Title: REAPER

Author: Egyptian Kat

Rating: PG

Summary: It would take me two years of amnesia to realize that no matter what I did, I was the reaper.

Chapter 3: Beautiful Disaster

RECAP

"U.S. Coast Guard! Just hold on, we're coming to get you!" a bodiless voice suddenly yelled over the waves.

Suddenly his numb body was plucked from the water. Vaughn didn't allow himself to pass out until he knew Sydney was safely on the boat.



The lights where blinding; like she had stepped from a dark room into the blaring daylight. There was white everywhere. At first she thought she was dead, an unsurprisingly, a wave of relief passed over her. But along with her sense of sight, five others fallowed.

The smell was next. She knew that smell. The smell of clean; like everything had been doused in rubbing alcohol. She knew that smell.

Then there was the taste, the taste of salt. She knew she'd had jumped, in hope to end her life. She knew where the salt came from. 'Will I forever taste salt?' She thought stupidly.

Then there was touch. 'Am I in heaven?' she thought again as she felt the soft feel of blankets. But that was quickly interrupted with a wave of pain, a bone breaking pain. She felt her body seize up, felt her bones and tendons stiffen as if they where being frozen with the unwelcoming arrival of ice.

Sudden fear griped her. She wasn't dead, she realized. She was safe from the clutches of eternal peace. She was lying in a hospital room. Lying in a bed, wrapped in the white sheets common in all hospitals around the world. She suddenly wanted to cry. 'I didn't make it. I didn't succeed. I'm still here.' And she did cry. She lay there and cried, not paying attention as the silent tears cascaded out of the corners of her eyes, past her ears, and then slid annoyingly down her neck, wetting the pillow.

Her hearing made itself known:

"Is he ok Doctor?" A familiar feminine voice asked, a British twang accenting the constantans of her question.

"He'll be ok. He suffered some pretty serious lesions from the barnacles, required quite a few stitches. He's also recovering from a powerful case of hypothermia. He should be almost back to normal in a few days. But we're going to have to keep him here overnight for observation; just in case." A gruff, older voice replied.

"Thank you Doctor." The woman said quietly, almost to herself.

Finally her sight came back to her. Her fears where confirmed, she was indeed lying in a hospital bed.

She turned her head just in time to see the retreating head of an older man, and the infamous Lauren Reed taking a seat next to an occupied bed positioned next to her own.

There lay Vaughn.

Suddenly a sob escaped her throat, causing Lauren to jump. Another sob was coming, she quickly brought her hand up, covering her mouth just in time to muffle and anguish filled cry. The tears where still streaming down her face.

Lauren didn't come to Sydney's side, but instead, left the room.

With Lauren gone, Sydney allowed the sobs to escape freely.

'How could this happen?! I was supposed to jump, supposed to drown. He wasn't supposed to be a part of this! He wasn't supposed to go down with me. This wasn't supposed to happen!' She screamed inside her head. The hiccups were coming now, and there was no stopping them. She tried to keep herself from hyperventilating, but her chest heaved itself up and down with the strain of her despair.

'nonononononononononononononoNO!'

"Sydney?" a weak voice let out, interrupting the emotional abuse Sydney was giving herself.

Sydney, startled, covered her mouth again, attempting to muffle the sobs. "Vaughn?" she asked.

"Sydney, you didn't...you didn't have to do that." He whispered.

Sydney stole a glance over to the bed Vaughn lay in. His chest and upper arms where wrapped in thick white bandages, some were red in places, places he had bled through.

A look of pure pain swept Sydney's features. "I. Am. So. Sorry." She gasped in between sobs.

Sydney suddenly felt as if she herself was covered in similar bandages. She sat up, pain suddenly coursing its was down her legs, and through the covers off her body. She was right again. Two strips of metal lay strapped on either side of both her legs, and beneath the bindings of the splints, lay additional bandages. Her legs where broken.

She didn't have a choice in leaving. It was something that had just happened. Waking up she found her whole life erased. The love of her life was committed to a different woman, her house burned, her best friends lives shattered. One was dead, and the other in Witness Protection. She couldn't take it; she couldn't look at her shattered life day in and day out any longer. This was to be the end of all her grief, and it all started with an innocent run in the park. She hadn't known for how long she had been running, but she had suddenly found herself sprinting down the Santa Monica pier. Sprinting with all her being focused on the end railing.

Things had never gone as planned in her life. Sure most of her missions went without a hitch, but when it came to her life's plans, everything fell apart at the seams. And this familiar fault decided to rear its head one last time when she suddenly spotted Vaughn in the pathway of her mad dash to death.

She tried to outrun him. She tried to leave him behind. But there was no stopping him. She should have thought about it more before she jumped. But the opportunity was right there, and there was no way in hell she was passing the chance to end it all. "It's now or never." She had whispered to herself before jumping.

So she jumped. And apparently, so had Vaughn.

"Damn you." Sydney said, turning to Vaughn. "Why did you have to do that? You should've just let me drown. I would have been out of your life forever. Out of your life like the way you thought I was. That was going to be my peace!" she cried.

"Sydney." Vaughn said, looking to her with similar looks of anguish.

"No! No, no, no..That's what I wanted. I wanted out. I wanted my peace; my hard, blood earned peace! And you had to take it away from me." She cried.

"I couldn't let you do that." Vaughn whispered, defending himself.

"Yes you could have!"

"No. I could never let you die."

"Damn it. I don't care anymore Vaughn. There is nothing for me to care about ANYMORE!"

"I couldn't Sydney. I couldn't, no matter what you say, no matter how much you yell at me, I couldn't let you kill yourself!" Vaughn yelled back. "I couldn't." he paused. "I couldn't because I still love you."

Sydney was stunned, her face rendered blank as she stared at the man lying before her.

"You..you what?" She asked, confused.

" I still love you." He repeated.

The door suddenly opened, interrupting any further conversation between the two of them.

"Michael, Is everything ok?" Michael's wife, Lauren asked, stepping into the room, a doctor and Jack Bristow fallowing her in.

The famous American spies, Michael Vaughn and Sydney Bristow, where speechless.

A/N: Another short chapter...Sorry.

Well, you know the drill. R&R if you want more.

-Kat