Thanks for all of your feedback! This chapter is quite a bit longer, since I actually had time to work on it!

Sydney Marks - They were supposed to be the dates. I entered them in As Ch.1 - Blah - 12.24.04, but I guess Fanfiction.net removed all the punctuation! So now they're just Chapter 1, 2, 3, etc.

Lainie - This is set in 2005, so pretty much two years since where Alias is at now. Hopefully that explains it better!

And now, on with the story ;)

Chapter Four - Until We Die
Vaughn paced the length of the CIA Debriefing room. Jack, Marshall, Dixon, and Kendall sat around the metal table, silent.

"Well, what do we do?" Vaughn asked suddenly, stopping dead in his tracks as he looked down to two of his superiors. Jack had been silent pretty much the whole time, Kendall stopping to ask 'Who', 'Why', or 'What' occasionally as he explained his story.

"Well," Jack paused, studying the table for a second more, before looking up into Vaughn's eyes. "Nothing. I don't think Sydney is the kind of woman to just run out on you, Vaughn. Truth be told, she most likely has a very good reason for her doings, and if I were you, I would wait for her. For all you know, your life could be threatened, or hers for that truth, if you were to try and contact her. I propose we wait it out."

"What if the days turn into weeks, and weeks into months, and then eventually we just call her dead because it's been ten years since she was seen?" Vaughn shot back. He couldn't believe Jack was giving up on his only daughter this easily. Did he know something? Vaughn wondered. Jack has never been one to give up so easily.

"I promise you, Agent Vaughn, that if this goes any farther then two months with no contact, we'll send out extraction teams wherever possible." Kendall responded.

"What do you mean? How are we supposed to extract her, if we don't know where she is in the first place?" Dixon asked quickly. Vaughn nodded.

"If I know Sydney, she'll find a way to draw only our attention to her."

---

One week after her dissapearance, Sydney had "borrowed" several differant cars, one for each day. She didn't want any chance of being found. She had already dyed her hair a bright red, with black tips. After withdrawing all the money she had to an annonomous account, she had bought all she needed to never be found again. A new style, new clothes, and a new personality.

Driving through the Chicago streets, she tried to find 343 Avalence street. She had been in a small diner about ten minutes ago, buying some lunch. She still needed a place to stay, so she had looked on the pinboard that sat beside the door. Immediately she had found about three apartments up for rent. One in a place of town she wouldn't want to be caught dead, one that was full of smokers, and then the one she was going to look for now.

"Aha." she whispered, finding the street. She had quickly adopted the accent that went along with Chicago, just one more piece to her disguise. She was now Kate Jones, aged 26, who lived in downtown Chicago.

Well, soon she would live in downtown Chicago. Because she was determined to sleep in a apartment tonight, and not the backseat of her car, or another cruddy hotel room. The apartments were located on a crowdy Chicago street, overlooking the huge pier underneath it. Smiling at the memories piers brought her, she parked the car outside the apartments, and hopped out.

"Well, it's now or never."

---

"Jack, it's been a week. Can we at least put someone under investigation? I have no idea about you, but I haven't eaten or slept since she left." Vaughn mumbled, resting his head on the table he had sat at for several days. Jack was just entering the room, when Vaughn had started talking.

"You need to have patience, Vaughn. Sydney will come back. She always does."

Vaughn looked at Jack slowly, the muscle in his neck cramping, his pink eyes hurting as the light bounced off the chrome table top. Jack didn't look any different. Maybe a few years worth of wear since Irina's dissapearance back in 2003, but still the same old Jack. No emotions, no open nerves..no anything.

"No she doesn't. I know Sydney, Jack. If she was fine, she'd have let me know by now. Something's not right, I can feel it."

Vaughn jumped when he felt Jack's hand on his sholder. Moving his head, he looked up at the older man, who knew Sydney almost as well as he did.

"Trust me Vaughn, we'll find her."

His grip snapped off of Vaughn's sholder sooner then he put it on. Jack walked away then, leaving Vaughn alone with his thoughts once more.

---

"Good afternoon Miss..."

"Jones."

"Jones. Nice you could come and look at the apartment."

"Yeah, it's real nice." Sydney smiled, looking around the semi-small apartment. The complex must have just been built, because the walls were stark white, as were the carpets, the kitchen, the bathroom....

"So Miss Jones, see anything you like?" the realtor suprized her by coming up behind her. Sydney jumped, her reflexes kicking in as she almost did a spin and took the realtor down. Restraining herself, she turned around, and smiled.

"I'll take it."

---

This was how she had always imagined the apartment that she and Vaughn would have moved into. It would be basic, plain, boring, when they first moved in. There would be nothing on the walls, nothing in the cabinets, no memories anywhere.

The first night, they would sit on the floor in the diningroom, where the table and china cabinet would eventually get moved into, and eat Chinese food right out of the carton. They would laugh, and joke, and make memories together in the apartment.

That night, Sydney sat on the kitchen counter, chewing on the Chinese noodles slowly. Her eyes roamed over the diningroom floor, which was on the other side of the opposite counter. Tearing her eyes away from the spot she could almost picture her and Vaughn in, she choked back a sob, and placed the carton of food onto the counter, before she slid down the cabinets, and sat on the floor.

Wrapping her arms around her legs, she rested her head against her knees, trying to calm herself. The cold tiles underneath her told her this wasn't a dream. This was reality. She could feel it. This dream will never be over, will it? I'm going to be alone for the rest of my life. I can feel it...

---

The next day, Sydney set out to get to know Chicago a bit better. She had only been there a few times, and even then she had only been there to retrieve a Rambaldi artifact, steal something, retrieve something else...always the same story.

Driving through the clogged up streets, she noticed a Used Car lot. Deciding it was for her own good to get rid of the stolen car she was in now, she quickly switched lanes, and pulled the newer Subaru into the lot. There was a shifty salesman hovering near the sales desk. Parking the car quickly, she climbed out of the car, and met the man halfway.

"Hello, my name's Natalie Kenney." she smiled, an English accent suddenly seeping through the Chicago one. "I've just moved here from Stourbridge, and I'm looking to trade in this lift that my father gave me." she flashed a dazzling smile. "Do you think you'd be as kind to help me?"

"Of course, lady. Let's take a look at your car." they crossed the parkinglot to her car. Sydney watched as he inspected the car, his eyebrows raising at some points. After ten minutes he was done.

"Looks like you've got yourself a deal. Which one do you counter you'd like?"

Sydney looked around the parkinglot, a sharp red number catching her eye.

"That one."

"Lady, that's a Benz. Are you crazy?"

Sydney turned to him, that sickeningly sweet smile on her face once more. Moving more closer then needed, she touched his arm gently.

"My daddy let me have anything I'd wanted. Now, kind sir, if you'd let me take this one, for that brand new car I'd give in return," she paused to bat her eyelashes. "Well, I'd be ever so grateful."

The salesman pondered this thought for a moment, his eyes locking with hers.

"Alright. What did you say your name was again?"

"Natalie Kenney. From England."

---

Vaughn returned home, his actions tired and weary. He hadn't slept in god knows how many nights. Probably nine. The last time he had slept more than an hour was the last night in the villa. Sighing, he sat on one of the kitchen chairs, a load of work he needed to complete spread over the tabletop.

Shuffling through the papers slowly, he came across a file he thought he'd never have to see again. Arvin Sloane's face stared up at him, that stupid smirk he always wore taunting him to no belief.

Vaughn growled, shuffling the stack underneath more of the papers.

"I'm glad your dead, Sloane. I'm glad your burning in hell." he muttered, his eyes catching the floor before he looked back to the papers. At least he was one man he wouldn't need to worry about tying Sydney's death with. He was dead.

Right?

If you gave me feedback, I can promise another chapter by the weekend ;)