Yeah Yeah Yeah, none of it's mine; everything from Alias comes from the brilliant mind of JJ and is property of ABC. But hey you can't blame a girl for daydreaming!

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They hadn't said another word to each other since they left the hotel room. Vaughn hailed a cab, they rode in silence, and arrived at the air strip before the jet was ready to leave. Sydney felt the car stop beneath her, and had to physically shake herself back into reality. She got out of the car, closed the door, and began walking toward the plane. She was about ten yards behind Vaughn; and as she followed him she felt herself wanting to run to him. In the car they could have been across the universe from each other, but they were no more than two feet apart. She longed for the Vaughn she knew. She could care less about anything else right now.

"Sydney!" Someone calling her name brought her back to reality. She looked up from the wet pavement to the man standing at the bottom of the plane's stairs. She looked at him for a moment, not moving or breathing. She just looked at him. She was already so emotionally drained that she could barely smile at the sight of her partner. And as she stood there looking at her friend, realizing what it meant that they were standing there face to face, she began to cry.

She took a few steps toward him, and Dixon met her somewhere in the middle, and hugged her. She wasn't sure how long, he just held her, right there in the rain, on the freezing wet airstrip, but he held her. And she let go, if only a little. For those few moments she stopped trying to be the sole barer of this great burden. As her friend, and partner held her she was able to simply be Sydney, she was able to feel the emotions of fear, anger, grief, betrayal; all of it, just for that small amount of time, it was released.

Vaughn stood at the top of the stairs, leading into the plane, and watched. He sighed, resigning himself to shed no more tears tonight. God, he would have given up everything to be the one holding her right now. When he'd walked into that hotel room, in the safe house, and she'd hugged him as if.. As if they we still lovers. As if no time had passed since that terrible night. He had to look away in order to keep his emotions in check. He'd tried every waking moment to forget that night. He hadn't slept, for when he did, he only dreamt of her, and losing her. Seeing her again brought back those memories for him. He couldn't help but think of walking into her home, that night. The place was torn to pieces. He'd yelled her name, "Sydney. Sydney!" But no answer came. He made his way into the bedroom where he found that .girl, dead. She had been shot by Sydney's gun. The lab said the blood on the mirror across from the girl was Sydney's.

It was when he was reaching down to pick up her gun that he'd heard him. It was the faintest sound, but the entire house, the entire city, was quiet, so he heard. It was Will, he'd been calling for Sydney as well. Vaughn called an ambulance and held Will until EMS got there. The entire time he couldn't imagine where Sydney had gone to. He was in such a state of shock that the fact that she'd been taken or even killed didn't cross his mind. He could only wonder why she had left Will there dying. Why would she leave? Where did she go?

After a few minutes, and a few deep breaths, he realized his cell phone was in his pocket. And he sat there on the floor of Sydney's bathroom, holding her bleeding friend, calling her cell phone over and over and over again. She always answered, why wasn't she answering? Maybe she went to the hospital. Maybe she went to CIA ops. Jack, I should call Jack. His head was spinning, his mind was racing.

"Hello Jack..Agent Bristow, its Vaughn. no I haven't heard from Sydney, she's not answering her cell. ..I'm at her place.. There's an ambulance on the way. .Yes. You should come..Something's wrong Jack." He'd hung up.

When Jack arrived, he was able to control his emotions much more than Vaughn could. The ambulance was taking Will away, and Jack had brought a team. Vaughn had said something was wrong.

The team had swept the house, the neighborhood,.. No signs of Sydney. They checked all the hospitals, all the police stations. Jack decided to head back to CIA operations to talk with Kendall. Jack didn't say it, but Vaughn knew, something was very wrong. Vaughn went to the hospital to check on Will. He was in surgery and Vaughn waited. When he came out, Vaughn sat with him. Surely Sydney would come see Will, she would do that right? He'd woken up the next morning to the sound of Will's heart monitor alarms going off. They came and took Will away to surgery again. They told Vaughn it didn't look good. So he left.

He drove. He went to the train station where they'd sat and talked in secret. Where he'd told her he'd help her save Will. Where he'd said that he was her ally. He went to the pier, where they'd held hands and talked about her screwed up life. He went to the warehouse, to the bookstore, to the park..he went everywhere they'd ever been together.

Hours later when he'd arrived at CIA Operations, Kendall told him to go into the conference room for a briefing. After the words "Agent Sydney Bristow is missing." he'd zoned out. Barely listening to the leads Kendall and Jack had come up with. It began with the CIA's entire LA branch looking for her. Weiss, Marshall, Dixon, everyone focused every minute of everyday on finding her. Slowly Kendall was forced to send some of the operatives on other missions, and soon the search was put on hold.

Jack and Vaughn both fought with Kendall vigorously. She'd only been missing for six months, why would the CIA stop looking now. Jack took a leave of absence to go out and look for her on his own. Vaughn agreed to stay. But within two weeks decided he couldn't handle it anymore. He left the CIA. He drowned himself in alcohol. He decided it wasn't worth living if he had to do it without Sydney. And then came Alice.

More to come!! Please R/R