'K.. I'm back and also putting up a new chapter. Normally, I'm a HUGE Syd and Vaughn FLUFF fan, but this chapter that I wrote is quite DARK. I don't normally write like this and believe me when I say this was VERY HARD to write..

Because of what this chapter implies, I'm gonna rate this a "STRONG R", for the few cuss words but mainly for how this plays out.

Chapter 3

The rest of the week went by pretty quickly with Will going as well as coming back from a few meetings at Langley; Jack along with Irina, after two weeks of endless searching, bringing in another round of stolen Rambaldi pieces from Sloane and lastly, the return of Eric Weiss with his team from a long term deep cover assignment of five months from the Middle East. With Marshall's newly found position as Head of the Technical Department and his wife, Carrie's keen knowledge of decoding Milo Rambaldi, they were soon deployed as CIA liaisons to the NSA Headquarters to help decipher the latest artifacts brought back by the elder Bristows'.

Throughout all of this, Sydney, meanwhile, became more aloof since her meeting with Will. She would start her day with moodiness and irritability, causing all the guards and even a few of her colleagues to steer clear of her cell. She would work out for an hour and when food was taken to her, she would eat an minimal amount and leave the rest.

All the people were still captivated by her lithe figure and the emanating persona as she was monitored. For all the Agents who remembered when Irina Derevko was held in that same cell, creeps were felt during the week when one of the Agents pointed out that Sydney had been working out in her cell for the past three hours non-stop. They had been aware that she had not been eating properly and the rate at which she was working out, she was viable to burnout from exhaustion.

* * *

Eric Weiss decided to go in early that morning since he had gotten a call the night before informing him that he did not sign the last few statements and finish writing the last of the reports.. Of all the things to forget, he didn't sign his name. As he walked in, he saw that most of the Agents were crowded around one of the monitoring screens. The Agent that was standing off to the side saw him and quickly stood up straight.

Weiss frowned, "What's going on? What is everyone watching?"

Rick, the Agent with glasses, that went rigid walked over to him, "Eric, it's Ms. Bristow..."

Weiss nodded his head, "Yeah?"

"She does her daily routine of yoga and then moves onto martial arts.. Well," he sighed before continuing, "..this morning, out of the blue, she started 4 am-"

"Four in the morning?" Weiss quickly looked down at his watch and it read 7:45am. At 4 in the morning, he was still off in La-La land. "What?!? Are you serious, Rick? And no one's gone down there to try and stop her?!?" He angrily asked while walking to the monitor with Rick in tow.

At the sound of his heavy foot-falls, many of the Agents were broken out of their trances. As they turned, they saw the a grim look upon the Senior Agents' face and many of them scampered away, scared of facing his wrath.

When Eric got to the monitors, he stopped dead in his tracks, doing a double-take of the scene that was being played in front of him. On the screen, it was almost as if he was taken back to two years ago, watching the exact same moves being done presently. He remembered when Irina Derevko was in that cell, working out as well, and he knew this because he had to monitor her on and off for a weeks as well. Was doing yoga as well as the sequence of practiced moves a part of the Bristow women genetic makeup? If one didn't look close enough, Sydney could almost pass for the exact copy of her mother.

Since Vaughn was still unreachable, he decided to take the risk upon himself to try and go talk some sense into her. He heard that she had been back, as unbelievable as it may have seemed, he had just gotten back to the states yesterday afternoon and was sent directly for debriefings so he had not gotten the chance to visit her.

Eric remembered the first time his best friend disappeared, a week after the horrendous scene at Sydney's apartment. After seeing that, Vaughn became unglued and suddenly just shut down completely. The following week, without a word to anyone, he left unexpectedly for his birthplace in France. At his unpredictable behavior, the CIA decided to monitor him and within another five days, he slipped from their radar and completely disappeared.

Since that incident, Eric reshaped himself to the fullest, going back to retrain for fieldwork again through the CST method. His access pounds, instead of shedding, he built up as muscles. He had delved fully into work, inputting his value to the CIA, living up to his Senior Agent status, and commanding teams successfully to make major dents in the demented Arvin Sloane's plans all the while searching for both of his friends, Michael Vaughn and Sydney Bristow

As he was about to go down to her cell, Rick informed him of the turn of events, "Weiss.. Vaughn just went in to see Ms. Bristow.."

"When? Where the hell did he get back from this time?" Weiss asked, surprised.

"About 15 minutes before you did.." Rick shrugged his shoulders. "And don't have the slightest clue but when he came through the doors... he seemed rather like a man possessed, " he finished, with a somber look.

"Man possessed?" Weiss repeated his words, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know how to explain it. It might seem crazy-"

"Crazy isn't a word our lives, Rick. After everything we've seen and done, along with Irina Derevko's compliance, Will's wife and Sydney's reappearance, surreal seems to be more of a fitting word."

Rick nodded his head, "True. When Vaughn walked in though.. it was like the whole place just.. tingled, for a lack of a better word, with tension. As if an omen of sorts. He had a cagy but calculated look-" He stopped talking when he noticed on the screen that Vaughn had just walked up to the holding cell and pointed to Eric to watch.

All the Agents stood mesmerized by her grace-like movements, the concentrated precision of how she executed her kata. Eric as well as the others also noted a moment later, the gradual change in her sequence, slowing down with the shadow-boxing and eased into stretching, becoming sensuous a few seconds before Vaughn got there.

And when Vaughn walked through the door, each taking in the others' looks until finally locking on, "Oh shit... let the fireworks begin..." Weiss muttered under his breath.

* * *

She heard the familiar noise of the gates rising. Obviously, somebody was coming to see her and even with her bitchy-ness, someone still did not comprehend the clue of her not wanting to receive any visitors. But this time, it was different because even though she was in the middle of kata, she felt something akin to a thousand needle pricks on the back of neck. She continued her sparring with less ardor but more of stretching, anticipation rising, giving her a feel heightened senses.

The feeling of being watched charged the atmosphere and she hadn't even turned around to see who came to see her. Knowing that only one person in the world could muster so many emotions, she carefully hid them and finally turned around when she heard the beep of the electronic door opening and his steps in her restrained territory.

"Hello, Sydney..."

This was the first visit as well as the first words he said to her, after almost ten days of her being in this cell, subjected to various medical and physical tests along with stressful visits from friends, and colleagues.

The guard, Private Colton, not even waiting to be dismissed quickly shut the door behind him and went away, knowing that privacy, although they were being taped, was what they needed. As much as he wanted to witness their infamous reunion, he also knew, smartly enough that he valued his life, and did not want to fall into the bad graces of either.

Both heard the snick of the door closing, distracting them for a moment and their finally, brown eyes met the greenish hazel eyes of her counter-part. She took in his appearance, trying to spot all the changes that could have taken place within those last two years.

His hair, the never ending case of bed hair and more than his usual case of peach fuzz adorned his handsome face but it was one thing that was the most visible, a healed skinny and long scar ran from his right cheek down all the way to his jaw. From whomever or whatever he had gotten it from, it must have hurt quite badly but the most significant change of all was in his eyes. The once mischievous, worried and sometimes shy sparkle of his eyes that he used to have were now vacant. His eyes, now were haunted, hollow, full of pent up grief and dangerous anger evident in the current gaze of this man.

Her feelings quickly plummeted from being excited, happy and hopefully to betrayal and anger the instant she saw the ring on his finger. Didn't he have the decency to remove it before coming to her?

He read her eyes, lighting up to cold anger as he followed her narrow gaze back to his left hand, particularly the ring finger.

"How nice of you to grace me with your presence.. Michael." Her first words she snarled, the fury building in her, just gearing for a fight. She did not hide the blatant stare of disgust of his ring.

Although he was shocked at her vicious tone and stare, he didn't let the surprise show. He was stupefied at change of demeanor of Sydney Bristow but then, he went through a lot himself so in a way, he understood her explosive behavior. He wondered if she snapped at everyone who went to visit or was her anger particularly vented towards him?

"Has this been the Sydney Bristow Welcome everyone has been bestowed upon?"

She was astounded by his apathetic nature and decided to play along to his stoicism, "Nope... only you've received this kind of special treatment."

A wicked humorless grin crossed his face, "I'm so honored." His eyes narrowed in anger. "Bitchy aren't we today?"

"Try everyday," she retorted with the same pitch. "Are we just going to stand around exchanging witty remarks or are you here for a reason?"

A exasperated sigh left from him. "You don't need to keep this front, Sydney. This is me... so drop the attitude."

"I could ask the same of you." She stared at his expressionless face and the way one of his veins was about to pop, she understood that she got through to him.

Good... the green eyed Tin Man did have feelings.

He closed his eyes while taking a deep breath and remembered the last time he saw her. She was ecstatically happy when he surprised her with a weekend away to Santa Barbara. Since then, he had only his memories as a vigil of her. He quickly opened his eyes and scrutinized her, hoping that she wasn't a figment of those bouts of delirium he went through. He walked over to her, close enough to watch but he didn't dare touch. Instead, he observed her from head to foot and this time, he trying to assess all the changes within her.

She was startled at the sudden change in his posture and stare. She felt as she was under a microscope but stood still, that previous feeling of a thousand needle pricks came back as she watched him coming to her.

He began to circle her.. slowly.

She held her breath in shock. She stood up to her full height not wanting to show that he intimidated her as he finished and stood in front of her.

He stared into her eyes and the old spark between them flared as he was raising his hand to cup her cheek..

She saw this move with the corner of eye and wanted so badly to feel his skin on hers but when it was only a few inches away, she wasn't prepared for the feelings when he finally touched her. As heavenly as it felt, she remembered the small piece of metal. How could something so small have the devastating effect of a nuclear bomb? Her eyes became filled with contempt, "What are you doing?"

"God... you have no idea how much I missed you-" his voice cracked slightly.

She would have willing gave up her next breath for a chance to be comforted in his arms but he wasn't hers anymore. He belonged to someone else, "Not that much apparently since you've got a ring on your finger."

"What?" He had a dumbfounded look on his face.

She tried to pull out of his hands but he wouldn't budge. Didn't he understand that the feel of that little cold ring on her cheeks felt the equivalent of her being shot, stabbed and electrocuted all at the same time? She couldn't help herself as the next words spilled out of her mouth frostily, "What's the problem, Vaughn? Here to make peace with the past or is the missus' not satisfying you enough? Is that why you're-"

He let her go immediately, the atmosphere hostile again as well his demeanor. "Where the hell do you get off? I came because I wanted to... not out of any kind of obligation. I want to tell you about this." He held up left hand and extended the ring finger.

She laughed sarcastically, "Great. Just don't tell me wasn't Alice. In fact, I'll save you the trouble of telling me your life because I don't even want to hear it."

"It's not Alice." His voice didn't rise, but the irate tone was evident in the way he spoke, "That's your problem, Sydney. You don't give people a chance to explain to redeem themselves. It was one of your worst problems, even back then."

"What the f*ck are you talking about? Are you saying that I was impossible-"

He took a deep breath, trying to organize his thoughts before continuing. He remembered back when she saved his life by getting the antidote for the virus he had gotten in Taipei. Back then, they weren't allowed to acknowledge each other, much less their feelings, but when she and Will saw him with Alice, she couldn't hide the disappointment and betrayal when they bumped into each other at that restaurant. And before the mission to Nice, he had wanted to explain the circumstances, but she obviously didn't want to hear it. He understood that it was a self defense mechanism, for not wanting to feel pain of opening up, but it also one of her bad traits. In trying so hard to protect herself, she wouldn't let someone in...

He heard her panting, anger the foremost emotion. "Stop trying to put words in my mouth. I didn't say that. I will tell you that you never give someone a chance to explain their actions. It was something that you did two years ago-"

"What?!? What the hell-" She exploded, not believing his nerves.

This time he interrupted her, "I.. am... not.. finished.." He stressed out each word in a forceful tone which shut her up quickly.

It was the one tone she never heard from him before. She knew he had a dark side, obviously, for when Agents were trained to interrogate but she never thought he would use it on her. As much it scared, it also turned her on... but she really didn't want to dwell on her rising heat or hear the explanation this time. She did the only thing she could think of...

She struck... physically.

As she launched into a series of punches, he was totally unprepared for her attack and she was able to partially land the first one into his jaw. The next one she threw, he easily deflected it away. Changing her attack, she next stepped back and dove into a roundhouse kick, which again, he deflected.

This went one for a few minutes until she somehow she quickly faked a kick and surprised him with a grappling hook. Instead of full contact, she stopped as she managed to get the upper hand and grabbed him by the wrists to slam him against the wall.

Despite the two year gap away from each other, the chemistry flared up again when two locked gazes as both were breathing hard and moments after, awareness began to creep in with the position they were in. He knew that she knew if he wanted to break away, he could do so easily but both were mesmerized at being this close, for him, two years and her, only a few months, according to her time-line but in actuality, way too much time apart.

His eyes sparkled with lust and when she caught it, she swooned a bit, feeling light-headed. Taking advantage of her slight weakness, he twisted them around, this time, her back against the wall but she didn't let go of his wrists.

Since the human body was known as a conductor, it seemed that bursts of electricity flashed through them. She gasped when she felt his muscles flex under hands and unconsciously she started to rub his wrists.

Not being able to take the tension, he leaned down as her mouth came up... only a hairs-breath apart when a frown came over as she stopped massaging around his wrists.

He couldn't take it anymore, he just had to taste her lips. He had been too long without the soft supple feeling of them but when he saw her frown and stiffen on his wrists, he detoured from his original intended target and instead rested his forehead against hers. He could no longer control the emotions in his voice, "What is it, baby?"

She suddenly became aware that they were probably being taped so she leaned in closer to his left ear, lowering her voice considerably, "Vaughn-"

He shivered from the contact. In those months that he had to endure without her, she always occupied his dreams and when he was awake, she filled his thoughts. She became his obsession, where he lived and breathed only her.

She whispered into his ear, "Vaughn... why do have scars on your wrists?" She lowered her voice even more, afraid to ask but knew she needed to know, "On both of them?"

Of all the things he expected her to say, that was not it. He suddenly wretched himself out of her grip and the room temperature dropped yet again. A panicky but angry look flitted in his eyes but he didn't answer.

She held his gaze, watching the emotions flashed quickly through his eyes; sorrow, fury, grief, anguish, pain, hurt, remorse and most of all, suffering. She knew all these feelings quite well because she first experienced them with the discovery of SD-6's Arvin Sloane had the man she loved killed and the whole elaborate deception.

She had felt sorrow for an innocent man who was killed for his slip of tongue; fury directed towards the people who killed him; grief for taking the life of the man who gave her the chance to life a normal life; anguish of losing that chance; pain for losing that last link to normalcy; remorse because it was her fault, inadvertently and the suffering was going to the five stages of grief. There was a time she felt she wanted to give up and end her suffering when she learned that SD-6 was rogue, not even a part of the real CIA, that she had been working for the very people she made a vow she would fight against.

That was the last straw..

She had lost the righteous direction in her life and after finding her fiancee dead, at the time who she thought was her soul-mate. For a moment in time, she lost her will to live. She remembered how easy it would have been during those few days to find something... anything sharp enough to nick at the spot right under her hands... She knew full well of the signs... over the years, there were many times she thought about doing it, but something held her back, rather someone. She once believed that Daniel Hecht was the one but she was obviously mistaken because she did find her true soul-mate in the form of her CIA Handler.

She could not believe it...

Her head snapped up at her last thought and she understood the full implications of the scars of his wrists... She instantly dropped the facade of her hidden feelings, "Oh my god... Vaug- Michael?!?"

The intensity of her look brought out the rawness of his old feelings and they started to surface without warning. Tears started to pool around his eyes, backing up a step for every one she took forward.

"Michael... please..." Tears were streaming down her face as she watched him back away.

He walked over to the door, punching in the code as well as using the electronic key. He stepped into the hallway as the door automatically shut behind him. He looked in her eyes, through the glass, "I.. I'm sorry.... but I can't deal with this... Not now.." He dropped his head, almost in shame.

She couldn't help but cry, "Don't go.. baby... It's okay... I understand... more than you'll know."

He lifted his head and saw that she only spoke the truth. No matter how many Goliath-type obstacles they were thrown at them; ironically from her mother killing his father to the very evil forces that brought her into his life and now to her two year disappearance, one thing remained constant. No matter what, each of them were the others' touchstone... the thing that kept them sane.

She put her hand on the glass, "I'm here... honey. Please believe that..." Hope filled her eyes, "I'm real..."

He hesitantly lifted his right hand and placed it onto to the glass where her's were. He began to ramble, not fully aware of what he was admitting, "It was hell without you. I.. I was so lost, Syd... so damn lost and broken-"

She noticed a painful nostalgic look that came across his face, and quickly interrupted him before he went in too deep into the memories, "I'm sorry for what you went through because of me.." She shook her head in shame of what he endured for her..

He came out of his broken reverie and looked at her with an open expression.

She was shocked at what his face displayed and the tears started dropping.

"I've got to go-" And he finally walked away leaving a weeping Sydney behind...

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Okay people, DEFINITELY review for this. It was hard to write to imagine Vaughn's devastation of losing her.

Again, reviews are good for my ego.. lol.. because it tells me if I should continue on with this or not.