Chapter 1

Sydney hugged Vaughn. He stood there looking forward. Sydney choked and shook her head. "They doubled Francie."

Vaughn nodded, "I know."

Sydney looked at him with curious eyes, "What happened to Will, Francie? Are they dead?"

"Will's OK."

Sydney wiped a tear that was rolling down her face. "What? How?"

"You. Sit down." Vaughn motioned to a bed. She slowly walked over and sat down.

Sydney looked into Vaughn's dark eyes "Vaughn?"

Vaughn ran a finger through his brown hair, then looked at her with sympathy. "We thought you were dead They asked me to come back to, um, to explain."

"Come back from what? What are you talking about? Vaughn, why are you wearing that ring?" Sydney said in a panicky voice.

Vaughn hesitantly muttered. "Syd, since that night you were missingyou've been missing for almost two years."

"Umm ... I need to think this out ...mind leaving me alone." Sydney choked.

***

He stood up and turned toward the door. Sydney grabbed his arm.

"Who?" She whispered, "Alice?"

"No. Syd I"

"Don't call me Syd," Sydney cut him off.

"If you want to know I got married to a woman named Lauren." Vaughn snapped.

"Oh. She must be oh so better than me!" Sydney cried imitating a rah-rah cheerleader "Is she so happy and preppy?"

"No. She's NSC!" Vaughn snapped he stormed off.

Sydney stared after him. He didn't look back over his shoulder. Sydney ran after him.

"How am I supposed to get back?" Sydney barked.

"You're coming with me." Vaughn muttered. Sydney reluctantly followed him to his rental car. She climbed in and buckled herself. They drove off in silence. Vaughn looked straight ahead. Sydney closed her eyes. Sydney wiped her nose on her gray sweater.

"Here we are. I can't go with you the moment I ...have got a lot of things to sort out." Vaughn informed motioning to a small plane.

Sydney stared out the window. Vaughn was out of his car looking at the jet. His eyes sparkled with tears and a pained look crossed his face.

***

"Excuse me. Miss, we're in LA. " Someone shook her shoulder. She shot up and realized she had dozed off during the flight. A woman was standing over her.

"Sorry. Thank you." Sydney said, tiredly.

"No problem. Do you need help with anything?" she asked.

"No. I'm f...fine."

"Well, okay then." The woman smiled. Her eyes looked concerned.

"Thank you." Sydney stood up and exited the plane.

She walked around the airport looking for a bathroom. She Her hands trembled as she turned on the bathroom faucet. She splashed cold water on her face. Sydney realized some color had come back to her cheeks. She couldn't wait to go to bed.

***

Sydney walked around the airport wondering how she was going to get back. Just as she finished thinking that she heard a familiar voice call out.

"SYD." She spun around to see her friend Eric Weiss near a snack booth.

" Weiss." Sydney gasped. She ran toward him and hugged him.

"Hey." He managed.

"Hi." She choked. She felt warm tears stream down her face. They hugged for a long time.

"Syd, I'm so sorry about Vaughn." Weiss said finally.

"Look, Weiss. He stopped looking for me. It's all right. But I still love him." Sydney added quietly.

"I think you should...you know talk to Vaughn. He deserves to hear what you think." Weiss said.

"Oh, well I'm not really sure at the moment. Umm. . . you understand." Sydney smiled weakly.

"Sure. Of course. We should really get going, you know." Weiss put a hand on her arm. They walked out of the airport silently.

***

"Syd?" Weiss shook her shoulder. Sydney opened her eyes and found they were at an apartment building near the beach.

"Where are we?" She asked tiredly.

"My place." He said.

"You are sleeping in the guestroom." Weiss announced as they went inside. She hugged her chest as he showed her the guestroom.

"I got some things for you. When I heard they found you I rushed over to the nearest mall. I got you all the things you need." Weiss said opening the closet door.

"Oh my gosh...thank you Weiss!" Sydney smiled, "Who helped you?"

""What makes you think someone helped me?" Weiss laughed, "You're right though...I called in back-up. But I don't think you really want to know who."

"Lauren?" Sydney nodded slowly. A lump formed in her throat.

"Yea, Syd please don't cry." Weiss pulled Sydney into a tight hug. Sydney choked. Weiss let her go to go get her a cup of hot cocoa. Sydney found a pair of sweats and a tank top and slipped those on. She walked out to the kitchen to find Weiss talking on the phone.

"Okay. Bye, Vaughn." Weiss said quickly as he spotted Sydney. He hung up and handed her a mug. Sydney thanked him and sat down at the kitchen bar. She sipped at the cocoa until she finished it. She got up and washed it out in the sink Weiss quickly got up and took the mug from her.

"Go to bed. You've had a long night. It's 3:00am Syd. Go." Weiss shooed her away. Sydney smiled and went off to the guestroom for a well-deserved sleep.

***

"Sydney, get up. We have to go to the CIA today!" Weiss called from the door.

"Uhhhhhh." Sydney groaned. She turned over. Her head throbbed. She pushed off the covers and got out of bed. She walked over to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Slowly she rummaged through the drawers for a brush. When she found one she raked it through her chestnut-brown hair. She pulled it back into a low ponytail and went over to the closet. She opened the old wood doors. She looked for a nice suit. She found a black suit. She slipped on the black pants and a white shirt. She carried the jacket to the bed and laid it neatly down. She rummaged through a little red make-up bag that was lying on the dresser. She applied some glitter eye shadow, black eyeliner, mascara, and light pink lip-gloss.

"Come on. Ready Syd?" Weiss called anxiously from the hall. Sydney pulled on the black jacket and ran from the room. She walked to the kitchen. She froze. Michael Vaughn was sitting at the table.