Chapter Seven

Sydney pulled up to the Vaughn home and was about to get out of the car, but she saw Vaughn's familiar form coming towards her. He smiled in greeting, but even in the dim lighting she could see how tense he was. She smiled back to try to put him at ease, but he only seemed to get more tense. His eyes kept on bouncing around from her face to a point behind her head, then back to her face again. It was making her nervous.

"Hi," she said when he got in the car.

"Hi."

"Where to?"

He shrugged. "It's up to you. I don't really remember any place I liked to go."

"There's this Irish pub in the city that I heard about. You want to try it out?"

"Sure."

She pulled out of the driveway. The silence between them was awkward as Sydney tried to think of something to talk about. This occupied her to the point that she didn't notice the parked sedan that they passed. In it, a man in a suit pulled out his cell phone.

"It's me," he said. "Bristow just came by. He left with her."

On the other end of the line, Weiss groaned. "Great. That's just great. Follow them and let me know where they stop."

"Roger that."

* * *

Sydney spotted an empty booth and made her way to it. She slid into the seat and Vaughn sat across from her. O'Donnelly's wasn't too crowded, but there were enough people there to draw attention away from them. The last thing they needed was to be spotted, but only Sydney knew that. As far as Vaughn was concerned, they were just out for a drink.

They ordered their drinks and when the waitress left, Sydney studied her companion. Vaughn was slouched in his seat and he had dark circles under his eyes. His fingers tapped a restless rhythm on the tabletop and like in the car, he couldn't seem to keep focused on her. He bore little resemblance to the man she'd walked in the moonlight with and bore even less resemblance to the man who was her handler. A vise tightened around her heart as she realized how much she missed that Vaughn who thought nothing of risking his life for her. This man sitting across from her now was not him, at least not yet. She had always wanted to do something like this with him, but this Vaughn was not her Vaughn and the thought was painful.

"Vaughn," she said softly.

"I'm sorry. I just needed to get out of there," he said, trying to smile but failing miserably. "The walls were closing in on me."

"I see."

"I'm going to see a psychiatrist tomorrow," he said, fiddling with a napkin. "Barnett. She's the Agency's doc."

"Are you nervous?"

"A little. Eric told me I'd spoken to her before and it didn't go to well. I hope she tells me what it was about. I don't think amnesia is her specialty, but I think she's just going to check me out then refer me to someone else." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not looking forward to this at all."

"It's necessary if you're going to get better," Sydney said gently.

The waitress came back with their beer. Vaughn watched with some amusement as Sydney took a big swallow of her Heineken.

"I didn't take you for a beer drinker," he said.

She smiled. "It surprises people. I don't know why."

"You look like the kind of woman who brandishes a glass of chardonnay like an accessory."

"I don't know how to take that."

"Not badly."

Her smile widened to a grin. "Thanks then. Have you remembered anything new?"

Immediately, the tight look he wore before returned and Sydney wanted to kick herself for bringing it back.

"My dreams are filled with things my brain has locked away," he confessed. "I remember things that may have come from my childhood and some other things that, I believe, have happened recently. You asked me out."

She reddened. "What?"

"To a hockey game. You asked me out."

She managed a chuckle. "Yes, I did."

His gaze was intense and she had to look away. "Did we go?" he demanded.

"No. You thought the hockey game could wait until we were...free."

Vaughn was puzzled by her response and he glanced down at her left ring finger, his observant eyes immediately spotting the tan line from a ring.

"Free from what?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"Work."

"Oh." He took a swig of his own beer. "Nothing else?"

Sydney wondered if he remembered Danny, but didn't want to go into it. "Nothing else."

He sighed. "I don't know why I'm so preoccupied with our relationship, but it's like it was leftover from before this whole amnesia bit. I have this feeling that once I get a grasp of it, everything else will come back to me."

"I'm not that important to you, Vaughn," she said, her voice soft.

"I think you are. More than either of us could ever guess, you're unbelievably important to me."

Tears stung the corners of Sydney's eyes and she reached across the table to grasp his hand. He turned his hand over and held hers tightly, his eyes speaking volumes.

Then to Sydney's everlasting horror, a tall man stopped by their table, his expression curious.

"Sydney," Dixon said. "Fancy meeting you here."

* * *

Weiss felt like throwing a table across the room, right on top of Dixon's head. He was just about to go over to where Sydney and Vaughn were sitting to break up their little party, but the older man beat him to the punch. Now, they were all in big trouble. Gritting his teeth and pasting a relaxed smile on his face, Weiss went to the bar, making sure he picked a spot where he could watch the proceedings.

He'd known since the day he realized Vaughn had feelings for the woman that something like this could happen. There was something on Vaughn's face that he'd never seen before, and he'd known him a long time. Not even when he was with Alice did Weiss see his friend act the way he did when Sydney was concerned. He'd put his life and his career on the line for her more than once, and for a man as conscientious as Vaughn, this was no small feat. Their friendship had been damaged by Weiss' continued entrieties to stop being so involved with Sydney, and if there was a time for him to say 'I told you so', this was it. This situation and the one that left Vaughn close to death and now without his memories were prime examples of why a handler should separate himself or herself from the case. In another life, Mike and Sydney might have had a future together...but not in this one.

Even at this distance, Weiss could see the shock on Sydney's face and the rush of heat to her cheeks. He could only hope that Dixon would mistake it for embarrassment instead of dread. Judging from the amused smile on the man's face, it was the former and Weiss was relieved. He ordered a beer from the bartender without looking at the man, his narrowed eyes focused on his friend and the woman who may bring them all down. Wishing that he had a listening device on their table, he made do with reading Sydney's lips.

* * *

Sydney's mind was flying at thousand miles a minute. She knew that Dixon could tell her smile was forced by the concerned look on his face, but she couldn't seem to relax her face. Despite all that she had been through, she never felt more out of control that at that moment. To her relief, Vaughn held out a hand to Dixon, a friendly smile on his face.

"Hi, I'm Michael," he said, thinking that Dixon looked like a proud papa, happy that his little girl found a good man.

"Marcus," Dixon said, grinning and shaking Vaughn's hand enthusiastically. "And this is my wife, Diane."

"Sydney, dear, you look like you've choked on a peanut," Diane said amusedly.

"I'm just surprised to see you," Sydney said with a weak smile. "Did you just get here?"

"No, we were just leaving," Dixon said. "We were almost out the door when I spotted you over here."

"Oh. Would you like to join us?"

Dixon raised a hand. "No, no. We just wanted to say hi. I'll see you at work, Syd. It was nice to meet you, Michael."

"Have a good night," Diane said, with a wink at Sydney.

Sydney was too unbalanced to be embarrassed by the move and she gave vague farewell, watching Dixon and his wife weave through the crowd and out the door.

Vaughn looked at her curiously, even more so when she grew even more pale. He started to ask what the matter was when something clicked in his head.

"He's your partner, isn't he?" he asked.

Slowly turning her head to face him, Sydney managed a stiff nod. "Yes. He's a good man."

"Okay...then how come he doesn't know me?"

"We're deep cover agents, Vaughn," Sydney said before she could even think about it. "Not everybody knows everybody at the CIA."

"That's true," he said easily. "Anyway, you looked like you really did choke on a peanut when you saw them. Are we not allowed to be seen together?"

Smart guy, she thought silently, but said aloud, "Well, Dixon's going to assume we're on a date, but I'll clear that up tomorrow when I see him. Although it's really not written anywhere, fraternization between officers is frowned upon. Even more so between desk jockeys and field agents."

Vaughn chuckled. "Judging by the pain I went through just to run two miles this morning, I'm guessing you're the field agent and I'm the desk jockey."

"You look fit to me."

He arched an eyebrow at her and she pretended like her beer held the secrets of the universe in order to avoid his eyes. Then, she remembered spotting Weiss at the bar and she rose.

"I'll be right back."

"Okay."

She brushed past Weiss and went to the dark alcove in front of the restrooms. He followed her a minute later, eyes bright with anger.

"You don't have to say it," she said forcefully. "But he called me and I didn't know how to refuse him."

"Hurt his feelings if you have to!" Weiss hissed under his breath. "Sydney, this is not some demented dating game. If we want to protect ourselves, we have to be careful. You took a big chance by taking Vaughn out and letting the two of you be seen together." He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "We need to create a contingency plan because I think that by the time you get to work tomorrow, Sloane will know about Vaughn."

Sydney nodded. Weiss held her gaze, his face hard.

"You couldn't have made this any harder for yourself, for me, and for Vaughn," he said. "You should have known better."

"I know," she muttered, angry at herself and at Weiss for taking the high road. "I'll talk to you later."

"You bet you will. I'll be calling you later tonight," he spat.

Without another word, she whirled on her heel and went back to the table. Vaughn looked concerned, but she took a deep breath and pasted a real enough looking smile on her face. Weiss counted to ten then headed out the door to his car so that he could tail them.

"This was nice," she said. "Thanks for calling me."

"Sure. Thanks for taking me out. I needed it." He didn't look convinced. "Is everything okay, Syd?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"I dunno. Just a feeling."

"I'm fine," she said, carelessly patting his hand, every move she made from now on carefully planned. "How about we head back? I'm tired and I have to get up early tomorrow."

"No problem."

Despite her protests, he paid for their drinks and they headed out. Sydney saw the car pull in behind her on the rearview mirror and knew it was Weiss. That didn't make her feel better. To her relief, she managed to make it to Vaughn's house without further incident.

"Have a good night," he said, unlatching his seatbelt.

"You, too," she said, throwing him a brief smile and returning her attention to the rearview mirror and glaring at Weiss' car.

He didn't open the door just then and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him make a move towards her. She turned her head at the exact moment he leaned forward in order to kiss her cheek, but the timing was just right for him to brush her lips instead. Sydney's heart leaped in her throat and she saw his green eyes widen in surprise. The touch was quick, but she felt it down to her toes. Vaughn read the shock on her face and had to fight the urge to prolongue the kiss.

"Oops," he murmured as he sat back. "Sorry."

"It's okay," she said, putting a hand to her lips. "Bye, Vaughn."

He smiled and got out of the car. She raced down the street as if her car was on fire and so didn't see the quiet smile that stayed on his face for a long while after.