5.

Triple

"You're...a triple agent."

"Yes."

"For the CIA."

"Yes."

"And you're in my cell because..."

"Because I have very pertinent information to share with the CIA and, more specifically, with you."

Sydney stopped, processing all the information that came to her now. "Wait. SD-6 is gone. Everyone affiliated with SD-6 has also disappeared whether they knew the truth behind SD-6 or not. Why are you still here?"

Karma sighed a little then, almost imperceptibly. "It was time to pull out. And it was time that they found out too. However, despite this, I do know the outcome of the organization and I do have the intention of sharing it with you."

Sydney nodded, understanding all the implications that came with it. Looking down and then hesitantly back up, she voiced her next question. "And Vaughn?"

"I didn't lie about Vaughn. He has been otherwise detained. However, it is not a hostage situation or anything of the like which you have undoubtably thought of. He is merely getting more information and looking through, presumably, my file. He will join us later." Karma paused for a second time, a mischevious glint in her eye, the same as the one reflected in her tugging grin. "By the way, you don't have to lie to me because I don't care what happens along the way as long as the outcome remains unchanged."

Sydney's eyebrow lifted. "Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning that I specifically asked for a room without surveillance for other reasons but I wouldn't mind if you ended up using that fact towards your own advantage."

Face flushing, Sydney nodded quickly and looked back towards the stone floor. She wasn't yet sure how to take that information.

But she understood by the time Vaughn walked in through the door, a haggard look in his eyes that told of the sleepless night he had had. He nodded curtly towards Karma and was about to do the same to Sydney when she went to him and hugged him instead.

Eyebrows rushing upwards in momentary surprise and uncertainty, with a hesitant glance at Karma's unsurprised face, he hugged her back, his voice soft in her ears. "How are you?"

Her eyelids fluttered closed, finally at peace now that he was here. "Fine. Good. Surprised..."She trailed off, pulling her head back and looking at him, memorizing the features of his face. She flashed a sudden, brilliant grin. "Especially now that you're here."

He smiled back, willing to throw away the rules for this moment in her presence. Sydney pulled away, eyes taking in his tired eyes with loving concern, covering them with her lips, healing them in the only way she knew how. It had been only yesterday morning that she had woken up in his arms, flush with love and full with emotion that had resulted in a smile that refused to be wiped off her face.

His hands found hers, bringing them together as he pulled away, confused at what was happening, why this was happening, unsure of how to proceed. "Syd, what are you doing?" He was painfully aware of the other woman's presence a mere four feet away.

Her brown eyes locked onto his and in that moment, he didn't care what was going on, didn't care what her reasons were behind her actions. He'd throw it all away for her. Only for her.

"You look so tired." Her fingertips danced lightly on the skin of his eyelids, so feathery was her touch that he had to make sure that he was indeed being touched by this angel, this perfect woman that he had, for some reason, been allowed to have. He was speechless as she placed her head in the crook of his neck, elated and wonderous as he always was at how perfectly it fit there in that space. As if he had been made specifically to fit her.

Far away he could hear Agent Manuel's voice, hearing a little smirk in her tone as she called out "I'll tell them that you need a half hour to confer."

Before he could question her words, Sydney's own voice came to him, her words cascading over him like a warm breeze. "She asked specifically for a room with no surveillance." She managed to get the sentence out before covering his neck with tiny kisses that she planted ever so lovingly onto him, a symbol of how much he meant to her. And then his arms came up from his sides, his hands gliding up the curves and slopes of her hips and torso, settling themselves around her back and pulling her closer to him so that he could be sure of her warmth and her existence even as it was pressed up against him.

He felt his eyes closing, relief flooding him like a sedative, relaxing into the arms of the woman he loved with all of his heart.

Then she pulled away, her sudden absence leaving him lonelier than he had ever felt before. "I thought I lost you yesterday, Vaughn."

"What? What do you mean?" His words were soft, belying an undercurrent of shock and urgency. He cupped her cheek with his hand, meeting her eyes with his. "Why did you think that, Sydney?"

Her eyes watered slightly. "Because life was perfect when we went to sleep - if you could call it that - and it was perfect when we woke up. And then you weren't there anymore. You claimed your actions were for my safety, that your precautions were made with my health in mind and I do believe that they were. But at that moment, you became my handler again. Just my handler. And it scared me more than anything in the world." Her hand found his and entertwined her fingers with his.

He kissed her lightly on the forehead. "I'm sorry. I'll stay with you from now on. And I mean that literally."

Her eyebrow raised, questionning. "What are you talking about?"

His eyes took on a glint that she didn't understand. "You'll find out soon enough."

"Tell me."

He raised his eyebrow. "And waste our remaining 26 minutes in an unserveillanced room? Are you out of your mind?" And then he bent to kiss her.

tbc...

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