smiled slightly before leaning over her shoulder to see what she
was doing. "What's for dinner?"

She rolled her eyes and pushed him away playfully. "You, if you don't
quit bothering me!"

"Why do women always treat me like a piece of meat?" Will wondered out
loud as he left the kitchen.

Francie and Sydney laughed.

"Why don't you invite, uh, Michael over for dinner?"

Sydney shrugged. "I don't think Will would appreciate that."

"Yeah, well, he doesn't live here."

"Do you think I should?"

"Syd, you know me. I'm always trying to hook you up. Call him."

Sydney smiled. "Ok, okay. You keep an eye on the sauce." She left the
pesto and her friend in the kithen and grabbed her phone, pressing the speed
dial and the number one. It rang twice before he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi. It's Sydney."

Vaughn smiled in his car. "I've been gone for ten minutes."

"Yeah. I know. Francie wants to invite me over for dinner."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't know - do you want to subject yourself to my cooking?"

Vaughn laughed. "Well, if you're cooking, I'll bring something to
drink. Want a Slusho?"

She laughed as well. "I think wine would be more appropriate. You'll come?"

"Of course. I'll be there soon. Bye."

"Bye."
----------------------------------------------------

Twenty minutes after calling Vaughn, Sydney checked herself in the mirror.
She had changed into a floral print skirt and a light red v-neck blouse, the one
Francie told her wasn't modest enough to wear to work. She clipped her hair half-back
and went to check on the sauce. The smell of basil and garlic had filled the kitchen.

"You're in love with him."

Sydney turned to face Will. "What?"

"You don't dress that way for just anybody... besides, I saw the look on
your face when you were talking to him. I haven't seen that since you looked at
Danny."

She sighed. "Will..."

"It's ok, Syd. I know we'll never feel exactly the same way about each
other. I just want you to be happy. I don't want you to get hurt."

"That won't happen, Will. Michael would never hurt me."

A knock on the door disturbed them. Sydney gave her friend a quick hug.
"Do I look ok?"

"Beautiful."

She smiled and went to open the door. Vaughn stood on the porch with a
bottle of merlot. He smiled upon seeing her.

"Hey. You look great." He handed her a bouquet of flowers, holding up the
bottle. "Should I put this on ice?"

"Yeah. Come on in..." she inhaled the scent of the lilies. "They're
beautiful.. I'll get a vase."

He stepped into the foyer and slipped his coat off, following Sydney into
the kitchen where he set the wine in the waiting ice.

"Smells great," he commented as she searched for a vase. "If I'd known
you were making pesto, I'd have brought a lighter wine."

She examined the bottle. "No, this looks perfect, Vaughn."

Sydney arranged the flowers in a delicate vase and set them on the table.
"It'll take a while for this to be done. Come on - sit down."

The two went into the living room and sat on the couch, unsure of what
to say. After a moment, Will and Francie came in.

"So, uh, Mike," Will began, "what do you do?"

Sydney saw her handler's eyes narrow and the nickname.

"Well, William, I'm a teacher. French and Spanish."

"High school?" Francie asked. "I can't imagine teenagers all day long."

He laughed lightly. "It can be irritating sometimes, but it's usually
worth it at the end of the day."

Syd smiled and put a hand on his arm. "He just told he that he's found a
new job in the area."

Both agents found it hard to ignore the jolt of electricity that coursed
through them at the innocent touch.

"Yeah.. uh.." Vaughn looked over at her with an indescribable feeling
in his eyes. "Over at Delmar High... but it's just at interview stage, nothing
official yet."

She smiled at him. "I'm sure you'll get it with your resume."

The group of four made small chat until dinner was prepared.

The conversation was less than comfortable for those involved,
and Vaughn found himself relieved when the meal was over and Francie
left to speak with a bank about a loan to start her restaraunt. Will
left reluctantly moments later at Sydney's request, leaving her and
Vaughn to speak freely.

"That," he said, taking his dish to the sink, "was terrible."

She laughed softly. "Yeah, I suppose it was rather awkward."

"I think Will was trying to bore a hole in my head." He made
a movement to start washing his dish.

"I've got it," she told him, snatching the dish and turning on
the water. "Yeah.. Will can be overbearing. Overprotective."

"So I noticed." He took a position on the other side of her and grabbed a
nearby dishtowell, starting to dry the dinner plates.

"Any news from Devlin?"

"Nothing yet. It'll take some time, Syd. He's got to put a team
together, and they have to know how to get inside and through the
security."

"Can't my father and I do that part?"

"We don't want to risk it. If SD-6's security section found out
before everyone got in, there would be serious complications."

"There are going to be complications anyway. Every entrance
to the complex has hidden cameras," she told him, taking the dried dishes
and shelving them above the sink.

"If Cole and his people were able to get in, we shouldn't
have a problem."

"Cole already knew the system, Vaughn."

"So do our guys. Two of them used to be SD-6."

Sydney looked at him, puzzled. "Used to be? How is
that possible?"

"They wanted out. They quit. Sloane sent someone to
kill them. He sent your father, Sydney. He brought them to
us, and they wanted to help get rid of the Alliance."

"Oh. I thought my father and I were the only--"

"You are the only doubles. These guys are more like
transfers. But one of them was with security. He knows the
technology they'll be up against, and he knows how to get
around it."

"What if the tech has changed?"

Vaughn sighed. "Sydney, stop worrying. The Agency has two
weeks to figure it all out, and they will."

She gazed up at him, taking a deep breath. "I hope so."

He smiled down at her reassuringly, and their eyes met.
Sydney smiled slightly as he gazed down at her, his beautiful
green eyes searching hers for a sign. Finding it, Vaughn leaned
towards her slowly, giving her time to stop him. She didn't.
Their lips met in a sweet, innocent first kiss that lasted until
the sound of a throat being cleared echoed through the kitchen.
They jumped apart. Francie stood in the entrance to the room.

"I left my papers," she told them, "I hope I'm not
interrupting?"

Sydney could see the grin that her friend was trying
to hold back and she laughed a little. "No, no.. don't worry.."
She picked an envelope from the counter and handed it to her
roommate. "This what you're looking for?"

"Yeah.. thanks.."

The three stood there for a few akward moments before
Francie spoke up again. "Yeah.. I should, uh, get going.. I'll
see you later, Syd."

She gave her friend a quick, knowing, wink and was gone.

Sydney sighed and turned off the faucet. "Sorry..."

"What for?"

She was silent for a few long seconds. "I don't know."

"Sorry for what we did, or for being interrupted?"

She looked up at him with a sad smile. "I'm sorry that
we can't be doing this, Vaughn. I'm sorry that we can't have a
normal relationship. I'm sorry that we have to lie to everyone."

"Syd..."

"Don't tell me it's not my fault."

"It's not."

She sighed. "I made a choice to join SD-6."

"You didn't know what they were."

"But I made that choice. I started all of this."

"And it'll all be over in two weeks."

She nodded. "I know that..."

"Then what's wrong?"

"I just... I hate that I've wasted ten years of my life."

"You've accomplished so much."

Sydney ran a hand through her hair, getting frusterated.
"Vaughn, why do you have to do this?"

"What?" He raised his voice to match hers.

"Try to make me feel that I haven't made all the wrong
choices in my life, that I make a difference?"

"You do make a difference, Syd. Maybe not to everyone,
but you sure as hell make a difference to me."

"Why? What have I done that's so important?"

It was Vaughn's turn to sigh. "Nothing... and everything.
Sydney, I... I'm in love with you."

She fell silent, shocked at his admission. Her wide eyes
looked up at him, questioning his feelings and his reasons.
"What?"

He studied his feet before looking back up at her and
quietly repeating what he had so boldly stated only seconds
before. "I said I'm in love with you, Sydney."

Her eyes softened and a true smile spread across her
face. "Really?"

"Yeah. Really." He reached out and tenderly brushed a
stray lock of dark hair from her face. She leaned into his touch.

"Vaughn?"

"Hmm?"

"I think I'm in love with you, too."
-------------------------------------------------------------