Okay. I have determined that this takes place somewhere before Phase One. It's up to you to get exact, but at least I have a general direction.

*

Sydney awoke to the sound of singing birds. It was an odd feeling, waking up to find beautiful, rich, golden sunlight steeling a path through the curtains. What made the feeling even more peculiar was the strange but soothing sensation of Michael Vaughn's arms wrapped around her.

To my surprise and my delight

I saw sunrise, I saw sunlight

I am nothing in the dark

And the clouds burst to show daylight

And that was when everything came back to her.

Carefully, [i]regretfully[/i], unwrapping his arms from around her body, Sydney shrugged off the woolly afghan and dusted off her wrinkled clothes. They were dry, very wrinkly, and smelled just like....Vaughn. They would do for the time being.

Sydney tiptoed into the kitchen area as silently as possible. If he did awake and find her doing what she planned to do, she might never be able to leave.

Honey you are a rock

Upon which I stand

And I come here to talk

I hope you understand

Sydney grabbed a notepad from the countertop and a pen from a drawer. She scribbled her note, already planned out in her head, and went out the front door.

But she defied herself. Broke her own rules. She looked back.

[i]I'm sorry.[/i]

**

Vaughn awoke that morning utterly alone. [i]She's gone. Maybe it was just a dream, maybe I just imagined the whole thing.[/i] Making his way into the kitchen, Vaughn flipped the switch on his coffee maker and pulled a bowl down from the cabinet.

And then he saw it. A note, undoubtedly written in her trademark scrawl.

[i]Vaughn-

I'm not sure how to say this, heck, I'm not sure how to do anything any more. I just need to disappear for a while. I'm sick of coming home to an empty house and crying because I can't remember what happiness feels like anymore. I don't know if you can understand, but I hope you will. Last night, when I came home, I just sat down in the middle of the floor because, for a moment, I couldn't remember who I was,...or what I was doing. I just felt like I had completely lost myself. I couldn't remember the date, my name, what color the sky was, or anything. I couldn't even remember how to breathe. I just felt so empty, void of any emotion or feeling. I didn't know what to do. So, I came here. To see you. And last night, when you held me, I began to think that I might actually be insane, because I'd just lost touch with everything. I was so scared.

I don't know where I'm going. Just....away. Please let me go. Understand that I can only handle so much. I'm trying to escape this life. Let me go. I'm not sure if I'll come back...I might just stay away forever. I just know that I need to find myself. I need to find out what it feels like to live again. Understand that not even I am invincible. I'm not unfeeling. I'm just human. And I'm so lost it hurts to breathe.

Yours,

Sydney[/i]

And the truth is

I miss you

Yeah the truth is

I miss you so

And I'm tired

I should not have let you go

Her note fell from his hands, drifted slowly to the carpeted floor, and stopped. And his heart stopped right along with it.

[i]She's gone. You couldn't even save her. You failed her. [/i]

Tiny, moist, clear droplets fell onto his empty hands. It took him a moment to realize that they were tears.

Confusion that never stops

The closing walls and ticking clocks

Gonna come back and take you home

I could not stop, that you now know

Singing come out upon my seas

Curse missed opportunities

Am I a part of the cure

Or am I part of the disease

He falls to his knees and clutches his chest...his sides....his head...his stomach. Everything is spinning.

"I could have helped you! I could have saved you Sydney!"

The words leave his mouth before he realizes that they don't have meaning. Michael Vaughn is not allowed to know Sydney Bristow. Michael Vaughn is a CIA agent who always obeys protocol and never crosses the line with the agents assigned to him.

Michael Vaughn cannot be in love with Sydney Bristow.

I was lost, I was lost

Crossed lines I shouldn't have crossed

I was lost, oh yeah

His house is eerily quiet. Empty. [i]She's gone for good.[/i] His coffee is burning, the bubbly sounds dying out as it finishes its cycle.

He rises from the floor, the carpet leaving tiny indentations in his uncovered knees. Though everything is a little bit fuzzy, he manages to find the coffee maker and shut it off. Without blinking, he pulls a coffee cup from the cabinet. The chipped one. The one cup he tried to avoid for fear of cutting his lip on the jagged rim.

And he can't even feel fear anymore.

[i]She's gone[/i]

He pours himself a full cup, a few droplets of condensation drip from the pot and fall onto the countertop.

As he makes his way into the living room, he walks right by her note. It's still in its place, on the floor. He knows it won't be there much longer. He's hide it somewhere, in a place where it can be safe. Just for him.

He'll go into work soon. Devlin will call a meeting when Agent Bristow, not senior, doesn't respond to several pages. Jack Bristow will be at the meeting. He won't look anyone in the eye, and it will be over in no time.

[i]But she may never come back.[/i]

Night turns to day

And I still have these questions

Bridges will break

Should I go forwards or backwards

Night turns to day

And I still get no answers