CHAPTER SEVEN – GETTING HER HOME

Jack's silence only lasted a split-second.

"You sent Vaughn?  I thought he had gone deep cover."  Jack remembered how his one remaining partner in the search for Sydney had tried to explain his decision. 

Vaughn had let the strain of the search affect him – he had grown thin, his face was sunken, and his hands were often shaking with tremors.  When he'd come to tell Jack of his plan to "get away," as he had labeled it, he couldn't look the older man in the eye.  Jack had been sure that Weiss or one of Vaughn's other friends had pressured him into moving on.  I bet they had no idea what Vaughn's idea of "moving on" would consist of.

"Yes, Agent Vaughn is currently in the middle of a deep cover mission."  Kendall's voice brought Jack back to the present.

"He was sent to infiltrate the Chinese Triad operating out of Hong Kong.  When Sydney called us from there, we sent her to the safehouse and used covert channels to instruct Vaughn to meet her there.  He was her former handler and he was nearby.  We thought it would be best."

"So what happened?" Jack pressed.

"Our contact reported that Sydney checked just after 10p.m., local time, and that Vaughn arrived less than 30 minutes later.  The contact left them to get everything prepared with a plane for her flight back to L.A.  When he returned, they had both vanished.  No note – no phone call.  We can't risk exposing Vaughn or his contact by communication for another 48 hours."

"I'm going," was Jack's instant response.  "Give me Vaughn's alias and information.  I can initiate contact as a freelancer without implicating the CIA or compromising his cover."

"I suspected you would feel that way.  But Jack," Kendall warned, "we need her back here.  There's no telling where she's been or who she's been involved with.  We'll have a plane standing by for you both to come back to L.A. immediately."

"Fine," was Jack's clipped answer.  Kendall relayed all of Vargas's pertinent information and gave a last admonition,

"Jack… The people Vaughn has been working with are extremely dangerous.  I'm sure I don't need to tell you to keep as far away from them as possible."

"No, you don't."  Jack paused, "Thank you."

"Just get her home safely, Jack.  Good luck."

Jack snapped his phone shut and shoved it into his pocket.  He would head straight for the airport, and intended to be on the next flight to Hong Kong.

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Vaughn followed Sydney into the small restroom.  He turned his back to her as he bolted the door from the inside.  He was still facing the door with his hand on the latch when she spoke.

"How did you find me?"

"Sydney," he sighed, grateful she hadn't asked a more difficult question, "the people I work with own most of this city… and have eyes everywhere.  When you took off, I put out your description and ordered your capture.  I couldn't risk you getting hurt or being discovered by enemies."  And I couldn't risk losing you again.  Not when I've only just found you.

"What is going on?  Why did you wait so long to come to me?  Why were you talking about my father where the camera could hear you?"  Sydney rushed, attempting to hide the most important question amid the others.  Was it easier to keep me locked up while you went home to a nice, warm – shared – bed?  Her mind betrayed the bitterness she felt towards him. 

"Syd… what I said about trying to contact your father… that was true.  Last night my… boss… was asking about you.  I told him you were an escaped mental patient – the daughter of an important freelance contact.  En Kai thinks I'm holding you here as a favor to my contact – Jack."

"Oh…" Sydney's mind spun.  An escaped mental patient?  Am I really coming across as crazy?  En Kai… isn't that Jie's father?  Vaughn's father-in-law knows who I am?  She pressed him further,

"Why couldn't you explain this to me last night?  I didn't know who had me.  You let me think I'd been kidnapped… I…" her questions broke off as she choked back a sob.  Her shoulders fell and she turned so he couldn't see her bury her face in her hands.

"Oh, Syd…"  Vaughn's feet moved forward of their own accord.  Once again, he was standing centimeters from the woman he loved.  His only thought was to get her home – to him.  The heat radiating from her body singed his chest and hands as he wrapped them around her waist, pulling her flush against him.

She could feel Vaughn's heart pounding against her back and his hot breath on her hair.  Sydney relaxed into him for a moment, then pivoted in his embrace and buried her face into his shoulder.  She gripped tight the sides of his shirt under his black leather jacket as his hands slid up to her back and squeezed her closer. 

As he held her, he stroked the back of her hair.  Whispering low apologies, Vaughn placed tentative kisses on the top of her head.  Gradually, her sobs subsided and she turned pulled her head back to face him.

He looked into her eyes and was stunned by what he saw there.  She was looking at him with a familiar gaze, but not the stony one from minutes before.  Her eyes took him back two and a half years – to their old warehouse-meeting days. 

The look, full of longing and… yes… love, was almost too much.  He lowered his face to hers, almost imperceptibly, then hesitated, gaze flitting from her lips to her eyes and back again… waiting. 

She raised one hand to softly caress his cheek, then pressed her lips to his.  The kiss was full of the same bitter sweetness and longing the two had felt since their meeting the night before.  Sydney closed her eyes, and as she brought her other hand behind his neck to pull him closer, two large tears dropped from her eyelashes and rolled down her face.

Vaughn felt her salty tears wet his own face and softly pulled away.

"Sydney… I…"  He was cut off by the shrill ring of his cell phone.  Vaughn looked at Sydney with regret as she pushed completely away from him.  He turned away from her as he opened the phone and placed it at his ear.

"Yes," his clipped tone answered the call.

"Mr. Vargas… This is Jack Bristow.  I hear you have located my daughter."

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A/N:  Thanks to my reviewers:  gambitslove, jandl, Kira, sunnE1, Ryanne, zrodezina, & MyAlias!  I'm so glad you are enjoying my fic. 

I promise to keep updating regularly if you'll keep reading & reviewing regularly… Deal?