After eating her room service dinner, Sydney changed into jeans and a sleeveless electric blue top. Sydney crossed the road from the hotel to the beach. She removed her shoes and walked for a bit. After a short while she sat down on the grainy soft sand and looked at the sunset. Trying to decide what to do. The breeze was starting to pick up and without the sun it had turned cool. The wind made Sydney shiver. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply the salty cool sea air. Opening her eyes she saw a pair of brown brogues stood next to her. Looking up she saw it was Vaughn.

            "Vaughn." She said jumping up and hurriedly wiping the sand off the seat of her jeans. "What are you doing here?" She bent over and pushed her sandals on.

            "I know you've not had much time to decide but we need an answer. We need to get a team there tonight."

The wind whipped Sydney's hair around her face and made her rub her arms.

            "Yes I'll go."

            "Good, come with me now. I've got a car waiting at the road."

            "I've got to pack"

            "It's been done for you"

            "What?" She said as Vaughn grabbed her arm and began to run towards a black SVU. The door was open and Vaughn jumped in. Sydney hesitated on the roadside

            "Are you coming?" He asked. His eyes bored straight into hers. She jumped in and sat next to the door. Breathing deeply Sydney looked out of the tinted windows watching the once familiar streets whiz by. As she passed her old house; the house she shared with Will and Francie, tears started rolling down her cheeks again.

            "Sydney" A voice gently said, "Are you ok?"

            "Yeah, fine. So what's the mission?" She asked feigning cheerfulness and wiping away her tears.

            "I'll tell you on the plane" He said going back into Agent Vaughn mode. Sydney clenched her fists by her side. His total unresponsiveness was grinding. Did he not realise how hard this was for her? He used played by the rules but he would always take a risk for her. Looking back it was obvious he loved her long before he said it. Unfortunately she only realised what the hole in her life was after she'd left. The silence in the car was deafening her so small talk it was.

            "How's Weiss? Is he in on the op?"

            "He died a year ago in Bogotá. Not long after you left he transferred to the DEA" Vaughn looked down at his hands.

            "Vaughn I'm sorry I had no idea. I know you guys were close"

            "Yeah he saved my life twice and my job countless times. I would have been kicked out the CIA years ago if he hadn't put his neck on the line for me." He said pointedly. He was obviously bored by the silence to because even after Sydney's brutal faux pas he decided to continue the conversation.

            "Did you miss the sun in England?"

            " No my job more than made up for the rain. It did rain a lot though. Manchester's a great city; the people are fantastic. It's a growing city."

Then there was an awkward pause a long gaping pause. The SUV halted then and the door opened. They were at an airfield where a jet stood waiting to take off. Sydney climbed out off the SVU and without waiting for Vaughn ran to the jet and climbed on. Sydney chose a seat and Vaughn sat opposite. Almost as soon as Vaughn had sat down the jet began to taxi and take off.

            "What's happened about my clothes?" Sydney inquired to fill the space more than anything.

            "The ones from the hotel have been brought here and the ones from your home have been sent to London"

            "THE CIA HAS BEEN IN MY HOME?!" Sydney shouted

            "Only once you said you'd come."

            "I never gave permission for them to go in my home. God why did I ever come back to this?" Sydney asked rhetorically, throwing her hands in the air.

            "You want to know" Vaughn asked angrily "You want to know why? Because you're good at it! You know you are. As much as you try to convince yourself you love teaching you love rainy England, because you want to change the world. Make it a safer place for those kids not sit around and wait fifteen years for one of them to do it." Finally Sydney thought the old passionate Vaughn even if he was wrong.

            "How dare you try to analyse me!"

            "Now who's being a cold hearted bitch?"

Sydney flung her seatbelt off and rushed to another seat on the plane. She sat and sobbed

            "Sydney wait." Vaughn said following her, sitting down next to her "Sydney I'm sorry that was out of order."

            "Your damn right it was" she replied. Anger was beginning to replace her tears

            "Sydney, I know this is hard for you. It's hard for me too. You know I love you Sydney, you know that, I didn't know what it was going to be like seeing you again. How I'd feel, how you'd feel coming back to all that shit. I knew that you'd blame me for Will's death because I couldn't protect him but when Devlin told me to get you back for this op I told him to piss off. I didn't want you coming back to this. I knew you were happy in Manchester but he said if I didn't he'd get somebody else to do it and I couldn't let that happen. I'd rather you hate me but know I protected you than come on this with someone else." He looked deep into her eyes . "I'm sorry Sydney. You can go home when we get to England." He stood up to go back to his original seat.

            "You're wrong. I don't blame you for Will's death. I never have done. Sit down. We need to talk."

Vaughn looked at her and then at the seat next to her finally sitting down.

            "I don't blame you for Will's death but your right. This is hard. This is the hardest thing I've ever done. If it had been someone else walking in that door today at the office block, I wouldn't have stayed. The only reason I came was to see you. I know I hurt you when I left but I knew I had to get out for my sanity. The captain came on over the intercom.

            "We will be landing in London in approximately one hour."

            "We better get on with the briefing" Vaughn said standing up. It was only then that Sydney realised how tired and weary he looked.

            "I am going in as a exchange worker for the US to foster positive relationships. I'm Michael Bristow and went to Harvard. That's how I know you. You're Sydney Vaughn. An English woman who has been recruited from the private sector as an expert in international relations and inter departmental work. You went to Harvard. You're dad is a reclusive millionaire but you are never to acknowledge this is just contained in your personnel file. We know each other from Harvard where I dated your roommate. We have apartments next door to one and other but have never met because I've only just arrived from the States. Any questions?"

            "No I think you covered it all." Sydney replied testily.

            "Sydney what's wrong now?" Vaughn flopped down into his seat wearily.

            "Vaughn, it's five years since we've seen each other. I need you to understand why I left. You say you love me but you're acting so cold it doesn't seem to bother you at all."

            "Sydney you know that's not true. I do love you I always have and I always will but last time we where together I let my feeling cloud my judgement that's why Will died and that's why Weiss had to transfer out of the CIA. He took the blame for me and the only thing Deviln could do was get him into the DEA. Then he ended up dead. I'm to blame for two peoples deaths because of my unprofessionalism. How do you think it would make me feel if this time it was you that died? Sydney I love you so much it hurts," he said touching his neck "but I can't risk your life and I can't risk the hurt this time. I've done that before and I ended up in a mess." He stopped and looked at his watch. Sydney started to cry. "Hey, don't cry" Vaughn said pulling her over so she could cry on his shoulder, "I didn't mean to make you cry."

Sydney pulled away. "Vaughn, I'm sorry. I would have died if I hadn't got out then. I only realised when I'd left how much I must have hurt you. I thought I was grieving for Will but it wasn't. The hurt was because I'd left you. But by then it was to late. You'd moved on and I was too scared to come back." Sydney touched his hand and looked into his eyes. He was scared. "Michael, I love you" His eyes lit up and a huge smile appeared.

            "Really?" he looked suddenly cautious.

            "Yes. I always have I just never realised it" He pulled her into a bear hug. He picked her off her feet and twirled her round

            "I love you too Syd" He reached over and kissed her gently at first but becoming more passionate.

            "I missed you so much"

            "Sydney, I'm sorry to say this but we've got to go through your cover. This is going to be dangerous as it is never mind if we're not prepared."

            "Ok" she took hold of his hand as he got all the necessary papers.

            "Your name is Sydney Vaughn. Your apartment is in Notting Hill. Mines next door. Theirs only our apartments on the floor so nobody will think it's suspicious when we both appear. We've moved your stuff in and sent post periodically. You'll go straight from the airport. I'm moving in tomorrow. On Monday you'll get the underground."

            "Tube"

            "What?"

            "They call it the tube in England"

            "That's why we wanted you." Vaughn smiled his lopsided serious grin Anyway you'll go to 13 Whitehall. Foreign office headquarters. You'll ask for Rachael Johnson. She knows who you are but nobody else will. I'll arrive on Tuesday. We know each other from Harvard where I dated you roommate. Your apartment will be swept weekly but we can't check for phone taps. So avoid ringing me."

            "I won't need to ring you. You only live next door! Do you want me help you move in?"

            "Yeah but there is CCTV in the hall only be neighbourly."

            "Seatbelts please" the captain announced on the PA system.

            "You'll get off first. There will be a car waiting to take you to your apartment"