The beeping was driving her crazy. It was so regular and high-pitched, unlike any noise she had ever had to listen to before. "Make that beeping stop," she groaned, refusing to open her eyes.

"That could be a problem," said a voice from her right. Sydney recognized the familiar pressure of someone holding her right hand. "You see, if that beeping stops, it means that your heart has stopped beating and that means you're probably dead."

Sydney opened her eyes slightly to look at her companion. "Is that you, Vaughn?"

"Yeah, Syd. It's me."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I was in a car accident and then was force to walk hundreds of miles through an Egyptian desert." She sighed and tried to sit up. Vaughn let go of her hand to help her. "Where am I?"

"You're in a hospital in Al Fayyum."

"How did I get here?" she asked.

"I think you know that answer better than I do. I just got a cryptic message on my voicemail a couple hours ago telling me that you were in the hospital and that I should come pick you up. I don't even know who called me or how they got my cell phone number. You obviously weren't conscious." Vaughn stood up and went over to a table that was against the far wall. "These were the only things left for you."

Sydney stared at the bouquet of wildflowers that Vaughn had put into her hands. "He left me flowers?"

"Who?"

"No one."

"Doesn't sound like no one." Vaughn realized he wasn't going to be able to pry any more information out of her on this topic. "So what exactly happened?"

"It was Simon Walker. I was running away from him."


"You were running away from Walker? How did he find out you were trailing him? Start at the beginning of the story."

Sydney couldn't help but notice that Vaughn had grasped her right hand in his again. "Well, Walker figured out I was trailing him somehow. I guess I got a little sloppy. We fought." Sydney paused trying to choose her words wisely. "I managed to get away from Walker and find a car that I could hotwire. Skipping a little, I managed to ditch Walker's men, but I ended up totaling the car."

"That's not like you, Syd. You're the best person I've ever seen driving in high pressure situations."

"I haven't driven like that in the desert in awhile. I'm kind of rusty. When I recovered my senses, I started walking. Then I stole a car that was being used for a drug deal. I'm the seize-the-moment kind of gal, you know? The last thing I remember is pulling over to the side of the road I was on and passing out from pain."

"I swear your adventures would make the best movie, Syd," Vaughn said with a laugh. "I have a few questions though. Who set your wrist? I know that such a good set can't be done by one's self. So someone had to do it for you."

This question threw her for a loop. She hoped that Vaughn interpreted her hesitation as meaning she was having trouble remembering, not she was having trouble coming up with a lie. "I have no idea. It wasn't set when I passed out. That was most of the pain I was feeling."


"Why would a stranger care so much about you?" he asked. "I don't know about this whole scenario. It sounds fishy."

"Are you calling me a liar?" Sydney was shocked at Vaughn.

"Not at all. I just think we need to look into who your mystery rescuer really was. I wouldn't doubt if it was someone you've encountered in the past."

"Like who?"

"I don't know. There has been a rumor that--"


"Can we finish this later? My head's starting to hurt from trying to remember all of what went on." Searching for a new topic to talk about, Sydney looked down at her wrist cast. "So how am I doing? Think I'm going to pull through?"

"As long as you don't want the beeping of your heart monitor to stop still, you should be fine. The doctor said that you had a pretty bad concussion when you were brought it. But it's nothing a little rest won't fix."

"Do I have to stay here?"

"For the time being. I'm not going to leave your side, Syd. You really scared me this time." He lightly squeezed her hand. "I wasn't sure if you had been kidnapped again."

"Hey, if I was kidnapped that would give you plenty of time to focus on having a family."

"That's not funny. I'm not going to apologize for moving on. You know that."

"I know." Sydney turned her head so that she didn't have to look him in the eye. "But I just can't turn the feelings I have for you off at a moment's notice. I still feel like I've only been missing for a few weeks, not a few years. I can't seem to adjust to the fact that everything I've ever known has changed."

"My love for you hasn't changed. I still care about what happens to you."

"But not in the way you used to. I mean, you have a wife to look after now. You don't need the burden of having to constantly watch out for me. It's asking too much. I shouldn't have even asked you to come along on this mission."

"If you hadn't asked me to come along, I still would have insisted to Dixon that I be included on the team."

"Don't play the martyr and sacrifice your marriage for me." Sydney felt a tear roll down her cheek. She hoped that Vaughn wouldn't notice. "I know she makes you happy and that's all the really matters."

"You make me happy to, Syd." Vaughn took a deep breath. He knew that he was treading on thin ice with this conversation, but he couldn't let Sydney go on being completely miserable with her life. "Sometimes I wish that Lauren wasn't around when you came back from the dead. It would have made things so much easier on both of us."

"Don't say that about your wife," Sydney scolded. "You love her."

"I love you, Sydney. I always have. I don't think that's ever going to change."

"I don't know what you want me to say here, Vaughn." Vaughn didn't answer her, and she had run out of things to say. At least she had run out of things that were safe to say. All that was left was the words that would send them into a dangerous and delicate area. "The thing I miss most is waking up and knowing that you're lying next to me. I miss the comfort of that."

She felt Vaughn's hand lightly touch her cheek and turn her head back to face him. It was a surprise to see that his eyes were filling up with tears. She didn't think that her words would hurt him, but obviously they were.

"I miss being able to provide you with that comfort. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and reach my arm out for you. But you weren't there. I tried so hard to tell myself that you were gone. Sometimes I wondered if I had made up everything I ever knew about you. Maybe you were just this fantasy that I had cooked up in my dreams. Then I would wake up and see the sweater you left on my coach or that horrible mirror you made me purchase in Anchorage. And I'd know that you did exist and that you were gone. You were never coming back, Syd, and the idea of that killed me." Vaughn paused to take a breath. "It's selfish I know, but I was so happy when we got the call from you in Hong Kong."

"Why would that be selfish?" she said trying to sound brave.

"Because I knew that you were hurting and that it pained you to see me. And all I could think of was how glad I was to see you alive and well. I'm causing you so much pain, and all I can be is happy. And that goes against everything I've ever tried to be for you."

"You might have caused me pain," she admitted, "but I was also happy to know that you were there, alive and well. It would have been so much to come back and hear that you were dead. That would have destroyed you."

Vaughn stood up from his chair and leaned in towards Sydney. As she felt his face moving closer to hers, she whispered, "We can't do this, Michael."

He paused as his lips were millimeters away from hers. "No, we shouldn't do this. And that makes all the difference."

Sydney saw a spark of the love they once had in his eyes and gave in to the kiss she knew they could never repeat.

For a last kiss, she had to admit that it was perfect. It felt like home to have his lips pressed against hers and his hands on her face. She never wanted it to end, and she wrapped her arms around his body as if she would die if he let go of her. He responded by deepening the kiss and sliding into the bed next to her.

She ran her hands over her chest and realized that he really hadn't changed at all over the two years. He still felt like she remembered, still tasted as sweet as she recalled. And she knew that she couldn't do this to him.

"Stop," she said. She gently pushed him away from her with the hands she had placed on his chest. "I love you too much to hurt you like this. You're married, and you love your wife."

"I love you, Syd," Vaughn practically pleaded. "You have to know that I'm telling you the truth."

"You're just interpreting the emotions you've felt since my return wrong. You think you love me, but you're just projecting the way things once were."

Vaughn realized that she was giving him a way out of this situation. As much as his heart was screaming to ignore it, he knew that he had to seize the opportunity. "You're right, Syd. I'm sorry."

"You'll always be my friend, Vaughn. That's a position that I refuse to let anyone else fill. Take comfort in that."

He smiled at her and stood up. "I should call Dixon and let him know that you're all right and we're coming home soon."

She gave him the bravest smile she could muster and turned away from where he was standing. It took all her strength not to call him back when she heard the door click shut.