Still getting the fluff out of the system, the next chapter should be more action-packed. But don't worry, I won't forget about the romance.

I definitely welcome your reviews - thanks in advance!

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Chapter Two

Vaughn heard her footsteps behind him, closing the distance between them. He couldn't help the smile that instantly found a home on his face - just thinking about her caused him to smile, having her in the same room made him want to jump for joy. But reminding himself why they were there in the first place brought back a look of serious intent.

"Hey," Sydney breathed out.

Vaughn turned to face her and let his gaze wander down and back up her body - even in running clothes she looked good. Of course, she could have been in a muumuu and he would still have given her a once-over.

"Hey, Syd."

He was wearing another suit, his normal "uniform" a far cry from the leather he had looked so good in the last time she had seen him, but damn, he looked even better than she remembered, two weeks seemed like forever. Sydney shifted her weight from one foot to the other, suddenly nervous. Lifting her hand and running it through her hair, she smiled cautiously.

"Hey, you."

The air around them was thick with unspoken words that neither one knew how to say or where to start. Declarations of love aside, this was new territory and they certainly didn't have a roadmap to guide them in the right direction.

Vaughn was the first to break the silence, "You look good, Syd."

Sydney smiled wider, "Thanks. You, too. How are your ribs?"

"Still a little sore but not too bad," Vaughn patted his side, "None the worse for the wear."

"I'm glad," Sydney said, "So, what's up?"

Vaughn didn't want to launch into his new "mission" for Sydney quite yet, not sure of how she would react and having other things on his mind that he wanted to say first.

"In a minute I'll tell you about your next CIA assignment, but first I have something I want to talk about," Vaughn explained.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Vaughn swallowed and continued, "Us."

Sydney smiled again, "That sounds like something I would like to talk about."

Vaughn turned and walked over to a crate and sat down, patting another one to his left. Once Sydney was seated next to him, facing his direction, he took her right hand in both of his and lifted it to his mouth, pressed it against his lips and brought it back down to his lap.

"It's good to touch you again," Vaughn said quietly, "But you know this isn't going to work normally. We can't."

"Vaughn," Sydney lifted her free hand to his cheek, running her thumb across his lips. For once she found it appropriate to use his first name, "Michael, I know, but whatever it is you are going to say won't change how I feel about you and I don't think it will change how you feel about me. We may not have a normal relationship, hell, I wouldn't even say we have a relationship, yet. But, what we do have, whatever it is, is real. And even in the midst of the hell we are in on a daily basis - knowing that you are on my side is enough to keep me going. Even before Taipei, you were one of the best things in my life and the only true thing - you're the only person who knows all of me. So we'll figure it out, who needs normal, anyway?"

Vaughn brought one hand up to his face and covered her hand that was there. He closed his eyes, reminding himself of what he needed to say later but decided it could wait a few more minutes. Opening his eyes he brought both of her hands together, between them and leaned forward to place a simple kiss on her lips.

Sydney knew that he hadn't yet said his peace but also knew that he would get around to it eventually and until then she might as well enjoy their time together. Loosening her hands from his hold she brought them up to either side of his face, framing it. There faces were still a breath apart, neither having moved after Vaughn had kissed her and Sydney let her tongue dart out to tickle his lower lip.

That was all Vaughn needed; in one swift motion he reached out and pulled Sydney onto his lap, ignoring the voice that told him two things: a) he was definitely not thinking clearly, and b) the crate probably wasn't made to hold the both of them. Common sense wasn't something he had been in the practice of listening to lately.

Besides, Sydney didn't give him much time to think before she began kissing him with a passion and fervor unmatched by any she had felt before. With Danny or Noah she had always been able to take when she wanted to take - to act on her desires and attraction, but with Vaughn she had held back - a comforting hand on the shoulder was even something to be avoided.

Vaughn ran his fingers through her long, brown hair - hair he had wanted to touch for months - knowing it would be as silky as it looked. Sydney shifted slightly, pulling herself closer to Vaughn, not wanted there to be any space between them. Vaughn's mouth left hers and he made his way down her neck, he could feel her pulse racing and the knowledge that he caused such an effect on her exhilarated him.

"So, you love me, huh," Sydney said, letting a smile spread over her face, "When did you want to talk about that one?"

Vaughn groaned, not wanting to stop what he was doing, even if it was to talk about his feelings. At the moment feelings were over-rated. He lifted his head to meet her gaze.

"I believe you were the first one to bring the subject up, Miss Bristow."

"Yes, I was but who knew if I'd get to see you again, I had to give you something in the way of hope. An inspirational statement if you will."

"So, that's all it was," Vaughn skimmed his lips over her exposed collarbone, "Words to inspire - not confessions of true emotion."

Sydney murmured something undistinguishable as Vaughn nibbled on her flesh.

"Well, Syd, you have definitely inspired me," Vaughn laughed and wrapped his arms around her he pulled her closer yet and tucked his chin over her shoulder.

"As much as I want to continue this, Francie will be sending out the search team if I'm not back in a little while, I'm supposed to be out for a run," Sydney returned Vaughn's tight embrace. "What were you going to say about us?"

Vaughn sighed and pushed back from Sydney, looking into her dark brown eyes. "Right. What was I going to say? Oh, I remember. we can't have a typical relationship, but that doesn't mean we can't have one at all. You are important to me, Lord knows I have I risked enough already on your behalf, and I am not going to stop caring, or loving you, now. So, we'll just have to figure things out as we go. Is that all right with you?"

"Sounds perfect," Sydney grinned, "Now, that wasn't so hard, was it - when I first came in here I thought you had changed your mind or something terrible had happened and you were going to tell me something awful."

"Well," Vaughn paused, not sure where to start with the rest of what he had to say, "That's the thing, that wasn't quite all I had to say, that was the easy part."

Sydney frowned and managed to gracefully extract herself from Vaughn's lap and walked across the room to sit on a table opposite from where he was - being apart from him would help her think more clearly.

Vaughn continued, "It's not that what I have to say is so terrible, but I am not sure what you are going to think about it and it puts our already precarious situation on a whole new level of complexity. But Devlin thinks the plan is for the best."

"Vaughn, just tell me what it is and let me decide how to react," Sydney was touched that he was worried about her reaction but her curiosity was getting the better of her. "Please."

Vaughn stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of Sydney, "Well, you know that Will decided to join the CIA and that I am his handler, right?"

"Yes, I should've asked how he is, have you seen him?"

"He's doing fine, Syd. Training is going well and he is scoring above average on the capabilities tests - both physically and intellectually. But it's not so much his ability to be an agent, but his ability to survive day- to-day, keeping his cover and staying away from 'the man.' Devlin wants someone watching him, with him, on a regular basis but with personal contact, not just your usual surveillance team."

Sydney wasn't surprised that this was the case, she figured Will wasn't going to be able to live a normal CIA agent life, whatever that was, but wasn't sure why Vaughn was explaining it to her. Maybe she would have to explain it to Will, not that she expected he trusted her much after what had happened. "Ok, that sounds typical to me."

"I guess it is to be expected," Vaughn swallowed, not sure of what to say next. "Devlin decided to have an agent pose as Will's girlfriend. We talked over many different agents and approached Will with a few but he didn't seem too open to the idea - didn't like not knowing them and having to pretend to be in love - a very important factor in making this look real. Given that Will doesn't have experience in that area we, or Devlin really, decided on another solution that makes sense, I guess."

"What is it, Vaughn?"

"Well, Will said he would be comfortable if you were the agent acting as his girlfriend," Vaughn looked Sydney in the eye, "Devlin brought you up as he was aware of Will's feelings for you having watched the tape of your conversation at the safe house."

Sydney felt a knot growing in her stomach, this is what Vaughn hadn't wanted to tell her and for good reason. It was bad enough that Will had gotten pulled into this life, but to further screw things up, she was being asked to convince the world that she was in love with him. And the person who would be orchestrating their "relationship" would be the real man she loved - life was pretty fucked up.

"Are you serious," Sydney asked, "Of course you are. It would make sense in any other situation, it's almost ideal since our being together wouldn't raise any suspicions. But, God, he's always been in love with me and he's not experienced at this kind of thing - how's he going to separate fact from fiction, romantic love from the love that I do feel for him?"

"I know, Sydney," Vaughn rubbed a hand across his forehead, massaging his temple, "But I have been racking my brain to think of another option and I can't see one other than Will changing his mind about one of the other agents or him not getting personal protection, an option I am sure you wouldn't be able to deal with anyway. I told Devlin I'd ask you, but I think we both know that you are going to do it."

"How could I not," Sydney looked into Vaughn's eyes with a pained look, "This doesn't make 'us' any easier, does it? Shit."

"You can say that again," Vaughn said, turning away from Sydney, "But what you said earlier is true, it doesn't change how I feel about you or how you feel about me; you were right about that. But we knew it wasn't going to be normal, we just didn't know how screwed up it would be."

Sydney stretched her leg out to nudge Vaughn with her toe, "Hey, come here."

Vaughn turned around and walked to where Sydney was sitting on the table, standing in front of her, arms flat at his sides. Sydney reached down with both her hands and linked her fingers with Vaughn's.

"We're going to be all right, remember, we just have to have faith," Sydney soothed, "Isn't that what you have been telling me?"

"I know," Vaughn brought his eyes up to lock with hers, "I just can't believe this is what our next challenge is going to be. I didn't think it would come so soon. I was looking forward to having meetings alone with you."

Sydney gave him an understanding smile and then tugged at his arms, pulling them around behind her and then hugging him tightly. "We'll find time. And someday we'll have all the time in the world, provided Will and I don't kill each other in a 'relationship.'"

Vaughn groaned and pressed his forehead to Syndey's, "Funny."

"Vaughn?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you," Sydney kissed him, slowly and sweetly, memorizing the taste of him.

Vaughn pushed all other thoughts from his mind and focused on the beautiful woman in front of him. His tongue slipped past her lips and met with hers and the kiss deepened. Vaughn reached up and under the back of her shirt, wanting to feel her skin, knowing things couldn't go much further - not tonight and maybe not for a while. Once he had more of her he would not want to give any of her up.

"I love you, too," Vaughn finally spoke, breaking away from Sydney, "I think I've know that since the day you walked into Langley - freak that you were."

Sydney laughed and continued playing with the hair on the back of Vaughn's neck, "Freak, huh? I wasn't the one checking me out, now was I?"

"Nope, there was just something about you - one look and I was hooked," Vaughn grinned back at Sydney, "You should probably go, Francie might be getting worried, though one look at you should tell her that you could run for miles and not even work up a sweat."

"Thanks," Sydney blushed at the implied compliment, "When do we get started with Will?"

Vaughn's flinched at the mentioned of Will, and he made a mental note to practice saying the name without jealousy creeping into his mind. "Tomorrow. Can you meet back here at eight?"

"Sure, I certainly don't have anything else to do," Sydney shrugged, "Sloane has been MIA for the past two weeks and my dad is in charge at SD- 6, I don't expect to be sent out any time soon."

"Okay, tomorrow night then," Vaughn kissed Sydney quickly, "You'll become Will's girlfriend."

Sydney rolled her eyes, "Let the fun begin. Hey, have you thought of how we might convince Francie of our true love? She's the one I am most worried about buying this charade."

"Sydney, I think she's probably not blind to Will's adoration of you, you'll just need to convince her of your own feelings. No big deal."

"Do you know women at all? Francie is going wonder why I never said anything before, I am her roommate after all," Sydney laughed.

"Tell her that it has been going on for a little while but you didn't want to tell even her because if it didn't go well you didn't want things to be weird and things are always weird when someone else knows about them," Vaughn said, knowingly.

"Thanks for the advice, Dr. Vaughn, you should get your own call-in show."

"Again, funny, what would the angle be - advice for the undercover agent?"

"I know I'd tune in," Sydney mocked, fluttering her eyelashes at Vaughn, "I hear Dr. Vaughn is quite the hottie, at least Francie thinks so."

"What, how does she," Vaughn started but then remembered he had dropped the "notes" off for Sydney, "Oh, right, she thinks I'm hot, huh? Interesting."

Sydney just nodded and smiled as Vaughn backed up, pulling her off of the table. Her smile turned into full-out laughter as Vaughn took her hand and twirled her out into the warehouse and with a snap of his wrist brought her back up against him.

Vaughn joined in her laughter, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I'm a closet dancer."

Sydney wrapped an arm around his neck and let Vaughn dip her, "That's okay with me, I love to dance and this, this reminds me a little bit of a normal relationship."

They danced a few more measures has Vaughn hummed an unrecognizable tune. Sydney closed her eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that when she left the warehouse things were going to be different. She would have to go home and plant few seeds about Will with Francie, who thought Will was in New York for a writer's conference.

But tomorrow was another day and even though Will would be there, she would get to see Vaughn so it had the potential for being a good day. No matter how deep she found herself in the crap of her life, she was ironically ever the hopeless romantic, balancing the good with everything else. She realized that it opened her up to all sorts of pain by caring so deeply for people and about things and trying to hold onto the hope that true love would someday be hers, but she also knew it gave her life - that it kept her from becoming numb and heartless like Sloane or even her father. She was a paradox - a ruthless double agent who could kick a thousand asses but still cried herself to sleep at night, thinking about all the people she lied to about herself and each other.

"Thanks, Vaughn," Sydney hugged him and pressed her lips to his.

"Not a problem, Syd. Hey, you called me Michael earlier, remember?"

"Yes, I remember."

"It was good to hear my name coming out of your mouth, but to be honest, I like it better when you call me Vaughn," Vaughn winked at her, "You're the only one who does."

Sydney just nodded and kissed him once again, letting herself get lost in the kiss. It was Vaughn who broke away and turned her around to face the door and gave her a little push in its direction.

"You'd better get out of here, Syd."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, then," Sydney started walking towards the door, not looking back, knowing she wouldn't be moving in the right direction if she did that.

"Bye, Syd."

Sydney waved a hand over her shoulder and walked out the door, her desire to turn around and run back into his arms almost making her walk crooked.

As the door clicked shut behind her, Vaughn sighed and rubbed both hands roughly over his face.

"This is going to kill me," he said to the empty room, not knowing if he meant figuratively or literally.

Minutes later Vaughn was outside in his car, heading back to the office to write a report for Devlin, outlining Sydney's acceptance of being Will's "girlfriend" and his suggestions for getting everything in place.

Life went on. And tomorrow was another day.