Sydney and Vaughn had gotten directions on how to get to Newcastle from Sydney from her father. He had been very confident that her sister and Sark would be staying as close to their old home as possible. Sydney couldn't help by admire the landscape as they were driving through the city. Nothing in her life had ever seen as tranquil as this was.
Vaughn looked over at his wife with a worried face. "Are you all right, Sydney?"
"I can't help but be jealous. This place is so beautiful. Kaylee and Sark get to have such a peaceful life now. No missions. No imminent death. No guns. No bombs. Just perfection."
"You're forgetting that they're here to hide out from every government and terrorist organization. They have to stay in relative hiding for the rest of their lives just so no one gets their hands on their son. That doesn't sound like perfection to me."
"Pessimist," Sydney growled lovingly at him. She suddenly got serious and turned to look at him. "I really love you, you know that."
"Yeah, I do. What caused that little outburst of love? " he asked with concern.
"I was just thinking about how horrible my life would be if you weren't in it."
Vaughn sighed and looked at his wife. "I know the five years we spent apart almost killed you. I'll keep apologizing that for the rest of our lives."
"It wasn't your fault, and you know it. Our country has always been the top priority in both of our lives. We accepted that when we took our jobs at the CIA."
"It's not my top priority anymore," Vaughn said candidly. "Not since the day Weiss decided to profess his undying love for you."
Sydney began to laugh and cry hysterically. When she calmed down, she looked over at him. "I had forgotten all about that."
"I don't see how you could. That was the whole reason we ended up getting married that night."
Sydney smiled at him and began to stare at the passing scenery again. In no time, she found herself drifting off to sleep and dreaming of the events that led up to her wedding.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
It had all started rather innocently. Dixon assigned the three of them to an easy assignment in Las Vegas. It was a simple snatch and grab job, nothing that Sydney, Vaughn, and Weiss hadn't done successfully a million times. The objective was a new computer program that was created to locate the position of hidden weapons of mass destruction and about fifty thousand dollars in cash.
The mission went off without a hitch, and the trio found themselves in Vegas with some extra money. It turned out the price to purchase the computer program had gone up without the US government being any wiser.
To this day, Sydney can't recall why they let Weiss talk them into gambling with the extra ten thousand dollars instead of turning it in with the rest of the cash. But that's what they did.
Four hours into their little gambling spree, Sydney has managed to increase the money they had by two thousand dollars, Vaughn had successfully kept all the middle-aged men from pawing his fiancee, and Weiss had gotten pretty close to being completely drunk.
Eventually, they called it a night. On the way up to the suites the CIA had booked for them at the Bellagio was when Weiss confessed.
"You know, Syd, when you first joined the CIA, I really never would have guessed you would fall in love with Vaughn here. You two fought like cats and dogs."
Vaughn chuckled. "That's because I couldn't convince this newcomer to the agency to settle down and follow the rules."
"And then I convinced this law abiding government employee to break ever rule numerous times." Sydney gave him a light kiss on the top of his nose.
"Enough with the grossness," Weiss slurred. "What I was trying to say is that I really had a huge crush on you when you first came to the CIA and I honestly thought I had a chance with you."
"No way!" Sydney exclaimed. She never guessed that Weiss had thought of her in that way.
The trio reached the door to Weiss's hotel room. Vaughn dug the room key out of Weiss's pocket, opened the door, and went inside. Sydney would have followed him, but Weiss grabbed her arm.
"Listen, Syd. I don't think Michael there is really serious about marrying you."
"What?!? Why do you say that?"
"Well, wouldn't he have done it already?" Weiss asked.
"We've discussed it. It's not the right time."
"With your guys' lives, it'll never be the right time."
"Are you coming?" Vaughn called from inside the room.
"In a minute," Sydney answered. "What's your point, Weiss?"
"I just wanted to let you know that I love you, Sydney, and I'd be happy to marry you tonight."
Sydney laughed. She knew that her friend was rather drunk and probably would regret every single thing he had sad in the morning. "I'll keep that in mind. Let's go inside."
Weiss stumbled into the room with a little help from Sydney, and she swiftly deposited him on the bed.
"We're going to go to our room now, Weiss," Sydney said as she stared at the moaning lump he had become on the bed. It looked like the alcohol was wearing off already.
"Keep my proposition in mind," Weiss called out just as Vaughn shut the room door.
"What was he talking about?"
"Weiss offered to marry me tonight," Sydney said nonchalantly.
"I don't believe it."
"It turns out he really doesn't think you're serious about marrying me. He wanted to give me a back-up plan."
"I am serious about wanting to be your husband, Syd. We both know there just hasn't been time to get married. At least not now."
"I know." Sydney put her hand on his arm to stop him in the middle of the hall. "There's time now."
"You want to get married now?" He shook his head in shock. This was not like her.
"Why not? We're in Vegas. We have a little spare time. Let's just pop down to one of those drive-thru wedding chapels and get hitched, Michael Vaughn!"
"You're serious, aren't you?"
Sydney smiled at him. "We can get married right now just to make it official. Then, when things slow down, we'll have a nice ceremony with our friends and family."
Vaughn realized that he probably couldn't talk his way out of this one and began to quickly search his mind to come up with a solution to the predicament Sydney had just introduced. "I don't want to rush into this."
"So you don't want to marry me?" Sydney asked. She was starting to get mad at him, and a voice in the back of her head was starting to suggest that maybe Weiss had been right.
"Let's just sleep on it tonight. We can get married in the morning if we're both still sure that we want to. It'll make me feel better if I know you've thought it out a little more."
The anger Sydney had begun to feel melted away as she realized that Vaughn was just trying to be considerate. "Deal. I'll think about it tonight. But believe me, no matter what, I'm taking you to the altar tomorrow."
They began to walk the rest of the way to their hotel room. When they reached the door, Sydney heard Vaughn softly curse. "What's the matter?" she asked.
"I forgot some of our equipment by the blackjack tables. I'm going to go grab it, and then check in with Dixon. Let him know the mission was a success. I'll be back in half of an hour."
Vaughn was gone before Sydney could object or offer help.
She waited up for two hours but finally decided to go to bed when he still hadn't come back. She had no idea what could have been keeping him.
In the morning, she woke up to feel the familiar weight of his body lying next to her. Like always, he had been staring at her sleeping.
"What kept you last night?" she asked.
"There was a small glitch with our mission. I worked it out on the phone with Marshall. No big deal." He paused and looked at her intently. "Do you still want to get married?"
She smiled and nodded.
"Good. You have an hour to get ready." He nodded towards the closet.
She noticed an unfamiliar garment bag hanging on their closet. "What is that?"
"That would be your wedding dress. I didn't want you to have to get married in that slinky dress you wore for the mission last night."
She smiled at him and ran over to open the bag. When she turned back, he was at the door.
"Be downstairs in that dress in an hour." He winked at her. "I have a lot more surprises for you."
And he did. Somehow, in the few hours he had been gone from her the night before, he had arranged an outdoor location for their wedding, a minister, and even an eight-piece string orchestra.
But, most important of all, he arranged to fly in every single person that Sydney cared about. Including her father who finally got his chance to walk his little girl down the aisle.
It was perfect except for the absence of her sister and the man she had come to trust almost as much as she trusted Vaughn. And she was slightly saddened to realize that little Grayson wouldn't be present to carry the rings down the aisle for her.
Other than those three absent people, it was the wedding of her dreams, the one she had always hoped for but never told anyone she wanted. And that was the moment that she knew she had found her soul mate. He had known exactly what she wanted without her having to tell him.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
When Sydney woke up from her nap, she wasn't surprised to see Vaughn smiling at her as he continued to drive. "What are you smiling about?"
"You were muttering something about loving me and finally finding the one," he said with a smile. "And you said don't frost the pie again. You're going to have to explain to me what that exactly means one of these days."
They drove on for a few more minutes in comfortable silence until she suddenly screamed for him to stop the car. He hit the brake hard, and they skidded to a stop.
"What's wrong?"
"I saw a woman up on those cliffs," Sydney said as she got out of the car and started climbing up to where she thought she saw a woman. Vaughn sighed, got out of the car, and followed her.
"You have us climbing up the backside of a cliff because you think you saw a woman?"
"Not just any woman. She looked like Kaylee."
"What are the odds that you would actually spy your sister standing on a cliff from the road we were driving on?" Vaughn asked as they reached the top of the cliff. Sydney and he stopped suddenly.
"Pretty damn good," Kaylee said as she walked up to them.
Sydney ran into her sister's arms and hugged her tightly. The tears started flowing, and Sydney was pretty sure this time she wasn't going to be able to get them to stop.
"Don't cry on my dress, please," Kaylee joked even though she was crying just as hard as Sydney.
"Your dress!" Sydney shrieked as she took a good look at it. It was a beautiful, flowing white dress that looked like it only had one purpose. "Are you getting married?"
"That's why you're here. I'm glad to see you brought Michael along with you." Kaylee paused to give Vaughn a hug. As she was hugging him, she whispered in his ear. "Thank you for taking care of my sister. I don't worry when I know you're with her."
Kaylee let go of her hold on Vaughn and turned back to her sister. "I'm sorry that I couldn't come to your wedding when Michael called us. Both Andrew and I really wanted to. But we thought that Grayson might call a little too much attention to us at that moment. And attention isn't really good in our current situation."
"We understood," Vaughn said as he put his arm around his sister-in-law. "So where's the groom?"
"Oh, around somewhere playing with Gray. I swear, I cannot keep those two away from each other for more than thirty seconds. Lately, I've been waking up in the middle of the night to find him missing from my side. He keeps going into Gray's room and just watching him sleep. I never realized how much he would thrive on being a father."
"Me, either," Vaughn admitted. "But it's good to see you happy."
Kaylee put her hand into her sister's. "Let's go. I don't want to be late for my own wedding."
As they started walking across the cliffs, Sydney asked, "So is it going to be just the five of us?"
"No, not really. I didn't want anyone to miss my big day. So I used my spy mind and a few tricks I picked up from your husband to make it happen. The last thing I heard our Dad say to us is that I could do anything if I set my mind to it. And you can ask Sark, this is something I most definitely set my mind to."
Kaylee dropped Sydney's hand when they came over the horizon. Both Sydney and Vaughn's mouths dropped in shock.
The scene they were looking at appeared as if it was taken straight from a canvas of a famous painting. The waves of the ocean could be seen crashing in to cliffs below, and the spray from it, the smell, the taste, was in the air all around them. There were chairs set up everywhere, and so many people were present.
Sydney pointed out her mother and father who were holding hands and sitting in the front row. She saw Grayson trying to wrestle with his father while Sark was yelling something at him about Kaylee getting mad if he dirtied his tuxedo. She never thought she'd live to see the day that Sark didn't seem to care about his attire above all else. Her mouth dropped again when she saw Will come over and take Grayson off of Sark's hands. It was even more surprising that the two were talking as if they were friends.
"Welcome to my wedding. I arranged for hell to freeze over so we could have it." Kaylee winked at them. "Now go mingle. I need to stay out of sight so that Andrew doesn't see me. Tell Dad that I'll be ready in about ten minutes."
Sydney hugged her sister quickly one more time and watched as she walked back down the way they had come from. Vaughn squeezed her shoulder lightly. "Marshall is here. I'm going to go talk with him. Maybe he has an idea of how your sister pulled this whole crazy thing off."
She smiled at him and nodded. This whole situation had thrown her mind into a daze. She couldn't comprehend that she was actually in Australia seeing her sister get married to the one man she thought she would despise for her whole life, Arvin Sloane excluded, and all of the people closest to her were there, too. Tears came to her eyes.
She heard a voice with a faint Irish accent call her name from behind her.
"Walker?" she said turning around.
"I thought I told you to call me Colin, Bristow," he said with a cocky grin.
She laughed and gave him a large hug. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Haven't you heard? I'm a popular man. If you have me present at your fine gatherings, then you've really made it."
She smacked him in the arm. "Seriously! I haven't heard one word from you since we returned to the CIA that day one year ago. For all I knew, you were still being held at one of the CIA's secret detention facilities for verification."
Colin Meyer laughed. "No, the CIA actually only held me for two days. They verified my story with MI-6. That verification led to an investigation of the Oceana Division. To make a long story a little shorter, they found out that most of what Oceana had ordered me to do wasn't authorized and in fact went against most of what the agency stood for."
"At least MI-6 didn't ask you to keep up the ruse and become a double agent," Sydney said with a smirk. "Because I've been there and it's really not a fun place to be."
"Anyway, MI-6 saw my actions in a positive light. They said that I was one of the best agents they've seen in years. They offered to let me stay on with them as an agent. I turned them down."
"Why?"
"Because I've grown tired of the spy game. I don't want to have to worry about whether or not I've gotten mixed up in actions that are unethical or go against what the government really wants. So I walked."
"Where did you go?"
"I used a few personal contacts I had acquired while under my Simon Walker alias to locate your sister and Sark. They were in Tuscany. I offered my services."
"Offered your services? What are you, a male prostitute?"
"Something of the sort." He chuckled as he saw Sydney's jaw drop. "I'm kidding. Sark and your sister have both built up two pretty sizeable next eggs. We came to an agreement. They pay me to keep them from being noticed while they're in hiding. I was responsible for finding the right place for them to make a home."
"How did you know about Newcastle? I assume that you were the one who found them their home here since you said that was your job."
"It was Will."
"You talked with Will?"
"Kaylee was worried about him. She wanted to know that he was all right. She wanted me to tell him that she was all right. I explained who I was and what I was supposed to do. He told me to start looking in Newcastle."
Sydney looked over to where Will was seated with Grayson in his lap. "He is an amazing man. I wish I could find someone to make him as happy as he deserves to be."
"I have a sister," Simon suggested.
Sydney smiled at him. She watched her husband walk over to her father and whisper something. "We should sit down. I think the ceremony is about to start."
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Sark stared down the aisle at what he could only describe as the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. And probably the most ironic. Jack Bristow was leading his youngest daughter down the aisle with the intent of handing her over willingly to a man he had once said was the last man he would want to be a part of his family.
This day was not about Jack Bristow and his feelings. It was about Kaylee. Like everything in Sark's life for the past four years, it was about Kaylee.
As she walked to him arm in arm with her father, their eyes never left each other's. When she reached his side and Jack had taken his seat, she reached up and touched his cheek gently wiping a tear from his eye.
"I love you," he mouthed silently.
"I know."
The priest standing in front of them began the ceremony. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered her on this day to unite two people in the bonds of holy matrimony. Kaylee and Andrew have worked very hard and very long to make it to this day. This ceremony will be brief so that they can begin their life together as man and wife as soon as possible. Love shouldn't be required to wait."
Sydney smiled and squeezed Vaughn's hand lightly.
"We start this beautiful day with the exchange of vows." He held his hand out towards the bride. "Kaylee?"
She nodded at the priest then turned to smile at Sark as she slipped her hands into his. "I'll start with saying I can't believe we're actually here. I remember the exact moment when we met. Your first words to me were 'Um, hello…" and I was laying on the floor in a towel recovering from running right smack into you." She smiled to herself. "That was back when you still thought I was Sydney. Lucky for me, we got over that. Probably the first time in history that the person was actually relieved that they weren't falling in love with Sydney. Usually people aspire for that. The only problem, then, was there was still the issue of my being my mother's daughter."
She paused and looked out at all the people present. "I love this man with all my heart. The first moment I saw him, I knew that I had to have him in my life. As you all know I come from a very determined line of women, so when I decided I wanted him, there was nothing that could stop me. And nothing did." She squeezed Sark's hand. "You and I, we made it through off-the-wall prophecies, a few hidden months, thinking that you was going to betray me at any moment, your death, my disappearance, grief at different assorted moments. And then finally, I lost my mind. And you, you brought me back. You always said you would be there when I need you. And I always believed you. And you were there at all the moments when I needed you the most. You are my lifeline. You are my salvation. But most importantly, you are the father of the most important part of my world."
"Me!" Grayson screamed from Will's lap. Will looked around sheepishly as all eyes glared at him.
"I can't even sum up in words how much I want and need you. If you were not here with me, if you had not been with me through…" She paused to wipe a tear from her eye. "You are the thing that keeps me going. You are what makes me get up in the morning and what makes me unafraid to fall asleep at night. My shelter, my love, my life."
Sark smiled at her and whispered, "I wish I were allowed to kiss you."
"Against the rules," she said shaking her finger.
"Andrew?" the priest said motioning for Sark to begin.
"I recall the moment when I first realized that I was falling in love with you. We had escaped from some agency or another that had kidnapped us. There's too many for me to keep track of." Sark smirked at his soon-to-be wife. "You took me back to your house in Paris, and I asked you the most important question of my life besides the whole proposal. I asked if your would rather find the one you're meant to be with and die the next day or live without them for the next fifty years."
Sark turned to the people gathered. "Do you know what she said to me? 'I'd rather love and love well then spend my life knowing what I could have had'." He faced Kaylee and looked in her eyes. His trademark smirk was nowhere to be found on his solemn face. "That one phrase defines our whole relationship. You're a person who shows love to the fullest and would rather die than not know that feeling. Because of you, I've become the same way."
Sark took a deep breath. "I've done some things in the past that I'm not proud of. You're the first woman I ever met who knew so much about me including my mistakes. You were the strongest, most brave person I'd ever met. You took a chance on a cold-blooded killer whom you saw a little bit of good in. You stuck by your instincts and defended me to everyone you held dear. You take me as I am, even when though no one understood. You still loved me through it all. That amazed me and scared me. It still does. I didn't want to lose you now that I had found you. Because of that very thing, I did lose you. And it ruined my life. But we found each other again."
Kaylee smiled at him. "I admit that before I met you, I was an extremely cocky, self-assured person. So much that I thought that I knew everything and I was everything I needed to be. I was wrong." He put his hand up to her cheek and rubbed it lightly. "I was nothing. I know that now. Without you in my life, I am nothing. I would rather die now than learn to live without you. I know now that is all I need. You're all I see. And I never want that to change."
"If you ever get lost again, I promise I will find you no matter how long it takes or how hard it gets. I will dedicate my life to making sure that you're never afraid of anything again. You've given me everything." His eyes scanned the crowd and rested on the face of his son. "And then some. Thank you."
The priest gave everyone present a moment to collect themselves and then continued on with the ceremony. "Andrew, do you take Kaylee to be your wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only unto her?"
"I do," Sark said. He squeezed Kaylee's hands lightly.
"Kaylee, do you take Andrew to be your husband? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only unto him?"
"I do with all my heart," she said. Sydney was delighted to see that her sister was practically beaming.
"And now let us exchange the rings."
Sark walked over to where Grayson was sitting. "Are you ready for your moment, little man?"
Grayson nodded and hopped off of Will's lap. He slipped his little hand into his father's and Sark led him up to the altar. Grayson fished two rings out of his pocket and handed them to his father.
Sark smiled at his son and motioned for him to go back to Will. "Did I do good?" Grayson whispered when he was seated on Will's lap again.
"You were perfect, Gray," Will answered. He returned his attention back to the altar where Sark was slipping a ring on Kaylee's finger.
"I, Andrew, take thee, Kaylee, to be my wife- to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, and I promise my love to you forevermore."
Kaylee had finally stopped the tears that Sark had made her shed with his vows. She didn't really care that he was making her cry again.
"I, Kaylee, take thee, Andrew, to be my husband- to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, and I promise my love to you forevermore."
Andrew and Kaylee, you two have promised your love for each other by these vows and the giving of these rings. We can see that your love surpasses words, actions, and this moment. May you find your place together in life and share your joy with those around you. I'm happy to now declare you, officially, husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."
Sark smiled at Kaylee and placed a soft, gentle kiss on her lips.
"We're going to be all right, aren't we?" Kaylee asked her new husband.
"Yes, I think we will be." Sark looked around at everyone present. "I think we will be."
Sark and Kaylee walked down the aisle together. When they got to the point where they were supposed to stop to let people come and congratulate them, Sark pulled Kaylee's hand to keep her walking.
"I want to have a minute alone with you," he whispered in her ear.
They walked along the edge of the cliffs until their wedding party was just a group of distant figures. Kaylee rested herself into his arms and just stayed silent for a moment, taking it all in. "There was a point where I thought this would never happen. When you died, I thought that I would never be happy again."
"But you are…? Happy?"
"I've never been happier."
Sark looked down at his wife. "It's not too late to back out. If you don't resign yourself to a life of hiding… if you don't want to settle…"
"Settle?" Kaylee was appalled. "I don't think anyone's ever 'settled' for you in their life. You're a prime catch!"
"Seriously," Sark said.
Kaylee was actually surprised to see his face was full of worry. "You're not kidding, are you? You're serious! I can't believe you're trying to pick a fight with me on our wedding day, Andrew Ian Sark! I never want you to think I'm settling for you. I meant everything I said to you. You are my world, and I wouldn't trade my time with you for anything." Kaylee looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I have never loved anyone as much as I love you."
"I'm sorry," Sark said. "I didn't mean to upset you."
"It's okay. You're going to upset me a lot in our life together, you stupid bastard!"
He laughed and pulled her tighter to him. "I'm never going to let you go. You know that, right?"
"I'm counting on it." Kaylee touched the corner of his mouth. "You know I always loved that little corner of your mouth where your smirk starts. It's so cute, yet sexy at the same time."
Sark smirked for her benefit and began to laugh again. "Let's go. We have lots of guests who are desperate to tell you that you've made a huge mistake and married a murderer."
"I can handle them. As long as you're with me, I can handle them." Kaylee slipped her hand into his, and together they began to walk back down to where all their family and friends were waiting.