-First of all, once again, I want to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews! Keep them comin!

-Second of all, this chapter is a load of crap. A lot of it will seem totally fictional, and that's because it is. The only research I did on this was to find the name of a county in LA, and everything else I made up completely. I know that it may be difficult, but try and ignore it for the sake of the story.

-Ryanne: No, Vaughn does not know that Emily's Evil. And he may not know for a while . . .

-This update would have come a lot sooner, but exam reviews are being thrown out and my free time is slowly decreasing. So, I will write more than one chapter and post them both/all at once, which should also even out the fact that this chapter is short.

-What she reads of the computer is denoted with a (-) at the beginning.

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I *cannot * believe I am doing this.

Sydney Bristow took a deep breath for the second time within the last minute as she began to go behind *his * back. It was something she never thought she would do but somehow she just could not stop.

-Name?

-Michael C. Vaughn.

-Status?

-Active.

-Searching . . . . . .

-Search Successful.

- (1) File found.

She takes another deep breath as she moves the mouse to click on the file labeled 'Personal.'

-Father: William C. Vaughn. Former Agent. KIA.

-Mother: Georgett Delorme Vaughn.

-Residence: Fluery, France

-Siblings: None

-Other: Married to Emily S. Brown in fall of 2004

She had found what she needed to know, but for some reason she didn't stop there. Scrolling through his physical stats, height, weight, eyes, hair; she finally reached something that peaked her interest.

-Psychiatric history:

-Met with Dr. Barnett in 2002 by request of Director Devlin to assess handler/asset relationship with Sydney A. Bristow.

-Status- Cleared.

-Met with Dr. Barnett 2003-2004 by personal request due to disappearance of former asset Sydney A. Bristow.

-Status- Pending.

And that's where she stopped. There was more, but she hated reading how impersonal it was. Of course, it had to be that way, yet still it angered her. They were so much more than asset and handler, they always had been, but to the naked eye that was it. It didn't say he was questioned for giving her a Christmas gift and taking the case too 'personally', and it didn't say he had seen Barnett because the woman he loved was gone without a trace. There was no physical evidence anywhere of how they had defied ever rule in the book, and she hated it.

Taking a deep breath, once again, she typed in her next destination. But this time on her laptop without the use of government engines. There was no way she was going to let someone find out what she was up to.

-Name?

-Emily Brown

-Your search came up with (5) results.

-Emily Brown

-Emily Brown-Matthews

-Emily Brown Vaughn.

She stared at the name for a moment and her eyes began burning holes in the screen. Sydney had never been one to get off task, but she could not let go of the last name that should have belonged to her.

After finally releasing her stare at the screen she chose the right name.

"Sydney?"

The sound of her own name causes her to jump, and upon gaining composure she quickly minimizes the screen.

"Hey, Vaughn, what's up?"

He looked at her strangely, causing her to wonder if he had caught a glimpse of her screen, and worry begins to rush through her.

"Did you get that memo?"

Sighing in relief, she let herself turn her full attention to his question.

"What memo?"

He ran his fingers through hair, purposely using the ring-less hand, and his present forehead wrinkles began to increase. All of this only served to cause her to miss him more.

"I guess not then . . .We are supposed to meet with Barnett today for a joint session."

"Did Kendall order this?"

"No, actually, it came straight from Barnett."

"Oh. What time?"

He looked at her for a minute, surprised. He had expected her to do anything she could to get out of this, but it was becoming painfully obvious that he did not know her as well as he thought.

"One thirty, You do know that her office moved, right?"

"No, where is it?"

"I'll stop by your office before I go and we'll walk there. I know it all to well."

The last comment was muttered under his breath as he turned towards the door.

"Ok, thanks."

"Sure. See you then."

"Bye."

He gave her one last lingering smile and closed the door.

Awkward.

It was the only word that came to mind. How had something that once felt so normal, so right, become so . . .not? Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that she was willingly going behind his back because of her own selfish curiosity.

Remembering her previous activities she turned towards her computer and maximized the screen. After yet another deep breath, she continued where she had left off. It was twelve thirty, she only had a little under and hour.

-Emily Brown Vaughn.

-DOB: 5/1/70

-Hair: Brown

-Eyes: Hazel Brown

-Height: 5'10"

-Weight: 125

-Occupation: none, previsouly company terminated position due to down- sizing

For some reason, that made her smile.

-Parents: Brandon and Linda Jones, both died in car accident in 1990

-Siblings: none

The fact that she had no remaining family members screamed at Sydney, everything was pointing in the direction she had expected it to. She kept trying to convince herself that it was *only * coincidence, that she shouldn't jump to any conclusions. The thing was, she already had.

-College: Stanford University

-High school: Westlake High

Oddly enough, that name popped out at her. And then it clicked. She had lived right down the street from that high school. Her father had forced her to go to a private school and she remembered her various nannies driving her every morning and passing all the *normal * kids dressed in *normal * clothes at a *normal * school. Heated arguments had begun over the subject when she became a teenager, and eventually he had rewarded her with allowing her to go to a public college, even though more than one Ivy League school had accepted her.

She took yet another deep breath and closed her laptop, slipping it back into her case.

*This is so wrong. *

She shook her head, once again reminding herself that this was for him, that she was protecting him.

*Wouldn't he have checked on his own though? If you were a CIA agent getting married, wouldn't you do a background check? *

Again, she shook her head. No, he wouldn't have. Of course, he would do the primary search, but he would have accepted her deceased parents, he wouldn't have thought twice about it. She, on the other hand, wasn't as subjective about it. And she was going to track down every lead, every trace of suspicion about this woman, until she was one hundred percent sure that she was who she says she was.

"Hey, Syd?"

Again, she jumped at his voice and did whatever she could to wash away the thoughts previously occupying her mind.

"Yeah."

"You ready?"

Am I ready to go talk to Barnett about just how much more complicated this has become? Or am I ready to lie to the one person who has always been my only truth?

"As I'll ever be."

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-See? Short and full of crap. All of that research stuff doesn't make any sense. But hey, whatever works, right? I have the strange feeling that I abandoned my original character personalities in this chapter, so I am going to need you to either tell me to re-write this the right way, or to just keep going. So be sure to review, I need your help : )