D: Not mine. Just borrowing for a while.

An: Here's the next chapter!! Hope it's up as soon as possible, but the ff.net is acting up again! Don't forget to review!! Now, enjoy!

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[previously]

Sydney could sense that Vaughn was holding something back.

He exhaled and frowned.

"They found.."

[Now]

"They found..a slight heart murmur. It's not serious Syd!" he defended when she gasped tearing up. Then she glared through her tears and punched him in the arm. Hard.

"Ow!..Sydney!? I didn't want to worry you, is all." He said in a little kid voice.

"WORRY me?!! Vaughn!..less than 5 hours ago I though you were DEAD!!..Don't give me that crap!" she bristled. He grimaced as he rubbed his arm.

"Okay..I'm sorry...sheesh..they gave me some shots ya' know. Right there." He mumbled pointing where she'd punched him. She melted and sat down next to him on the bed, wrapping her arms around him.

"I'm sorry..you okay? Seriously, tell me the truth." She said, eyeing him.

"Besides all the injuries and malnutrition, it's just the murmur. At the infirmary I'll have to be put on monitors so they could see how big a deal it is and see how they want to fix it all. That's it." He promised, kissing her temple.

"They had a hard time getting a vein so they kept the IV in my hand." Vaughn explained as she fingered his taped up hand.

"My poor Guardian Angel." She mumbled, helping him with the rest of his clothes.

"Hungary?" she asked.

"No..we ate on the way to the concert. The doctors wouldn't let me go if I didn't promise. I'm just exhausted." He replied as he warily tried to maneuver out of his clothes. She gave a sympathy pout face and pretty much put his p.j.'s on for him and put him to bed, snuggling close to him. Vaughn instantly started to doze off.

"Michael." He heard Sydney say in an emotionally serious voice. He popped his eyes open at her serious voice, and because she called him by his first name.

"Yeah Syd?" he asked, brow furrowing. She looked him in the eye in the moon light for a moment before responding.

"I love you." She said strongly. He gave her a gorgeous lopsided grin, responding back.

"Sydney Alewndra Bristow, I love you too. You're the ONLY thing that kept me going..in that PLACE. To know that I had you here, to come back to." He said throatily.

"I missed you SO much!...It was so hard!!" Sydney said, getting all emotional.

"Shhh..it's okay Syd. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. But I'm right here. I'm right here beside you. And I'm not going anywhere." Vaughn soothed, gently pulling her into the strongest embrace he could.

"You better not. 'Cause I'll kick you're a** if you put me through THAT again." Sydney mumbled into his chest/neck. He kept his tight embrace around her, rubbing her back gently until they both fell into a deep peaceful sleep for the first night in months.

The next morning, Sydney woke up with the thought that her beloved angel wasn't there. That it had all been a dream. Then she felt the gentle blow of Vaughn's breath on her neck and felt his arm secured around her waist. She grinned, snuggling even more against him, looking down at his arm. She stuck her lip out slightly when she saw it was his IV'd hand and softly traced it with her fingertips. She eased herself to turn over and face him, grinning as she gazed at his sleeping face.

'My Gawd he's perfect! I've GOT to be the luckiest woman alive!' Sydney thought as she watched him sleep. She heard her door push open a little and she turned her head slightly to see Sytory peeking her head in.

"Oh!.hi...Wanted to see if you two were up yet. You weren't the last two times I checked." Sytory whispered as she tiptoed to Sydney's side of the bed.

"Two times? What time is it?" Sydney asked, looking to her alarm clock.

"11:17!" Sydney whispered loudly causing Vaughn to stir a little. She froze until he settled down again.

"He needs to be at the hospital! He has a heart problem Tor!" Sydney whispered worriedly.

"Syd, I think that the fact that he's SO resting peacefully now is the best TLC that he could never get in a hospital. It's probably good for him." Sytory stated. Sydney gazed at him a moment, then smiled.

"Isn't that the most gorgeous site ever!?" Sydney said not taking her eyes off of Vaughn.

"Yeah...that's a good one...but the one in the living room currently occupying the couch..not THAT'S gorgeous!" Sytory revealed closing her eyes and placing her hands over her heart. Sydney's eyes bulged in confusion, and then she remembered where Will would sleep if he was here since Sytory had his bed.

"SyTORy! You're talking about WILL! Oh my gosh..you two are so BAD!" Sydney said, shaking her head and grinning. Sytory could only blush, much like her big sister.

"The JTF hospital doctor did call. Your man does need to get in there." Sytory said, nodding to slumber boy.

"Okay. Thanks." Sydney as Sytory got up to leave. Sydney gazed down at Vaughn and gently started kissing him all over his face. After the third time he began to stir and when he popped his eyes open he found chocolate brown ones gazing back at him.

"Morning Angel." Sydney whispered grinning.

"Morning..my reason." Vaughn replied back. Sydney looked a little confused.

"My reason to wake up every day. My reason to fight. My reason to breathe. The reason I was born..." he stated sweetly. Sydney's eyes teared up as she captured him in a passionate kiss. When they broke away touching foreheads, Sydney whispered.

"My goodness I missed this." She said breathlessly as he started kissing her neck and collarbone.

"It's after 11. Sytory said the doctor called. You need to get in there." Sydney said softly. Vaughn pulled away and grimaced.

"Yah..more poking and tests." He mumbled as he allowed her to pull him up and out of bed.

A couple of hours later Vaughn was in the infirmary, hooked to leads and heart monitors.

"How many more of these are you gonna put on me?" Vaughn asked in a little boy voice, as a nurse placed another sticky patch on his chest to hook him to a lead.

"As many as it takes." Sydney said raising her eyebrows at him to behave. She'd been there the whole time, watching them drew blood tests, listen to his heart, and do an ultrasound of his heart.

"But Syd..these thing take SKIN when you rip them off." He mumbled, his forehead wrinkles in full force as he looked at all the ones decorating his chest and side.

"Uh-ah..not when they have a proper soak in a hot bubble bath." She said devilishly. Vaughn looked up and made eye contact with her a moment then grinned.

"Nurse? I think you missed a spot..." he said and Sydney giggled shaking her head.

After staying overnight being monitored, they figured out the murmur could be corrected with a very simple procedure of going in a vein in his leg to travel to his heart to fix the small damaged part of his heart that was causing the murmur. They planned to do it as soon as he was healthy enough, in the mean time he saw Dr. Barnett, along with Sydney and the second agent, Agent Collins, who'd been captured with him and thought to be dead. They were to talk about what they had been through.

Apparently, who had captured them had faked their deaths. He was a very smart ex-puppeteer who specialized in special effects, gone bad. He was well known in the crime world business back in the day, which's why Irina had recognized the hints. He'd been called in by Sark, of all people, to do a favor. After Sark was through with it, the man was free to do what ever he wanted with them, which he planned to sell them off to the highest bidder. Two US CIA officers could fetch a pretty penny these days.

"He JUST wanted to screw with me?!? There was NO point in all of this except to watch me suffer?" Sydney fumed when Vaughn and Collins revealed all this.

"He did try to get some information from us a little. But yeah...he wasn't in it to gain anything but that." Collins answered. He'd suffered about the same as Vaughn with malnutrition, but also had come down with a nasty infection due to some burns that weren't taken care of.

"My gosh....how SICK is that? Your poor wife..and baby daughter! She was only a few months old!" Sydney seethed.

"You missed MONTHS of your first child's life..months you CAN'T get back!" Sydney said, finally starting to settle down.

"We'll get him Sydney. He'll pay." Vaughn informed. After a few sessions with psych, the two agents were deemed stable. Their strong will and hope to return to their loved ones is what got them to get through the 100 days of capture and torture.

After 2 ½ weeks, Vaughn was well enough to undergo his angioplasty, returning his heart back to 100%. Now all he had to heal up was his ankle, which he got around on pretty well already.

Another situation that was coming about was Jack and Irina. Irina, after her act of saving Vaughn and Agent Collins, was released from HQ confinement and place into a CIA safe house type situation with a tracker device on her ankle. She could have anybody she wanted stay with her. Including Jack.

Yelena, Julia, and Lena live next door, in a safe house too. That way they could see each other and still be under watch and safety.

Two weeks later after this whole new arrangement, everyone met together at Francie's to celebrate someone's birthday. Sydney, Vaughn, Sytory, Will, Eric, Marshall, Dixon, Phillips, Jim, Anna, Yelena, Julia, and Lena were all there already when Jack and Irina came in fashionably late. Sydney and Sytory looked up startled when they heard a throaty chuckle coming through the door and they stared wide-eyed. The rest of the room froze as well.

It was Jack. He was holding onto...VERY closely to Irina, laughing away as Irina tried to control her giggles too. They looked up beaming.

"Hey everyone. Sorry we're late..er..um..." Jack started.

"We had a LATE night." Irina purred, winking at Sydney and Sytory. Both girls dropped their mortified faces into their hands, groaning in unison.

"Oh my word." at the same time. Eric just snickered.

"Riii-ght!" he said as Will and Vaughn tried to hide their own smirks.

"So..lucky birthday girl. You are now officially an adult. Now you can buy your OWN booze and put away that fake ID. Join us LEGAL folks." Will joked, poking fun at Sytory.

"Will..did you NOT know what her 'occupation' was back in Russia?" Eric asked.

"What? A club right?" Will stated.

"She owned a BAR! She could whip up anything and everything you wanted." Sydney said.

"Oh...so, why isn't she working here?" Will asked, confused.

"Cause she just turned 21!! It's illegal!" Eric joked. Now Will was thoroughly confused.

"Things are a little more...lenient in Russia." Sytory provided, smiling at him, holding yet another gaze. Sydney nudged her mother, then raised her eyebrows at them.

"Your legal now though! People..of legal age...could, ya know, DATE other people...of legal age." Will stumbled out sheepishly.

"Oh, yeah! That was real smooth Tippin!" Eric joked.

"Yeah..I.being Marshall..stuttering and all..ya' know could do..better than that..not saying I'm BETTER than you..just..sarcastically speaking." Marshall said, causing everyone to giggle. They had a great time, hanging out and planning the next O.M.N. They added Jack to sing with Irina back up. A song they did back when they were first dating and just married. And Vaughn stepped up with Agent Collins, singing a song they wrote while in captivity.

The O.M.N., the Encore, went off without a hitch within 3 weeks after that. Julia and Lena performed once again. A VERY pregnant Anna and Jim singing the song 'Bring Me to Life'. And her original song she did in the first concert. Sydney and Eric performed their songs again, due to very popular demand. Just before Eric went on Sydney gave him a framed picture of a snapshot of the beautiful display from the first O.M.N. of his two girls with a saying printed next to the photo.

"All God's angels

come to us

disguised."

-James Russell Lowell

(on the death of a friend's child)

When Vaughn and Agent Collins got up on stage to sing there song, it brought tears to both Sydney and Mrs. Collins eyes as they listened to what kept their men's hearts and spirits alive while in captivity. The words of the song explained it all.

A hundred days have made me older

Since the last time that I saw your pretty face

A thousand lies have made me colder

And I don't think I can look at this the same

All the miles that separate

Disappear now when I'm dreamin' of you face

I'm here without you baby

But you're still on my lonely mind

I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time

I'm here without you baby

But you're still in my dreams

And tonight, there's only you and me

The miles just keep rollin'

As the people leave their way to say hello

I've heard this life is overrated

But I hope that this gets better as we go.

I'm here without you baby

But you're still on my lonely mind

I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time

I'm here without you baby

But you're still in my dreams

And tonight girl, there's only you and me

Everything I know, and anywhere I go

It gets hard but it won't take away my love

And when the last one falls, when it's all said and done.

It gets hard but it won't take away my love

I'm here without you baby

But you're still on my lonely mind

I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time

I'm here without you baby

But you're still with me in my dreams

And tonight, there's only you and me.

Jack and Irina closed the night out with their song, wowing the audience as well as their daughters. Jack played the piano while Irina sang some parts back up with him of an old favorite redone.

Blue jean baby, LA lady,

She was a seamstress for the band

Pretty eyed, pirate smile,

She'll marry a music man

Ballerina, you must have seen

Her dancing in the sand

And now she's in me,

Always with me, tiny dancer in my hand

Jesus freaks out in the street

Handing tickets out for God

Turning back she just laughs

The boulevard is not that bad

Piano man he makes his stand

In the auditorium

Looking on she sings the songs

The words she knows, the tune she hums

But oh how it feels so real

Lying here with no one near

Only you and you can hear me

When I say softly, slowly

Hold me closer tiny dancer

Count the headlights on the highway

Lay me down in sheets of linen

You had a busy day today

Blue jean baby, LA lady,

Seamstress for the band

Pretty eyed, pirate smile

Hear she married a music man

Ballerina, you must have

Seen her she was dancing in the sand

And now she's in me, always

With me, tiny dancer in my hand

Hold me closer tiny dancer

Count the headlights on the highway

Lay me down in sheets of linen

You had a busy day today

Hold me closer tiny dancer

Count the headlights on the highway

Lay me down in sheets of linen

You had a busy day today

Shortly after, at an important emergency meeting, all important agents were called in.

"We have a lead. On Sloane. It's one of the best yet. This could be it." Kendall relayed. Sydney clutched to Vaughn's hand as Jack eyed Irina, who was now a member helping to bring Sloane down. They went over all the schematics of how, when, and where they would send a team. At the end of the meeting, Jack shared a conversation with Irina just as Vaughn, Sydney, and Sytory were coming up.

"No Irina. I don't want you on this mission. You haven't been feeling well. I don't want something to happen to you." Jack said, voice stern but concerned.

"Mom? You not feeling well? You okay?" Sytory asked worriedly.

"Maybe you two caught something...Sydney's been feeling bad too lately." Vaughn voiced.

"I'm okay, precious. It's just a bug." Irina said as she looked at Sytory.
"Yeah...we've been around each other a lot the last couple of weeks, probably picked something up." Sydney said.

"BOTH of you will stay here. I don't want anything happening to you two." Jack said fatherly. Sydney set her jaw.

"Daddy. You can NOT ask that of me! I've worked TOO hard for this! I've lost SO much! I HAVE to do this!" Sydney said passionately.

"Syd...if you aren't 100%...Sloane could take advantage of that. I don't want you getting hurt. Please listen to Jack." Vaughn begged. Both men looked at their companions with pleading eyes. Irina caved first. Sydney's eye brimmed with tears because she knew she didn't feel well at all, but the memory of seeing Danny and Francie and burying 'Vaughn' to watching her 'best friend' commit suicide was still fresh in her mind.

"Vaughn...I...I PROMISED I'd avenge Danny and Francie's death! I can't give that up!" she cried.

"Let me do it. For you. We'll do it." Vaughn begged.

"We all will." A voice said. Sydney turned to see Eric and Dixon standing there. She looked back at Vaughn then to her father and mother.

"Okay." She whispered. The mission was set for 2 hours, so everyone was running around and the two hours whizzed by. Finally, in the last minute meeting, Irina held hands with Sydney in the back as all the team was dispatched to different vehicles. Both Jack and Vaughn walked up to their girls with nervous looks on their faces.

"You get infirmary..just get checked out to see what's up." Vaughn asked Sydney, Jack agreeing.

"Bring your mother. Better yet...Sytory, you bring them. They'll never go on their own." Jack said. She nodded from her spot next to Sydney. Vaughn looked to Jack real quick, swallowing. Jack only nodded his encouragement. He nodded, fishing around in his pockets nervously. Irina just grinned.

"Uh..Sydney...I wanted to do this in a WAY better situation, but I didn't know that this mission was going to come up so quickly. I had it planned...with candles and everything. But..there's not a chance I can take...to wait. Till after. I don't know what's going to happen and I would NEVER forgive myself if I didn't get a chance to ask this of you. So..Sydney Alewndra Bristow...will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" Vaughn asked, going down on his knee, SWAT gear and all, holding up an open velvet box with the most exquisite engagement ring inside it, twinkling in the light.

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An: Ahh!! Another cliffy!! I didn't think I had another one to pull out, but ta da!! So, what do you think so far?? Hope you like!! And the song by Vaughn and Collins is called 'Here without you' by 3 Doors Down and the one Jack and Irina sang is the Tim McGraw re-make of 'Tiny Dancer' by Elton John. If y'all haven't heard any one of these I suggest them!! They're great!! LOVE THAT COWBOY!! Hehe!!

Please review and tell me what you think!! I just finished writing the fic, now I just got to get it all up on here!!!

Thanx!