Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated for awhile, but to make it up to you I have an extra long chapter for ya. The longest one I've written so far actually. So how was x-mas for all of you guys? What pressies did ya get? I got season one of Alias, season 2 isn't out in Australia yet as far as I know. I also got the Matrix Reloaded and Final Destination 2 on dvd. The first Final Destinations better but I'll just buy that myself. If you haven't seen that movie go hire it! It rules! I also got Jet's album and money. Anyway I'm gonna stop and let you read the chapter. Part of it was inspired by xanya-forever, but I'll write more about that at the end. Hope everyone enjoyed new years eve and day, good luck for 2004!

CHAPTER 15

Sydney woke up the next morning to find that she was alone. Michael was not lying in bed next to her as he usually would be. She then heard voices coming in from the other room. It sounded like an argument. Sydney got up, had an extremely quick shower, changed into a blue denim skirt that ended just above her knees and had buckles on the side for decoration, and a white top with sleeves that finished just above her elbow, but the neckline stretched right across he shoulder so that they were bare. She didn't know why she was dressing in this, she usually just wore jeans and a tank-top or track pants around the house. But she wanted to do something today. Go out with Vaughn. He was so great last night, comforting her after her nightmare. She didn't want him to think that she didn't appreciate it, that she didn't appreciate him. She did, she most definitely did. She applied a bit of mascara and some lip gloss, going for her usual natural look. Vaughn had told her over and over again that she didn't have to dress up for him. He thought she looked beautiful all the time.

When she walked out of the bedroom she noticed that the voices where still arguing. She expected they would be, since it took her less then 5 minutes to get ready. Hey, when you're a spy, you have to be able to act fast. As she approached the voices she confirmed that one did indeed belong to Michael, the next voice was one that she did not expect to hear.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Sydney demanded as she took a step towards Eliza.

"Sydney! What a pleasure to see you." Eliza said in a fake voice.

Gee, her true colours are starting to come out, she isn't acting all cheery around me like she usually does when she's in front of Mike. Surprise, surprise.

"Syd, Eliza just stopped by to confirm the details about the mission tomorrow. Why she came here and not to the CIA headquarters is something I still haven't figured out." As Vaughn said the last sentence he turned to Eliza with a questioning look on his face.

"Well, I was in the neighbourhood anyway, I was going for a run."

"You were going for a run in a tube top and a mini-skirt?" Sydney asked, hands on her hips.

"I was meeting a friend first ok? Geez what is this? 20 questions? Just because you think your're so much better then me doesn't give you the right to act all superior." Eliza retorted.

"I'm acting superior? I haven't done anything wrong." Sydney and Eliza both took a step towards each other while Vaughn looked on nervously. "You came into our house, your trying to steal my boyfriend."

"Your boyfriend deserves better." Eliza spat out.

"You know what? You're probably right. Michael does deserve better. He deserves better then anyone can give him. But better isn't you. Better will never, ever be you."

Vaughn looked on in confusion. He knew that Eliza had a small crush on him, at least he thought it was small. This was getting a bit out of hand.

"What? And you're good enough for him? The only reason he went out with you in the first place was because he felt sorry for you. Poor Sydney, her mum's a murdering bitch. Poor Sydney, she's so distant with her dad. Poor Sydney, her fiancée was killed. Tell me something Sydney, if Danny was alive today would you even be going out with Michael?" Eliza asked as she turned her head to her side and raised he eyebrows expectantly.

"One; my mother is a murderous bitch. Two; I'm closer with my dad now. Three; Danny did die, he didn't deserve to but he did, and I will always feel partially responsible for that. But as horrible as this may be to say, I love Michael more then I loved Danny. I don't want to sound like a bitch but it's true. Maybe it's because I was younger then, maybe I wasn't ready to be with Danny for the rest of my life. Maybe it's because Michael knows more about me then Danny ever did. He knows about what I do every day, he knows everything there is to know about me, and he excepts it all without hesitation. Hell, he helped me through most of it. I will always have a space for Danny in my heart, but Michael takes up a much larger amount of room. And I think that if I did still find out about the CIA and had Mike as my handler, and Danny was still alive and we were still together, I would still have fallen in love with Michael. I couldn't control my feelings for Michael, and even though I was still mourning Danny I knew that I loved Mike. Maybe Danny's death was supposed to happen. Maybe it happened for a reason. So that I found out about the real CIA and fell in love with Mike. Maybe it was meant to work out this way. I'll never know. But Danny is in the past. And Michael is my present and future. It will always be that way. Now get out of our house." Sydney said sternly, glaring at Eliza, tears threatening to spill over. But she wouldn't allow that to happen. Not in front of Eliza. She wouldn't let her have that satisfaction.

Eliza glared at Sydney before turning to Michael.

"Michael, I don't think we have finished going over the mission-"

"Yes we have," Vaughn interrupted. "if you need to know anything else ask Wiess. Don't ever come here again. I'm asking for a reassignment. Tomorrows mission will be the last one you perform with me as your handler, and I'm only doing that because Sydney is also participating in this mission. Now leave. I hope I never have to see you again after tomorrow."

"But Michael,"

"No. Get out. Now!" Vaughn said, his voice rising, but still staying under control so he wasn't yelling.

Eliza looked at Vaughn once more, looking much like a lost child, except without the innocence.

"Okay," she said quietly, "But one day you'll realise what a mistake you made Michael. You'll realise how much you love me."

"I can't realise something that isn't true Eliza. I love Sydney more then anything in the world, and it will always be that way. I don't love you and I will never love you. Not even close." Vaughn said to Eliza, staring straight at her, determined to get the message through to her, however hard that may be.

"Don't say things you'll regret Michael. You'll realise it's me you want. I can give you so much more then she ever could." Eliza said, referring to Sydney.

'Get out!" Sydney screamed as she ran towards Eliza, ready to send a swift kick to her chest or maybe a punch to her face, she'd decide when she got to her. She didn't have to make a decision though because Vaughn's arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back and holding her to him. Eliza left, slamming the door on her way out.

Sydney turned around in Vaughn's arms and wrapped her own arms around his waist. He removed his arms from around her waist and moved them instead across her back, stroking her hair and kissing her head.

"Syd, I'm so sorry sweetie. I didn't know she was coming here, I never thought that she would."

Sydney shed a few tears which dropped onto Vaughn's shirt, but only a few. She wasn't going to waste more then that on what Eliza said. But did she have to bring up Danny? How did she even know about him?

As if reading her mind, Vaughn talked into her hair, "I don't know how she even knew about Danny. What she said to you was completely out of line and you never should have had to compare him to me. I'm so sorry."

Sydney pulled out of his embrace just enough to look into his eyes. Well she tried to look into his eyes but he was looking at the floor.

"Mike, please stop apologising," she stopped and sighed, ducking her head down to try and make eye-contact. "Would you please look at me?"

Vaughn did, slowly, and Sydney continued. "Don't apologise because nothing that happened just then is your fault. None of it. And what I said about Danny was true. I know it's may make me sound like a complete bitch, saying that I love someone else more then I loved my dead fiancée, but it's how I feel. If Danny was to walk through the door right now and tell me that he'd always been alive and it was some big cover-up, and you were standing here and he was in the doorway. I would go to you." Vaughn looked into her eyes and then over her shoulder. "Hey," Sydney said, reaching out and gently moving Vaughn's face so that he was looking at her again, "I would choose you. I will always choose you over everything else. I love you so much Michael. Don't ever feel guilty for making my life a dozen times better by giving me someone to love more then anyone else."

Vaughn looked like he was on the verge of tears and Sydney already had a few tears making there was down her face. A single tear dripped down Vaughn's cheek, and Sydney wiped it away with a soft smile. Vaughn silently kissed away her tears before kissing her softly on the lips, and pulling her into a hug.

Vaughn pulled out the embrace and led Sydney to the bathroom adjoining their bedroom. Sydney looked at him in confusion. "You need to clean up, you mascara's dripping." Michael said with a smile. "And we are going out."

"Going out where?" Sydney asked.

"I don't exactly know, but you look really hot in that outfit and I want to show you off," Vaughn stated with a grin, causing Sydney to giggle in return. She never used to giggle, now she does it extremely often. "And I figured that we might want to add some more things to the house. I mean all the stuff in the house has become ours, but it might be good to get some stuff together, you know, something that was ours from the beginning." Vaughn finished.

"I think that an excellent idea." Sydney replied as she finished reapplying her mascara. "Let's go."

They walked out to the car hand-in-hand after locking the front door. They decided to go to a furniture shop, which also had bits and pieces for around the house, candles, cd racks, that kind of thing.

They looked around for a while and they walked past a plastic statue of what looked to be Marilyn Monroe, in her short red strapless dress, the skirt flying up and therefore, she was holding it down. Her famous pose. As they walked past Vaughn let out a low whistle and stared intently at the top of her dress, keep in mind it was a strapless, quite a low strapless. Sydney gave out a 'Hey!' in response and hit him playfully on his chest. He grinned and pulled her closer, nuzzling his face into her neck. "You know, I'd bet you'd look good in that dress." Vaughn stated.

"Really? You didn't prefer the red leather top and skirt I wore on that mission one time. I had the whip and all then. Liked my hair style as well actually." Sydney stated as she left Michael's embrace and walked over to smell a candle that had caught her interest.

"Ahhh, I remember that outfit. How I wished I was that guy you were whipping before I got there, instead of the one who had to take the pictures and threaten to send them to his wife," Vaughn sighed, "You looked so hot that night."

"That's twice today that you've said I was hot." Sydney stated.

"What? I can't tell my beautiful girlfriend just how beautiful she is?"

Sydney laughed, "You can tell me I'm beautiful whenever you like. I won't stop you."

"Good," Vaughn replied, wrapping his arm around her waist. She held up the candle for him to smell. It was lavender. 'It's meant to be calming, helps you sleep as well apparently." Sydney told him.

"Buy a few, we can both take one tomorrow for the mission," Vaughn commented, earning him an amused smile from Sydney.

She grinned at him, "Seen anything you like?" she asked.

"Not really, but we have quite a collection of dvd's with your's and mine put together, maybe we should by a rack to keep them in. We can grab a couple more for our collection as well."

"Sounds good," Sydney replied.

"Okay then, grab the candles. I think we'll have to look somewhere else for the dvd's."

They walked to the cash register, paid and walked out of the door. The sun was shining brightly in the deep blue sky. It was a beautiful day for couples to be strolling about, or for children to be playing in the park with their family watching them with smiles on their faces. The trees swayed gently due to the light breeze. The breeze suddenly increased in intensity causing Sydney to shiver. Vaughn pulled her closer to him, giving her some of his warmth. The breeze became softer then it was before, just as quickly as it had become more vicious. Neither Sydney nor Vaughn moved from their positions.

"Let's try in here," Sydney said as she left Michael's embrace and took him by the hand, leading him into the store. They found a dvd rack that was suitable, and then moved on to the dvd's. They decided that they would pick one each.

"Oh! I want this one!" Sydney told Vaughn, holding up the cover of 'Never Been Kissed' for him to see.

Vaughn rolled his eyes and looked back towards the dvd's. "Chick flick," he muttered.

Sydney put one hand on her hip, the one not holding the dvd. "It's a good movie!" She proclaimed. Vaughn stared at her, with a 'come on' look on his face.

Sydney removed her hand from her hip and it fell back to her side. "Okay," Sydney confessed, "The movies not that great, and the storylines a bit predictable. But it's sweet, and the English teacher is totally hot," she added, grinning from ear to ear.

Vaughn scoffed, Sydney raised her eyebrows at him. "You can't seriously say he's not hot." Sydney asked him.

Vaughn just shrugged his shoulders, turning back to flip through the stacks of dvd's before him, "Of course I can say he's not hot. I don't think guys are hot." He replied with a victory smirk, looking at Sydney in his peripheral vision.

"Men," Sydney said, rolling her eyes much in the way Vaughn did moments before. "Who do you think is hot then?"

Vaughn smiled as he pulled down a dvd he just came across. "Jennifer Garner," he replied as he showed her the cover of 'Daredevil'.

"She's not that pretty, she's probably covered in make-up." Sydney told him.

Michael looked at her as if she was crazy. "Oh, and the guy in 'Never Been Kissed' isn't covered in make-up."

"Hey, Michael Vartan is hot. Full stop. Period. Finite. That's all there is to it." Sydney said with a nod of her head.

"Well Jennifer Garner's hot, whether you wanna admit it or not. She looks especially good in that leather."

"I've worn leather plenty of times," Sydney replied defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.

Michael grinned, satisfied knowing that he could make Sydney jealous by just talking about an actress he's never even met. It was like that for Vaughn every time Sydney had gone on a mission, having to seduce men on, in Vaughn's professional opinion, way too many occasions. Maybe that opinion isn't so professional, but that's beyond the point. He answered her question.

"I know you've worn leather plenty of times. Trust me, I noticed." Vaughn said, earning him a shy smile from Sydney, He took her hand and they paid for the two dvd's and the dvd stand.

As they were walking out of the shop Vaughn spoke up.

"You were so jealous," He said with a cheeky smirk.

Sydney glared at him. "I so was not."

"You so were too."

"Whatever," Sydney muttered, the door from the shop closing behind Michael and herself.

Vaughn grinned at her. "I rest my case," he said proudly.

"Oh yeh, like you didn't get at all jealous." Sydney said, slightly irritated, knowing that she had indeed been jealous. But she saw him, he started getting a bit jealous there as well.

"Nah, that guy could never reach my standards." Vaughn stated smugly. Putting his arm around Sydney's shoulders. By now they were standing outside of a park, just a short walk from where they had parked the car. A lot of children had gone home since Sydney and Vaughn had arrived, and as they looked on they found the park basically deserted. Most of the kids got dragged home for lunch. It was a bit hard to keep your food with all the ducks and the occasional flock of seagulls from the beach a while down. Sydney decided to use this to her advantage as she gave Vaughn a response.

"Don't bet on it,' She told him, equally as smug as he was seconds earlier. She sprinted towards the playground, hearing Vaughn's, "Hey!" before his footsteps pounding after hers. In the field missions Vaughn used to do with Sydney he always ended up running at one point. And after that time in Taipei when he ended up being trapped behind the glass, the water surrounding him as he held his breath, he decided, right after he had gotten himself out of the water, that he was going to work on his running. He had, and he was almost as fast as Sydney.

She ran up the slide and over the bridge, causing it to sway under her weight. Vaughn was a few steps behind her as she got off of the bridge and jumped down to the floor. She went behind a tree, stopping quickly to see where she could go. Instantly Vaughn was on the other side of tree, matching her every step. Her face would pop out from one side of the tree, and Vaughn's would followed, both of them grinning from ear-to-ear at each other, obviously enjoying the chase.

Finally Sydney faked a left and went to the right. She had done a few of them and Vaughn had caught every one of them, but his one had gotten past him and he started chasing her again.

He caught up to her quickly and gently tackled her to the floor, moving his body so that she landed on top of him and not on the grass. They both started laughing as they wrapped their arms around each other. They lay there like that for a while, arms wrapped around each other. The warmth from the sun seeping through their clothes. They got up, planning to walk back to the car.

"Race ya to the car?"

Vaughn grinned at Sydney and shook his head in amusement. She was like a little kid. He loved this side of her, as well as every other side of course.

"Your on." He replied.

They both got into starting positions. Sydney began to say the whole, 'ready, set, go' thing.

"Ready, set-" but Vaughn was already off, leaving Sydney to say the "Hey!" this time. She grinned as she started sprinting towards him.

I wish every day was as good as this one, it feels like the confrontation with Eliza was years ago, but after she left everything has been as amazing as it always is with Mike. She thought to herself. He has a way of doing that, making me forget about everything except him. One of the many things about Michael Vaughn that she loved. She knew that as long as the day was spent with just Michael, leaving her to be herself and have fun with the man that makes her happier then anyone else in the world, it would be perfect. All the thoughts and worries of tomorrow's mission were erased from her mind as she concentrated on catching up to Michael. She didn't care about getting to the car first; she just wanted to be side by side with Michael. Well, winning the race would be nice to. She added with another grin, as she continued to run, slightly faster then before.

Well I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please keep up the reviews. The more I get the faster I update! The part in the chapter where Sydney and Vaughn were in the dvd place and they were having a little conversation about how hot Vaughn thought Jennifer Garner was hot and Sydney thought Michael Vartan was hot was inspired by xanya-forever. Except instead of them watching the movie they brought it, it just fitted into the chapter better, and I added Daredevil to the mix instead of just Never Been Kissed. Personally I didn't think the movie was that good but Michael Vartan made up for it lol, that's actually the only reason I watched it in the first place. Thanks Xanya-Forever! (crowd/reviewers plus author applause) plus if anyone here reads books in the Fingerprints series by Melinda Metz please let me know, I wanna no if there's an 8th book in the series. Anyway pleas r&r I really appreciate it!