AN: Thanks to everyone for their wonderful reviews. I enjoy reading them a lot. Okay, enough of my chatter! Onto the chapter. Enjoy and please review!!!

Thanks to Michelle for proofreading my fic. :D

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Chapter 9

Vaughn's POV

"This is where my mother's old cottage was."

Sydney looked up at Vaughn. He adverted his eyes so that she couldn't see the nervousness in them. "Oh really? That's weird. Look Sydney, we'd better get out of here. I'm not sure if there's anyone else around."

Sydney nodded and followed Vaughn down the corridor towards the stairs. When they went up the stairs, Sydney gasped.

"This is my mother's cottage!"

"Look Syd..."

Sydney turned to Vaughn in shock. "You knew, didn't you?"

"I didn't want to upset you." He really didn't. If Sydney ever learned the truth about her mother, she would be devastated. She had held her mother on such a high pedestal just like how he pictured his dad.

"Upset me? It's kind of too late now! I can't believe someone would turn my mother's cottage into a prison. Who would do such a thing?"

Vaughn cringed inside. He hated lying to her, but he knew he had to.

"I'm not sure. This place was abandoned when I got here." Sydney sighed. Vaughn took her hand and started leading her out the door.

"Come on, Syd. Let's go." He hated seeing her like this. She looked so defeated. Almost like a lost puppy dog. It took awhile, but he was finally able to get her to the car. She sat in the back looking dejectedly at nothing while Vaughn stared at her through the rearview mirror. He was glad he wasn't driving because he would have crashed into something by now. Everyone was quiet as they sat in silence. Finally after awhile, Sydney spoke.

"Did Sloane even send a search team out looking for me?"

"Yes, he did actually. Your dad made up an excuse though so that there wouldn't be any suspicions once we found you."

"Well that's surprising. I thought he would have just left me for dead."

"You really shouldn't say things like that."

"What? The dead part?"

"Yeah, it's too scary to even think about."

"Why? It's the truth." At that moment, Vaughn knew that she was right. This was their life. It wasn't normal and it wasn't all the glitter and adventure people thought it was. It could even cause people to go into depression at times. He wondered how Sydney did it. Vaughn didn't have it nearly as tough as she did. Not only was she a spy, but she was a double agent. It made it even tougher for her to live a normal life. If he had been in her situation, he didn't know if he could be that strong. They were taught to compartmentalize their feelings in this business, but there must be some breaking point where it's no longer possible to do that. Vaughn wondered when hers would be. He looked up as Weiss turned into the hotel where they were staying for the night. They would leave for LA tomorrow morning. After they took Sydney up to her room, they went down the hallway towards their rooms.

"So what's the full story?" Vaughn hadn't been paying much attention to anything so he was distracted when Weiss asked him that.

"What?"

"What's really going on with you and Sydney? I know you both knew each other before, but I get the feeling that that's not the whole story." Vaughn sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"We were best friends in high school. I had a crush on her Senior year, but it didn't work out. We sort of got into a fight about me leaving for Washington D.C. on graduation night and stopped talking. Now we're just...I'm not sure what we are."

"I'm not sure either, but it looks to me like you both have some strong feelings for each other."

"Yeah, but I have a girlfriend. Alice, remember?"

"Oh right. Ice queen. The girlfriend that almost threw you out after you forgot your anniversary. I remember now."

"I was distracted by other issues, but I feel really bad about forgetting it." Weiss gave him a pat on the back.

"Maybe it's a sign, buddy. You and ice queen were just not meant to be."

Vaughn rolled his eyes at Weiss. "You're just saying that because you hate her."

"Okay, so sue me, but it's true. You just don't want to admit it." Vaughn ignored him and started opening the door to his hotel room.

"My guess is she hurt you before and the safest thing you can think of to do is stay together with ice queen."

Vaughn rolled his eyes again. "Whatever, Eric. You're delusional."

Vaughn opened the door to his room and went inside. As he did, he heard Weiss call after him.

"Fine, deny it! It doesn't mean it isn't true!"

He sighed and closed the door behind him. Vaughn leaned against the door and closed his eyes in tiredness. As much as Vaughn didn't want to admit it, Weiss was right. He was right about everything he just said. If he gave Sydney and him a chance to see where this could go, Vaughn could get hurt again. Since he was with Alice though, there would be an excuse for not giving their relationship a try.

He knew it was wrong to use Alice like this when he didn't really love her, but he just didn't have the strength to break it off with her. When he had come home the other night, Alice had been so angry at him for forgetting their anniversary. She almost did kick him out. After she calmed down though, she was able to forgive him.

Alice wasn't a bad person. She was a little secluded at times and even a bit snobbish, but she was forgiving and loving. It was just too bad he didn't have any feelings for her. At one point in their relationship, Vaughn must have felt something for her or else they would have broken up by now. Even so, there was nothing there now and that was all that mattered.

He was still debating whether or not to break up with her when there was a knock at his door. Looking in the peek hole, he saw Sydney. Vaughn turned around and opened the door.

"Hey Sydney."

"Do you mind if I come in for a sec?" Vaughn stood there for a minute debating this. He wasn't sure if it was the best idea to let Sydney in, but she looked a little distraught and she had been through a lot. It couldn't hurt too much, right?