He drew away from her slowly as he tried to catch his breath. He wanted more. But then with her, he always did. His fingers tangled in her hair as he looked at her. That one glance told him that she wanted exactly the same.
He pulled her back down, his thumb tracing her swollen lips. Straining upward, he placed a gentle kiss on them as she tightened her arms around his neck. When she began kissing a trail along his jaw to his ear, he realized he should try and stop her. This wasn't the time or the place. But at the moment, he was beginning not to care.
She had half the buttons on his shirt undone before common sense finally won out. "Syd," he croaked, pushing her away.
Sydney knew what he was going to say, but she needed to reassure herself that he was there, that he was real, and there was only one way she could be really certain. She pushed his arms back down. "Yes?" she replied, lifting her head for just a moment. She simply smiled at him as she slid the ribbon from the ornament down around her right wrist, allowing it to dangle there before she pulled the shirt open and resumed her assault.
He closed his eyes. He didn't have to worry about Danny or Sark killing him. Sydney would see to that. He took a deep breath. "Syd, no."
Reclaiming his lips, she silenced his protest.
Come on, Mike. You can do this... In a minute, he thought as Sydney's fingers began working on the button of his jeans. "No," he stated, a little louder than was really necessary.
She froze at his tone. Slowly, she pulled back and sat up. "Vaughn?"
He sat up, dragging her towards him as he scooted back on the couch so his back rested against the arm. "Syd, we can't. Not here. Not now."
She closed her eyes as she pulled away from his embrace. Sydney turned so that her back was to him, her head down. Staring at the floor, she answered, "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry..."
When she tried to move off the couch, he moved more quickly than he even thought possible. It didn't matter that his head felt like it was going to explode, he wasn't going to allow her to run away from him. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her back onto the couch, forcing her to turn back and face him. "Don't!"
"Don't what?"
"Don't turn away from me. Damn it, Syd! Don't act like I don't want this, that I don't want you, because I do. But right now, we have to figure out how we're going to get out of here. But believe me, when this is over, and it will be over, the first thing I'm going to do is take you someplace where we can be alone. Sloane and everyone else be damned."
Despite herself, she smiled. "You promise?"
"Yes," he assured her, placing a soft kiss on her cheek.
She shifted around slightly, pushing him back down until he was lying flat on the cushions. Keeping her right hand on his shoulder, Sydney slowly trailed the fingers of her left hand down Vaughn's chest. "You know, I'm not quite sure I believe you."
Vaughn stared up at her, wondering if the drug Danny had given her earlier had some weird sort of side effect. "Syd? What do you mean, you don't believe me?"
When her hand finally reached his jeans again, she ran her fingers lightly across the top, teasing his skin. "I mean that you didn't sound very convincing. That's all. I think maybe you should convince me."
Vaughn was mesmerized by the movement of her fingers against his skin. Watching her, feeling her fingers gliding over his skin was driving him mad. It was too much. She was trying to kill him. That was all there was to it. He reached down, his hand covering hers. "Syd," he groaned.
She pulled her hand from beneath his, grasping it and placing back on the couch. Leaning forward slightly, she placed a kiss above his heart as her hand slipped beneath the waistband of his jeans. "Yes?"
He couldn't move. He barely remembered to breathe. He closed his eyes in a silent prayer. "Sydney..." he sighed.
Sydney let her hand dip a little further down. "Yes, Vaughn."
His eyes snapped open as he reached for her, pulling her up so that she was lying on top of him. He dragged her head down, crushing her lips with his own.
He smiled up at her before reversing their positions so that his body covered hers. He lazily dragged one hand down her side until he reached the hem of her shirt. Leaning down, he captured her lips again, nipping at them lightly as he ran his fingers back up her ribs.
As he began tracing the outline of her bra, he pulled back, grinning wickedly at her. "And what do you think now?"
She placed her hand along his cheek, her thumb lightly caressing the stubble she found there. She smiled, her dimples flashing briefly before her look became serious. "You mean it, right?"
He leaned closer. "Sydney, I do. I promise, when this is over we will find a way to make this work."
********
He stood in the doorway, watching as they leaned in, their lips almost touching. Knowing he didn't want to see anything more, he decided to make his presence known.
Taking a step forward, he began clapping. "You really shouldn't make promises that you might not be able to keep, Mr. Vaughn. And Sydney, my how times have changed. I never knew you to be that demanding."
They both turned towards the noise; the voice, neither of them having heard the door open. Vaughn pulled his hand out from under Sydney's shirt, pushing himself up so Sydney could sit up as he did the same while he rebuttoned his shirt. Pulling her to his side, he glared at the man standing in the doorway. "You again?"
Danny entered the room, closing the door behind him. He walked slowly towards the couch. "I would have thought you'd have learned your lesson after what happened earlier, Mr. Vaughn, but that doesn't seem to be the case."
Vaughn watched as Danny came to stand before them. "What do you want now?" he asked, ignoring Danny's previous comment.
Danny didn't say anything. He just leaned forward and brushed a strand of hair from Sydney's face, letting his hand cup her jaw, his thumb caressing the soft skin of her cheek.
Vaughn knew they were being tested, knew that Danny was trying to find their breaking point. What Danny didn't know is that he'd already passed it the moment he'd entered the room. He'd felt Sydney tense the minute he'd approached. When he'd actually touched her, Vaughn heard her breath catch.
He reached down for her hand, trying to reassure her that things would be alright. As he wrapped his hand around hers, he could feel something wet against his palm. Lifting his hand slightly, he was surprised to see blood dotting his palm. Lunging forward, Vaughn batted Danny's hand away viciously. "Get away from her," he growled as he pried Sydney's hand open.
"Oh God, Syd. What did you do?" he whispered, cradling her hand in his own. He gently pulled the ribbon of her wrist, slowly picking small pieces of the shattered ornament from her hand. He'd forgotten she'd even been holding it.
After removing all the fragments, he reached for the gauze Sydney had left on the table and began wrapping it carefully around her hand.
Danny grabbed the roll from Vaughn's hand. "I'll do this," he stated as he took the gauze off Sydney's hand so he could look at the wounds.
"I told you to stay away from her," Vaughn snarled angrily.
"Listen, you bloody fool. I am a doctor. There may be shards of that thing imbedded in her hand. Wrapping it like this without being certain will just drive them further down. And let's not forget the possibility of infection. We wouldn't want that now, would we?"
He didn't wait for Vaughn's answer. He just stood up, carefully placing Sydney's hand palm up on her knee. "I'll be right back."
Vaughn sat there as Danny left the room. A moment later he was back with a small bag. While Danny resumed his place on the coffee table, Vaughn wrapped his arm protectively around her.
She hadn't said one word since Danny had entered the room. Looking at her face, he noticed the color that had been in her cheeks moments before was now gone. She sat there like a statue; her only movement, the rise and fall of her chest with each breath she took.
"Damn that woman and her stupid souvenirs," Danny muttered. He glanced at Vaughn, shaking his head before reaching back into his bag.
Vaughn glanced towards the bookcase where Sydney had found the heart. His gaze had almost reached the top shelf when he heard Danny mutter something to himself. Looking back, he asked, "What is it?"
"There are little pieces of that damned thing imbedded in her palm. I have to take them out. You need to hold her still while I give her a shot to numb the area."
"You are not giving her a shot." No way in hell was he giving her a shot.
Danny just shook his head. "For as much as you seem to care about what's best for Sydney, Mr. Vaughn, you certainly have a funny way of showing it."
"And you think that my allowing you to inject her with God-knows-what, is in her best interest?"
"You can read the bottle, if you'd like. I promise, it's nothing more than lidocaine."
"And I should just trust you, is that what you're saying?"
"No. You shouldn't," Danny stated, staring directly at Vaughn. "But right now, I don't see that you have much of a choice."
"Vaughn, it's okay."
Both men turned at the sound of her voice. Vaughn stared at her, certain that he hadn't heard her correctly. "What?"
Sydney looked up at Vaughn. "Just let him do it."
"Are you sure?"
Sydney didn't say anything, she just gripped the hand that he'd wrapped around her waist. "Yes."
Vaughn watched as Danny prepared the hypodermic. He wished there were some other way to do this, but he knew there wasn't. He felt Sydney flinch as Danny pressed the needle into her wrist.
Danny waited a couple of minutes for the drug to take effect. To make sure it had, he ordered Sydney to turn her head. When she'd done that, he began poking her hand with a pin. Satisfied that her hand was numb, he began removing the tiny pieces of clay.
In all, it had taken him less than five minutes to complete the task. He sat back after he'd cleaned and bandaged her hand. As he began cleaning up the mess, he looked first at Sydney and then at Vaughn. "I don't think I need to tell you that trying to escape is pointless, but I will anyway. We are on an island. Before you could get to a boat, we would be there first."
"Where's Will?"
"You really don't need to worry about Will, Sydney."
She clutched Vaughn's hand tightly. "Why? What have you done to him?"
"What have I done?" He leaned forward, grabbing her chin roughly for a second before Vaughn pushed him back. Danny laughed. "Seems to me, Syd, that Will wouldn't be here if it weren't for you and your father."
Sydney glared at Danny. "Where is he?"
Danny said nothing. He just smiled. Standing up, he walked over to the door. Sticking his head into the hall, he called out to Sark. "Would you please bring our other guest in now, David?"
"Now, while we wait for Mr. Sark to bring your friend in, let me explain how this will work." Looking at Sydney, he continued, "By now, the CIA knows that you are both missing. Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, I'll have David call your father and he will relay our demands for your release."
Vaughn pulled Sydney a little closer. "Why don't you just call him yourself. Or do you always have someone else do your dirty work for you?"
Sydney squeezed Vaughn's hand, trying silently to stop him from baiting Danny. When she saw he was about to speak again, she spoke first. "What do you want?"
Danny glared at Vaughn for a moment before turning his attention to Sydney. "Just what was stolen from us. Nothing more," he stated calmly, getting up and moving to a chair across from them. Leaning back he propped his feet on the table, studying Sydney and Vaughn. He knew it would be an interesting few days. "It will just be interesting to see if Jack can manage to get the page from wherever SD-6 is keeping it and getting the liquid from the vault at the CIA."
Sydney and Vaughn looked at each other. Before either of them had a chance to question Danny about what he meant, Sark entered the room dragging an unconscious Will behind him. Sydney was already on her feet and moving towards Will before Sark had even dropped him in a chair.
Kneeling beside the chair, Sydney placed her hand along Will's cheek, alarmed at how cold and pale he was. A tear slid down her cheek as her anger began to take hold. She moved closer, placing a light kiss on his forehead, silently promising that she wouldn't let him be hurt again.
She rested her forehead against his for a moment, gathering her strength. Then she turned to face Danny. "Why?"
Danny turned in his chair to face her. "Why what?"
"Why did you do this to him? He never did anything to you. He was your friend."
Danny stood up, walking towards her. He circled her slowly, studying her, watching how she braced herself, prepared herself for the attack. It had also not escaped his notice that Vaughn was now on the edge of the couch, ready to come to her aid if necessary.
Stopping before her, he waited until she looked at him before he answered her question. "He was never my friend Sydney." Placing a hand on her shoulder, he continued. "He was just someone I tolerated." He leaned forward, a cold smile settling across his countenance. He pulled her closer, whispering, "Just like you."
tbc