"Okay, these appear to be regular wedding bands, right? Well, when turned on, by two pieces of jewelry for both of you, they emit a tracking device for us back here, but also scramble all cameras within a mile radius. I wanted to make it two, but the rings kept exploding. Now, Mr. Coliste, isn't this watch a beautiful wedding gift from Miranda? Press the bottom right button twice to activate the ring, and also, the top right button, when pressed, works dually to figure out an electronic keypad code."

"Now, Mrs. Coliste, this necklace, when you press on the stone in the middle, will activate your ring also. I would like to take a moment to tell you that I modeled the rings after Carrie's and mine. So, uh, try to be careful." Marshall smiled his habitually nervous smile before turning at the sound of running feet outside his door.

Sydney looked at Vaughn, Marshall forgotten for the moment. As their gazes locked, Vaughn squinted his eyes slightly, as in realization.

"Look, I know that there is a lot to say, but the truth is, right now, I could care less. Outside this room, my wife is being arrested, and I don't know if-" Vaughn's sentence was cut off as Weiss came in.

"Hey, we just received a phone call from Lauren, she said she wanted to speak to you and we said he was busy at the moment." Weiss paused before continuing, "She called in sick and told me to tell you to pick up some cough drops for her on the way home."

Vaughn let out a loud sigh before moving past Weiss and out to the main room. Upon seeing Dixon and Jack, he moved towards them.

"What are we going to do?" Vaughn asked as he finished approaching the men.

"For now, we can do nothing. What you need to do however, is act as if you know nothing. Try to find out as much as you can, but do not compromise yourself." Dixon explained shortly. "If we could find out more information about the Covenant through her, then that will help us all the more in bringing them down."

"I don't believe this. Only minutes ago, you were willing to arrest Lauren on sight. Now you want Vaughn to do the same thing my mother did to my dad? This is insane." Sydney cut in, shaking her head.

"Sydney, I don't want to have Agent Vaughn do this either, but Dixon and I have spoken together and we believe that by doing this, we could find out more on the Covenant." Jack replied, his voice stern. "This issue is not arguable. You two have a plane to catch. I suggest you catch it."

As Vaughn moved by, Sydney paused to look at her father, anger flash across her features. Jack knew she would have plenty to say to him after the mission, but he had to refocus the conversation for fear of weaknesses being exposed.

~~*~~*~~

Flash forward 36 hours

Vaughn lay in a small pool of his own blood, his whole body throbbing. Lifting his head slightly, Vaughn spotted Sydney nearby, unconscious. As he struggled to his feet, Vaughn felt his knees give beneath his weight and slid in submission back to the concrete floor. Vaguely hearing footsteps outside the room, Vaughn had little time to react as the door was opened, and the harsh light from outside blinded him. He never saw the blow to his head coming, and soon felt blackness envelope his mind.

As Vaughn was dragged out of the room, Sydney slowly came too, and murmured his name, causing the two figures to stop. One continued to drag Vaughn out while the other moved to crouch in front of her. She felt a searing pain shoot down her spine as the man- she could tell the figure was male now – yanked her to her feet and prodded her out of the room with his rifle. Ignoring the pain, Sydney focused on moving forward and calculating her chances of getting herself and Vaughn – Oh God, Vaughn. How did we get stuck in this situation twice? – safely out.

As the shackles were placed on her wrists, Sydney kept her eyes on Vaughn, amidst the pain. It was only now that she wished she could rewind their choices for this mission.

End of Flash Forward

~~*~~*~~

"You know, my dad didn't have anyone to really talk to about my mom when he found out about her betrayal." Sydney began, sitting down beside Vaughn on the plane. "Vaughn, look at me." Vaughn, who had focused his line of sight out the window, turned to cast his gaze upon her. "If you need anything, or need someone to talk to, you know you can always come to me."

Vaughn sat for a moment before slowly nodding and smiling slightly. How can she forgive me for everything I have done to her so quickly? Shaking his head, Vaughn voiced his thoughts to her.

"Well, I haven't yet, but I care for you enough to put my pain aside to help you." Sydney replied before standing to leave.

As she passed by, Vaughn grabbed her arm, halting her from her swift exit. Turning slowly to look down at him, Sydney was instantly pained. His face was contorted with a mixture or fear, anguish and love. It wasn't which emotions that she could see fighting to control Vaughn so much as the fact that she knew which emotions they were. And why shouldn't she? She fought with those same emotions every time she saw him. Sighing softly, Vaughn gestured for Sydney to take her seat across from him a second time.

"Sydney, we..." Vaughn paused before swallowing and looking directly at her, "We need to talk, about a lot of things."

"We have a mission to go over and we'll be landing in less than an hour, can this wait?" Sydney didn't mean to sound harsh, but right now, on a plane, where she couldn't get away, she wasn't sure whether she could control herself.

"No." Vaughn shook his head, "It's waited too damn long, and you know it." Vaughn searched Sydney's eyes, seeing the pain and apprehension flash through them. "It's kind of ironic."

"What is?" Sydney asked, hoping this wouldn't become too emotional. With Vaughn, everything is emotional.

"I always promised myself, and you that I would never hurt you. Now, here I sit across from you, and I know that I'm one of the few who have hurt you the most. There are no words I can say that would make you feel better, I know that. It seems that every time I try, something comes between us to stop it. I don't know. I had a conversation with Weiss a while back, and, well, it made me start thinking about a lot of things..." Vaughn trailed off, how could he say what he wanted to say to her? He was till married for Chrissakes! But, she's Covenant, and that most likely means that my marriage is built on lies. "I asked him whether it was possible to be in love with two women at the same time, and he told me flat out, no."

Sydney felt her heart speed up at this, but forced herself to remain calm. Inclining her head slightly, she smiled, silently urging him on.

"After several more beers, losing twenty bucks playing pool, and several weeks of contemplation, I decided that he was right. I can't love two people at the same time. After you came, a serious rift came between Lauren and I, it hurt, I'll admit, but the one between you and I was even worse. I don't want you to think I'm saying this because I know that Lauren is Covenant now, it's not. It may be slight motivation in the right direction but-"

"Vaughn, stop. Don't do this. Not now." There is never going to be a good time for this.

"I will do it, because you won't listen any other time, and you cannot go anywhere on this plane. Sydney," Vaughn watched as she stood, ready to leave. Standing after her, he followed her to the doorway before grabbing her shoulder and spinning her to face him. As she tried to push him away, Vaughn pushed into the wall, pinning her, but not hurting her. "Listen to me! I cannot lie to you or myself anymore. You know how you feel about me, I can see it in your eyes, and I'm not lying when I say I never stopped loving you. How do you want me to prove this? Do you even care to believe it?"

"Of course I care." Sydney raised her chin, feeling his breath tickle her cheek. They were in dangerous territory right now. She could practically feel Vaughn's inner struggle of control, and in truth, she wanted nothing more than for him to give in, but this wasn't right. "But this cannot happen now."

"What can't happen now?" Vaughn replied softly, his gaze ticking from her lips to her eyes.

"Us." Sydney shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

Vaughn locked his gaze with her again before speaking, "I know. Legally and ethically, you're right. Emotionally you're wrong."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hmm, wasn't sure whether I should push too far with them right now, given his heartbreak over knowing Lauren's betrayal. Tell me what you think.