When Alice's mother, Elaine Fairchild, came over to find out the name of the attractive young woman Michael's mother was talking to, Sydney figured it was time to say adieu. With a polite smile on her face, she thanked Mrs. Vaughn for her time and then excused herself. Marguerite gave her hand a warm squeeze as they parted company.
Sydney started to head back over to the table where she had left Will, but stopped in her tracks when she saw that he was holding court with some of his CIA buddies. Not wanting to intrude on the "guy talk," she instead wandered back towards the house, unable to resist the alluring sounds of children laughing and playing.
Since none of the kids at the party were actually hers, Sydney thought it might be awkward if she went down to the pool area, so she settled for watching them from afar. She climbed up the steps to the deserted terrace and found a spot against the balustrade upon which to lean. She accepted a tall, cool glass of lemonade from a waiter who was heading down to the pool (he was taking drinks down to the parents who were supervising their kids) and was surprised to find herself getting a little misty as she watched the kids splash around in the pool.
Over the years, Sydney had never given much thought to having children of her own. It wasn't just because her lifestyle couldn't abide by it, but also because the idea just didn't seem very appealing. Based on her own experiences growing up, a child was someone you either abandoned or ignored. She wasn't someone to be nursed through the chicken pox (done by her nanny) or praised at her ballet recital (again, the nanny) or beamed at proudly while she gave her valedictory speech at her high school graduation (okay, she would give her father that one).
Of course, if she were being fair, she had to admit that it wasn't exactly your run-of-the-mill everyday occurrence to be the progeny of a couple of spies on opposite sides of the fence. Her parents had problems before she had even been an inkling in some twisted KGB officer's brain, but still they had tried to give her some semblance of a normal childhood. Too bad for her that they gave up after the first six years of her life.
With Jack Bristow and Irina Derevko as a pair of less-than-stellar role models, it didn't take much to further cement the idea in Sydney's mind that she should not even think about procreating in order to extend the Bristow line. She wanted to be the kind of parent she always wished she'd had, but Sydney realized that she was just as clueless as her own parents when it came to turning her fantasy of a happy home life into reality. No child deserved to be doomed by the mistakes she would undoubtedly make in raising him or her.
But then there were moments--usually late at night--when she was feeling restless or melancholy or sometimes just because it made her sleep better, Sydney would dream about the life she wanted with Vaughn. She always envisioned them with a big, beautiful house on a wide, tree-lined street. Their home would be comfortable and relaxing and a reflection of their own tastes (Sydney wasn't exactly sure what Vaughn's decorating style was like since she had never been to his apartment, but as long as it didn't resemble a sports bar or a locker room, she would be fine with anything).
A sizeable backyard was a requirement for Sydney. Sometimes she saw the space with a patio set and a couple of lounge chairs situated around a huge swimming pool (perfect for those midnight swims on hot summer nights). Other times she pictured a nice green lawn and a garden filled with blooming flowers or a sweet little vegetable patch where she could do something as blessedly normal as grow her own tomatoes. Of course, in either scenario, there had to be plenty of room in which the kids could run around and play.
There were only two men in her life with whom Sydney had ever imagined herself having children. When Danny had proposed to her so many years ago, it went without saying that they planned to have as many children as they could handle. Danny was always going on and on about the kids he met at the hospital and she had seen firsthand how kind and compassionate he was with them. She used to melt when he would tell her that he wished he could come up with a magic cure-all, so that no child would ever have to spend another night suffering through his or her particular ailment. If Danny had lived, she knew he would have made a great dad.
With Vaughn, Sydney had no such insight. Having children was a personal matter and they tended to avoid discussing topics such as that. Any conversations having to do with their lives outside of work or their wishes for the future after SD-6 was gone were a little too prickly to delve into because they never wanted to get ahead of themselves. Life rarely turned out the way they expected it to and they were bound to be disappointed if they started counting on something that might never be.
Nevertheless, it didn't stop Sydney from indulging in a little wishful thinking from time to time. Sometimes she would pass by a store window with frilly ruffled dresses or a cute little overall set on display and she could almost picture what her and Vaughn's children would look like in those clothes.
There were always at least two, a girl and a boy. The girl would always be a bit too tall for her age, with long limbs and big soulful brown eyes peeking out from beneath a curtain of waist-long dark brown hair. The thought would come--somewhat wryly to Sydney, as she stood there gazing at the lacy pink flounces and the dotted tulle--that any daughter of hers would probably be a tomboy and turn up her nose at those girly-girl little dresses in which Sydney would try to dress her up. Naturally, Vaughn would dote on their little girl and it wouldn't surprise Sydney in the least if he tried to get their daughter into shoulder pads and ice skates before she was two years old.
The boy would be a heartbreaker, if his father's looks were to be any judge. His wheat-colored blond hair would probably darken to a sandy brown as he grew older, but he would always have Vaughn's beautiful green eyes and meltingly charming smile. Her son would probably be a hockey fanatic like his dad and his sister and since Sydney didn't want to be left out, she would always think to herself that she should start boning up now on that vast subject known as professional ice hockey, so that she would be ready for when the time came. It made her smile as she pictured how impressed Vaughn would be when terms such as hat trick or power play rolled so knowledgeably off her tongue.
Whenever Sydney particularly felt like torturing herself (it didn't happen often, but everyone goes through their blue moods), sometimes she would put a name to the face. She changed her mind a lot when it came to her daughter's name, but somehow she always came back to the name of Jack William for her son's (she preferred Jack to Jonathan, her father's given name). It seemed a fitting way to pay tribute to the two men who had so greatly influenced what their children's lives would ultimate become. For better or worse, Jack Bristow and William Vaughn had established Sydney's and Vaughn's connection before they ever became aware of each other, when Jack made the tragic mistake of letting Irina Derevko into his life.
But while nothing could be done to alter the path of history, it did not mean that there couldn't be hope for the future. Corny as it sounded, any child Sydney had with Vaughn would be like a symbol that past misdeeds could be forgiven and that love indeed conquered all. The healing could begin with them and their children would only nurture and build upon it.
Now, however, that dream seemed farther away than ever. Vaughn was getting married tomorrow and that meant Jack William might never be born.
"Hey, Syd!" Francie suddenly appeared and gave her a friendly shoulder squeeze. "Are you ditching the grown-up party for the kiddies?" She teased.
Sydney gave her a smile. "Looks as if they're having a lot more fun."
"That's probably true." Francie grinned. She caught Sydney's wistful expression as she gazed down at the children frolicking poolside and raised an eyebrow.
"They're cute, aren't they?" Sydney mused.
"If you like rugrats." Francie wisecracked and then peered closely at her friend. "Is that a biological clock I hear ticking, Syd?"
Sydney blushed. "Well, we are in our thirties now, Francie. Some women our age already have three or four and we don't even have one."
"Yeah, well, those women probably haven't been busy saving the world." She remarked dryly and Sydney smiled.
"You know, Danny wanted to have a whole passel of kids and if he'd lived, we probably would have had a couple of them by now." She gave Francie a sober look. "In the beginning--right after he died--I often wished I had something more than just memories by which to remember him, but truth be told, now I'm kind of relieved that he and I were always careful before we got engaged."
"Given your lifestyle, it would have been hard for you to raise a child." Francie observed. "Especially after Danny's death."
"Oh, I would have quit the spy game if there had been any children involved." Sydney replied. "I wouldn't have had the chance to avenge Danny's murder, but my child would have been my first priority."
"But it would have been tough raising a child by myself." She allowed. "Because of my screwed-up childhood, I'm not sure I would have known the first thing about how to be a good parent back then."
"Well, you would know what not to do." Francie pointed out. "That's something, isn't it?"
"I definitely would not have wanted to revisit Bad Parenting 101, as taught by Jack and Laura Bristow." Sydney gave a little shudder. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little afraid that I was destined to follow in their footsteps because I don't know any other way."
Francie gave her a thoughtful look. "Syd, I don't believe for one second that you would be the mother from hell. You just don't have it in you."
"I would hope not." She looked a tad uncertain. "I would hope that I could be the kind of mother that I always wished I had."
"You know, I caught a glimpse of how it could be this past year when I started teaching." Sydney said reflectively. "I met some really great kids and some really great parents and they proved to me that it can be done right. You just need love and support and understanding and hopefully, the right person by your side."
Francie smiled knowingly. "The right person being Michael, I presume."
Sydney's lips curved. "All these months apart from him made me realize one thing, Francie."
"Vaughn's the only person in the world who can make me truly happy." Sydney confessed what was in her heart. "I want to share my life with him. I want to have a home with him and bear his children and grow old with him. I want him to be the first person I see in the morning and the last person I see before I close my eyes at night."
Francie gazed back at her with a sympathetic expression in her dark brown eyes. "If I could, Syd, I would snap my fingers and make Alice disappear off the face of the earth just so that you could have your heart's desire."
"Unfortunately, I'm no magician." She said regretfully. "I'm still placing my money on you, though. If you and Mike really do have that incredible all-consuming love that only comes around once in a lifetime, then I have to believe that he'll come to his senses."
"I guess we can only hope." Sydney said softly.
Just then, a sudden peal of girlish laughter filled the air. Sydney looked down over the balcony towards the pool area and caught sight of Alice holding an adorable blond tyke in her arms. Even though the kid was squirming in discomfort, Alice had a serene, madonna-like smile plastered on her face as she tried to contain the wiggling little tot. Vaughn was sitting on a nearby lounge chair, watching his fiancée with what looked like an enchanted expression on his face. Of course, Sydney was too far away to see that Vaughn's grin was really just a result of him trying to hold back his amusement. In spite of her obvious efforts to show him otherwise, Alice didn't come across as particularly maternal and the little boy seemed to sense that by the way he kept reaching out to his mother.
But Sydney couldn't see any of that from where she was standing. All she could see was what the future held for Vaughn and his wife-to-be. He and Alice would raise their beautiful children in the lap of luxury. A lump rose in her throat and she suddenly felt stifled, even though she was outside in the fresh air and sunshine with a cool breeze riffling through the trees.
"Francie, I can't take this anymore." Sydney was desperate to find an escape. Her eyes darted to and fro and caught sight of a dirt path that extended behind a row of trees. Wherever it led was better than where she was now. All she wanted was a place where she could just be by herself for awhile.
"Go on and get yourself back together." Francie gave her arm a quick squeeze. Sydney threw her a grateful look and then made a quick retreat.
Unbeknownst to Sydney, one person out of the assembled throng of people watched as she started down the path that headed towards the stables.
* * * * *
Sydney's nose told her where she was headed before her eyes did, as she caught the unmistakable pungency of hay and horse manure in the air. As she came around a bend in the road, her eyes lit upon a sturdily built wooden structure that was twice as long as it was wide, with a pair of paneled doors that slid open similarly to those of a bedroom closet.
Since no one seemed to be around, Sydney didn't think anyone would mind if she slipped inside to visit the horses. She'd gone through that pre-teen phase of wanting her own horse (something along the lines of a golden palomino) when she was younger and she'd become a fairly decent horsewoman, thanks to a year of begged-for riding lessons. She probably wasn't as good as Alice--Sydney rolled her eyes at the thought--but then she hadn't grown up as Little Miss Privileged With Her Own Stable Of Horses.
The heavy wooden door slid noiselessly along its well-oiled track as Sydney created an opening large enough for her to slip through. A strong but not unpleasant smell hit her senses, a combination of horse and leather and new-mown hay. As her eyes adjusted from coming out of the bright sunlight into the dim shadow of the stable, she could see that there was space enough to house ten horses, but most of the stalls were empty. There was only one horse currently in residence and Sydney could hear him nickering softly at the far end of the building.
There was a bank of fluorescent lights attached to the roof along the center of the walkway, but Sydney didn't bother to look for a switch. On such a gloriously sunny day, the building had plenty of natural light streaming in, the sun's rays filtered through overhead skylights and a row of small rectangular windows that were spaced at regular intervals down the length of both side walls. Sydney took a moment to study her surroundings and grudgingly admitted to herself that Alice appeared to treat her animals infinitely better than she did her fiancé.
The stable was cool without being drafty, but it was also snug and well-insulated. The supplies were plentiful and well-kept. Bales of hay were stacked in precise columns of three against one wall. The wooden-handled brushes and combs were clean and ready for use. A couple of warm horse blankets were draped casually on one of the stalls and a beautiful leather saddle, waiting to be repaired, sat atop a workbench with leather-working tools arranged neatly on a pegboard.
Her footsteps were quiet as Sydney ambled towards the lone horse in the stable.
Peeking into each stall as she passed by, she saw that most of the empty stalls
were being used for extra storage (old furniture, boxes of worn-out shoes and
clothes), but the one closest to the horse was filled with a voluminous amount
of sweet-smelling hay. Just the faintest whiff and it was enough to bring back
some of Sydney's fondest childhood memories of when she used to eat, breathe
and sleep just so that she could ride. Whenever she had been able to get her
horse into a full gallop, she used to pretend she was flying and able to leave
all of her troubles on the ground below her.
She heard a soft whinny and came face-to-long-face with an imperious-looking stallion that was black as midnight and regal as a king. Sydney was startled at first, but as was typical for her, she was unafraid as she reached out to stroke her hand along his nose while admiring the stallion's wildly untamed mane and noble carriage. In spite of his rather formidable stature, the horse appeared to be as gentle as a lamb
Sydney's eyes wandered upwards at the shiny brass nameplate above the stall and she had to smile approvingly as she read the horse's name. King Tut. It was an entirely appropriate moniker for an animal as impressive as this one.
"Is that why you have this royal palace all to yourself, King Tut?" Sydney crooned to him in a low voice. "Because you rule over all the other horses?"
It was odd the way the mind worked sometimes, but for some reason, seeing King Tut brought forth a flood of memories in Sydney's brain. Maybe it was just the whole Egypt connection, but then again, it didn't take much for her to start reminiscing about that long-ago-but-not-soon-forgotten night in Cairo when the moon had been round and full, the air had smelled like some exotic flower and a spark ignited into a flame.
** FLASHBACK (four years prior) **
Sydney and Dixon had been sent to Cairo, Egypt on a mission for SD-6. Sloane had recently been contacted in regard to a heretofore-unknown Rambaldi manuscript, which was currently in the possession of a wealthy Egyptian businessman named Fahim Mohammed. Sloane and Mohammed were no strangers to each other, having been allies in a number of shady dealings over the past few years. Mohammed was well aware of Sloane's obsession with Rambaldi and he was so convinced that the head of SD-6 would pay handsomely for the priceless artifact that he was willing to give his old cohort in crime the first bidding rights. Of course, Arvin Sloane never paid for what he could easily steal, so he was sending Sydney and Dixon to "relieve" Mohammed of his valuable property.
The CIA was counter-acting the mission by sending Vaughn in as a security guard to Mohammed's corporate offices. Since there was no way for Sydney to secure a copy of the manuscript for the CIA, they were going to get the real thing. She was going to tell Dixon that she had gotten into a fight with one of Mohammed's security guards, who had managed to get the book away from her during the scuffle. In reality, she was going to hand the manuscript off to Vaughn, who would spirit it away for the CIA. When Sydney returned to L.A. to tell Sloane that Mohammed was still in possession of the book, he would realize that he would be immediately suspected of the break-in, thereby quashing any future business dealings with the sure-to-be-angry Egyptian.
Under the cover of nightfall, Sydney broke into the corporate offices of Fahim Mohammed by pretending to be a cleaning woman. Dixon was in a van located a block away, ready to disarm the security cameras on her command. Sydney and her cart of supplies took the elevator up to the top floor of the high-rise building, where Mohammed's office was located. After ditching the cart in the restroom, Sydney communicated to Dixon that it was time to cut the security monitors. When he responded that the deed was done, she told him she was going radio silent and then slipped into Mohammed's office with her cleaning woman's passkey.
She knew the safe was behind the portrait of Mohammed's father. She quickly crossed the room in her sensible thick-soled shoes and hastily attached Marshall's handy-dandy code descrambler to the front of the wall safe. Numbers started whizzing by as the combination underwent the process of being broken.
Sydney checked her watch and then turned her comm unit back on, even though she didn't have anything to say to Dixon at this point. Vaughn was supposed to appear with another of the guards in about three minutes during one of their routine security walk-throughs. When they discovered her in the office, she and Vaughn were supposed to stage a fight--which Dixon would hear--before they took out the guard who was accompanying Vaughn. After a few random gunshots (which Dixon would also be able to verify if Sloane asked him about it later on), Sydney and Vaughn would both escape down the service elevator with the manuscript in hand.
The code descrambler pinged and Sydney turned the handle to the safe. The door opened without a protest and she spied the crudely bound volume with its aged parchment pages. She did a quick skim just to be sure she had the real thing and then gingerly wrapped the book inside of the packing blanket hidden in the garbage bag she had brought into the office with her.
"I've got it, Dixon." She whispered just as the office door burst open and the lights flickered on overhead. Standing in the doorway with their guns drawn were Vaughn and three other security guards. Momentarily taken aback by the extra men that weren't supposed to be there, she threw her hands in the air, catching Vaughn's eye as she did so. He looked tense as he held his gun on her, but their gazes managed to communicate what they needed to say to each other.
One of the security guards walked over to the open safe while another started barking at her in Arabic, asking her who she was and what she was doing. Sydney gave one last cut of her eyes at Vaughn before placing a good solid kick into the solar plexus of the man in front of her. Vaughn immediately went to work on the security guard next to him and she heard the CRACK! as the butt of his gun connected with the man's skull.
Sydney had her hands full as it was two against one, but Vaughn's guy was as big as a mountain, so she had to give him a little slack. She was able to swiftly dodge and duck while getting in a few well-placed jabs and kicks, knocking out one of the guards as she threw him up against the wall. But then the other caught hold of her by the neck, cutting off her windpipe and making it hard for her to breathe. She couldn't even call out to Vaughn to help her because Dixon was still listening in and it would blow her cover.
Sydney suddenly heard a loud thud and realized that Vaughn's man had finally been vanquished into unconsciousness. A few seconds later, the arm that held her captive loosened its grip on her and she fell to her knees, coughing and trying to catch her breath. She could only watch in awe as Vaughn deftly landed a few uppercuts to the jaw before felling his opponent with a wicked knee in an area where it would hurt the most.
Vaughn was breathing heavily from his exertion, but he managed to stagger over to her side. Before he said anything, she held a finger to her lips to stop him.
"Dixon? Dixon, can you hear me?" Sydney asked urgently.
"Yes, yes, I can, Syd." Dixon's tinny voice came over her earpiece. "What happened? Are you all right?"
"I was jumped, Dixon. There were too many of them and I was barely able to get out." She paused a moment to catch her breath. "I'm in the emergency exit stairwell now and I'll meet you at the extraction point as soon as I can."
"Are you sure you don't want me to wait for you?"
"Yes, I'm positive." Sydney said firmly. "Just go and I'll be there soon."
"All right, Syd."
When Dixon signed off, Sydney accepted Vaughn's outstretched hand to help her get back on her feet. She immediately ripped off the comm unit and stomped on it with her shoe.
"Are you sure you're okay, Sydney?" Vaughn asked, his eyes full of concern.
"I'm fine." She gave him a weak smile. Her throat still felt a little raw and her body ached, but it was all in a day's work. "Come on, we better get out of here." She ran to retrieve her garbage bag while he closed the safe and moved the portrait back to its original position.
Sydney had just closed the door to the office when they heard shouts coming from around the corner and down the hall. They were effectively cut off from the elevators, so they dove into the stairwell, taking the steps at a fast clip, thankful that the building was only sixteen stories high.
As they reached the twelfth-story landing, they heard a commotion above them and realized that they were being followed down the stairs. Sydney's mind raced as she contemplated the ambush that might be waiting for them at the bottom.
When they came upon the ground floor, Vaughn headed for the red emergency exit door. Sydney grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Wait, what if they're all waiting for us outside?" She glanced up nervously at the clambering footsteps above their heads.
"What else would you suggest? There are only two ways out of the building."
Sydney's sharp eyes caught sight of the rectangular shape in Vaughn's shirt pocket. She whispered her instructions in his ear before darting through the door that led out into the main lobby. No one paid her any mind as she casually strolled right through to the service exit with her full-to-the-bursting-point bag of rubbish.
Ten minutes later, Sydney and Vaughn met up in a nearby park.
"So they weren't suspicious of you?" She asked him.
"I played it very cool." He assured her. "They thought it was perfectly reasonable that I should want to go outside for a smoke." He gave a little shrug. "And then when the guys who were chasing us came out, it was easy for me to slip away in all the commotion."
Sydney grinned. "No one noticed me, either, when I headed out to the dumpster to throw away my trash bag."
Vaughn found it hard to believe that anyone could fail to notice Sydney, even in her cleaning woman get-up, but it just goes to show how invisible a person can be if they're in their natural environment.
"I have to say that you did some pretty fancy fighting back there, Vaughn." Sydney's brown eyes were twinkling merrily at him.
Vaughn gave her a modest look. "Well, I have to keep up with you, don't I?"
"You know, it's funny you should say that because that one move of yours encroached quite dangerously into my territory." She kept on needling him. "Can I ask where in the world that came from?"
"I don't know if I want to tell you, judging by the astonished tone in your voice." He pretended to be miffed. "Don't I hold my own most of the time?"
"Of course you do." She hid a smile. "I guess I just never realized you were so…agile."
"Syd, you swore you would never mention that incident ever again!" Vaughn said, mock threateningly. "Just because I slipped that one time…" He grumbled.
"Vaughn! Vaughn, I'm sorry!" She meekly acquiesced to his demands, but sported a huge grin on her face. "I know I promised I wouldn't bring up the Everglades story again, but every time I think about you in the swamp and those alligators!" She shook her head, unable to hold in her laughter.
"I've come a long way since then." He said superciliously. "You want me to prove it to you?" A gleam came into his eye.
"How?" Sydney murmured, intrigued in spite of herself.
"Jump me."
She did a double-take. "What?"
"You heard me." Vaughn's sensual lips curved, the low rumble of his voice sending shivers down her spine.
"You want me to fight you?"
"Not fight." He corrected her. "Spar, maybe."
Sydney suddenly felt all of her senses going wildly out of control. Was it the challenge or the thrill or simply the very nearness of him? "Vaughn, we don't have time for this…" She protested rather weakly.
"Running scared, Syd?" He uttered softly, daring her. If there was one thing he knew about Sydney Bristow, it was that she didn't back down when the gauntlet was thrown.
Sydney could feel the blood begin to pump within her veins. "You're going to wish you hadn't said that, Vaughn." Her eyes danced and Vaughn felt his heart do a flip-flop inside his chest right before she lunged at him.
Neither of them was aiming to hurt or even bruise during their exercise and Sydney found herself impressed as Vaughn was able to block most of her offensive moves with a defensive one of his own. She got in a few solid hits, but she had to admit she was very easily distracted by the fact that this was the most prolonged act of touching that had ever transpired between them and part of her was torn that she was actually trying to fend him off. Don't be an idiot, Syd! Her mind was yelling at her. Stop fighting and give in!
Sydney was so busy battling between her competitive nature and the little voice inside of her head that she didn't even know how it happened that Vaughn suddenly had her pinned up against a tree. They were both breathing heavily at this point, but it didn't take a genius to realize that it wasn't all due to their physical exertion.
"Not bad, Vaughn." Sydney drawled, looking him straight in the eyes. With Vaughn's face less than three inches away from hers, there was no other place for her to look. Not that she was complaining, of course.
"Not bad?" He looked mildly affronted. "I think I should get a lot more credit than that for being able to overpower the great Sydney Bristow." He smiled, displaying his even white teeth.
Sydney felt her knees weakening. "Who said anything about overpowering?" She was still defiant even in the face of defeat.
"Aren't I the one who has the upper hand here?"
Her expression softened and her pulse quickened. "That depends on what your next move is."
Vaughn was looking at Sydney with an admiring glint in his eye. She was so beautiful. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were lit by an inner fire. His gaze fell to her lips, lush and full and parted ever-so-slightly. She had proven herself to be the most irresistible temptation he had ever faced and never more so than at that moment.
"What are you waiting for, Vaughn?" Sydney murmured provocatively, daring him with her seductive tone. "Are you going to make your move or not?"
He didn't need much more encouragement than that to do the one thing he had been longing to do from the first moment he had laid eyes on Sydney Bristow. Vaughn released Sydney only enough so that he could take her into his arms and then bent his head to capture her lips with his own.
His heart was pounding as he tasted the sweetness of her lips for the first time. He felt Sydney arching her body against his and his arms tightened around her, wanting her to be close and wishing she could be closer. Vaughn could feel himself drowning in Sydney, her scent and her taste and her touch. If he didn't know it before, he knew it now that she was the only woman in the world for him and he would feel that way until his dying day.
Nothing could have prepared Sydney for what it would feel like when Vaughn kissed her for the first time. He probably would have been embarrassed to find out just how often she'd thought about it and truth be told, her fantasies weren't anywhere close to the reality. At first, Vaughn was gentle and hesitant as his mouth explored hers, but as the passion between them grew, his ardor inspired him to become bolder and more insistent. His hands roamed over her body, inflaming her with every caress, and she sought to drink him in as deeply as she could.
When they finally broke apart, Sydney and Vaughn both had to stop to catch their breath so intense was their kiss. Vaughn was looking at her as if he wanted to say something, but the words were somehow failing him.
"Please don't say it." She implored him in an agonized whisper, placing a finger against his lips. "Please don't apologize for what just happened."
He gave her a look of surprise and a smile played about his lips as the lines around his eyes crinkled. Vaughn reached up to gently move her hand away from his mouth. "It never even crossed my mind to apologize, Sydney. To make an apology signals regret and I don't regret what just happened."
A sudden warmth suffused her body and Sydney gave Vaughn her brilliant, full-wattage smile. "I'm so glad to hear you say that."
**END FLASHBACK**
That was when everything had changed for Sydney. Her quest to rid the world of SD-6 became less about revenge and justice and survival and more about the right to have the future she deserved with the man she loved.
Sydney was suddenly jolted out of her reverie by the sound of a quiet footfall behind her and she whirled around, her eyes widening when she saw who it was.
"What are you doing here, Michael?"
To be continued…
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for your continued support and encouragement.
P.S. to Jennifer Campbell: Always enjoy reading your insights. Just to answer your question from your last review, I'm picturing Vaughn in a more administrative position these days (remember it's some time in the future and he's been promoted), so I'm thinking that it's okay for him to tell Alice where he really works. I'm don't think that everyone who works for the CIA has to lie about it, just maybe those in deep cover, which Vaughn no longer is. Thanks for bringing it up.
P.S. to Jubilee: Ask and ye shall receive. (I thought it was funny that you would ask about Cairo when I was just in the middle of writing it.)