A/N- Thank you so much for all of your reviews. They are much appreciated. And because they were so wonderful, I worked to get out this second chapter. It's a little short, but I really liked the ending.

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CHAPTER TWO

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"Can't sleep again buddy?"

Vaughn looked up from his computer screen to see Weiss leaning against his doorframe. He shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "I never can when she's gone."

"Bet it doesn't help now that you two are, shall we say, closer?"

Vaughn grinned with one corner of his mouth, glancing down at his desk to avoid Weiss' own grin. "Yeah, you could say that."

"I think someone's feeling cold right about now."

Vaughn's gaze shot up at his friend. "Weiss!"

Weiss threw up his hands in a defeated gesture. "Hey man, I'm just calling what I see. She'll be back soon, and you two can resume whatever you were doing before she left. This guy however, is going to go home for some quality time with his tv set."

Vaughn shook his head and let out a laugh. "Alright. See ya tomorrow."

"Um, what time does Sydney come in? Because if it's before we're supposed to be at work, somehow I highly doubt I'll see you."

Vaughn threw the pencil he was holding at Weiss' retreating laughing form. As Weiss left, Vaughn returned to his computer screen. On it, were the diagrams of several Rambaldi artifacts, including the most recent one that the CIA had in their possession. He ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to decipher the drawings. If only they had found the artifacts in the SD cells. Something was off with that. They had always gotten information that the artifacts were hidden deep within the cells. He had been at SD-6 himself when one had been attempted to be removed. Since the CIA had found none of the artifacts when they raided the SD cells, it was almost as if Sloane had known that there would be a raid and had somehow managed to remove all of the artifacts without anyone knowing that he was doing that. Vaughn shook his head and rubbed his eyes. That's crazy. There's no way Sloane could have known what was coming. These late nights always get me thinking way too much about things. These thoughts will never get me anywhere. Vaughn looked at the little clock on his computer and saw the cold digits of 3:35am click into view.

Getting up and stretching, Vaughn decided to head downstairs to grab a cup of coffee. He still had a few hours until Sydney was supposed to check in, so he figured that maybe he could get some reading in. He nodded at the few other insomniacs that were roaming the halls of the CIA at this early hour, and made his way towards the small cafeteria. Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he dug through his pockets to pay the young girl who was sitting at the counter reading a book, and walked over to a table in a far corner. On his way over, he picked up a paper that someone had left hours ago on another table to read. He settled in his chair, took a sip of his coffee, and leaned back to enlighten himself on what was going on in the entertainment world.

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The shrill ring of his cell phone made Vaughn jump about a foot in the air. Regaining composure, he looked around to see the dark, empty cafeteria now fully bathed in sunlight, and brimming with workers starting their morning. Damn it. I must have fallen asleep. What time is it? Pulling out his cell, he looked at the call display to see that it was Weiss calling. "Hello?"

"Buddy, where are you?"

"Good morning to you too. What time is it?" Vaughn's heart started to beat a little bit faster as Weiss took an extra moment before answering.

"Is that why you haven't been calling everyone you know?"

Vaughn narrowed his eyebrows and leaned in towards the table, focusing every ounce of his strength on listening to Weiss' words. "Why do you say that?"

"Look, wherever you are, you should get here as soon as you can."

Already on the move, Vaughn asked the question he never wanted to hear the answer to. "Did something happen to Sydney?"

Weiss paused before answering. "Just get here, ok?"

Vaughn had never moved faster in his life.

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The operations center of the CIA was brimming with activity. Agents were moving all over the place, phones were ringing, computers were humming, and Agent Vaughn's heart was thumping. He ran around the final corner in the corridor leading to the ops center, completely ignoring the few people who felt the need to say good morning. As he ran into the room, he could see Kendall and Weiss stooped over an agent who was quickly typing something up on a computer. Weiss was talking into a phone while staring at the figures that were flashing across the computer screen. Running a hand through his hair to try to calm his racing nerves, Vaughn yelled across the room. "Weiss!"

Weiss looked up from the computer to see his normally composed friend looking quite haggard and quickly ended his phone call. "Dude, where were you? I've been calling your house all morning. I..."

"What happened to Sydney?" Vaughn approached the two men and watched with dread as Weiss and Kendall glanced at each other.

Kendall looked up at Vaughn. "There's no point in spreading false rumors son. And knowing of your attachment to Agent Bristow, there is no reason to get you riled up over something that may or may not have happened."

Vaughn looked quickly between the two men, becoming frustrated that neither was telling him exactly what was going on. Helplessly, he looked at Weiss. "Weiss. Please tell me what's going on. What happened to Sydney? Did something go wrong with her mission? Is she ok?"

Weiss took another look at Kendall and sighed. "Something went wrong in Taipei. She's been shot Vaughn. We're not sure if she survived."

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Ok, I know that's cruel, but I am working on the third chapter right now, so hopefully I can get it up soon. Let me know how you liked this one. :)