A/N: Wow, it's been a long time since the last update! I'm really sorry about the delay, but school was driving me insane, and it probably will until after the beginning of May, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to post another chapter. I'll try to get one in before next Sunday, since I have a week of vacation, but I'm spending most of it out of town, so we'll see. Thanks for reading, and please review!
This chapter takes place prior to "Taken" and is in Vaughn's POV.
Disclaimer: I do not own the scene from "Truth Be Told."
Intuition
Without knocking, I burst through her door, not having the slightest clue what I am going to say, but knowing that I will do whatever it takes to show her how much I need her to stay.
I find her standing in the middle of her apartment, gazing at the emptiness around her, seemingly unaware of my presence. Suddenly, she turns towards me with a mixture of surprise and relief on her face.
"Vaughn? What are you doing here?" she asks, her voice strained, as she blinks rapidly to try in vain to hide the evidence of her tears.
Taking a deep breath, I close the door behind me and quickly make my way to her side. "I came here to tell you what you already know," I answer her, hoping my voice is as strong as I think it is. "Sydney, you can't leave." She opens her mouth to speak in protest, but I interrupt her, repeating the truth that she has to know, stressing each word as if it were the last I would ever speak, "*You can't leave.*"
She looks at me poignantly, her brow furrowed, her face showing her attitude of the strongest determination ever to win this argument. "I can, and I am," she says with a tone of finality trying to show me that whatever else I am going to say will not do anything in the slightest to change her mind.
I grab her shoulders firmly, keeping her rooted to her spot, preventing even the thought of leaving before I make my point clear to her from entering her mind. "Sydney, think about what I am saying, what you know is in your heart. I can't let you leave again because you know that this is where you belong."
"Vaughn, I don't know where I belong anymore, but I *know* that it isn't here. Everyone here has moved on, began new chapters in their lives - Dixon's the boss now, Marshall and Carrie are married and have a child, Sloane is supposedly one of the 'good guys,' my parents have apparently reconciled, and you have found love with someone else. But me? Where do I fit in? Not here - that's for sure, and it has taken me too long to figure that out. I need to leave...I want to."
"That's a lie, Syd, and you know it. If you really wanted to leave, you would have gone straight to the airport from work, never once looking back. But you didn't. You came here because you know that this is your home...this is where you are meant to be."
She knows I am right; I can see her strong resolve crumbling, but she won't admit defeat. "No, Vaughn. You...You're wrong."
*'Some things really don't change,'* I think. *'She's as stubborn as the first day I met her...'*
* * * *
It had been turning out to be a very interesting day at the office. As I entered my office to talk with the new walk-in, Sydney Bristow, about her situation, I noticed she was eyeing the picture on my desk of me and Alice. *'There's no need to promote a conversation about *her*,'* I thought as I turned the picture away from Sydney, *'especially after the fight we had last night.'* I took a deep breath as I sat down, preparing myself to see whether or not I was correct in assuming that this person before me - red hair, swollen face, and all - was actually crazy.
I smiled slightly as I said, "Well, this could be very interesting--"
"Does that mean I'm in?" she interjected, showing me from the start that I didn't need to waste time with small talk.
*'Well, all right. My introduction would have been long and boring, anyway.'* "No," I said. "Not yet. They're reviewing your statement...uh...it's...You wrote a lot."
"I know," she said, embarrassed, troubled, or indifferent - I couldn't tell yet, so I tried to see if I could crack through her shell.
"I mean, it's like Tolstoy-long."
*'Not even a smile?'* I thought in response to her non-response. I let the smile fade from my face and stuffed Humor down to the bottom of my pile of conversational techniques for the moment. Masked with a serious face, I continued, "Devlin says it could take weeks to verify...but I know we could use another double agent inside SD-6. So, we'll be in contact. I'm going to get you a ride out of here, keep you concealed..." Her lips had turned upward in a small smile. *'I'm talking seriously about her business with the CIA, and NOW she thinks I'm funny? Maybe she really is crazy!'*
"...Why are you shaking your head?" I asked.
"Because you said 'another', " she responded.
"So?" *'What game is she trying to play, here?'*
She took in a deep breath and spoke as if she were annoyed at having to explain herself, her attitude itself telling me that she would not be such an easy person to work with. "So if you really had one already, you most likely wouldn't tell me until I was authenticated."
"Unless I had an instinct about you," I retorted.
"My bet is you don't - have another double."
"We might," I said, trying to assure her, but she continued anyway.
"But you want me to believe that you do, so that on the off-chance that I'm actually looking to be a triple agent, I'll report back that there's an existing mole to upset the balance of my agency." I couldn't help but smile as she spoke, her analytical and uncompromising nature already telling me that this was a woman whom I would not easily forget.
"I'm not trying to play you," I assured her.
"Yeah...we'll see," she answered softly. *'Stubborn AND untrusting,'* I thought of her. *'This *will* be very interesting.'*
"I have an instinct," I admitted, not able to meet her gaze as I spoke. We had not even spoken each other's names, but I felt as if I knew her already. Little did I know, however, just how she would speak my name like no one else ever had, how she would be the only woman with whom I would ever become involved who would call me...
* * * *
"Vaughn!" Sydney says, suddenly startling me back into the present. "Vaughn?" she says again, her tone changing from one of exasperation to one of concern.
"Sydney...I...uh," I babble, saying anything to fill the void between us until a solution to our problem unexpectedly pops into my head, causing me to wonder at my stupidity for not thinking of it sooner.
"Sydney, I'll leave Lauren!" I exclaim triumphantly at my realization of what I have to do to keep Sydney from leaving.
"What?" she asks softly, as if she is not sure if she heard me correctly, looking deeply into my eyes. I could only hope that she would see my love for her burning strongly as she gazed into me.
"I'll leave Lauren," I repeat calmly, trying to appease my racing heart. "I'll do anything for you, Syd, anything you want."
She turns her face away, making me fear that I'm not getting through to her. Desperately, I take my hands from her shoulders - her suit jacket now wrinkled from my unconciously tight grip - and demand her attention. "You don't believe me? Look. Look!"
She brings her gaze back to me, tears falling intermittently from her eyes. Confident that my next action will quell any doubts that she has of me, I press on. I hold my left hand up in front of me and slip my wedding ring off of my finger. It glints harshly as I hold it in my palm, showing it to Sydney as proof of my dedication to her now that I am no longer bound by it. I tip my hand to the side, allowing the ring to fall to the hardwood floor; the sound it makes is deafening, unmistakably clashing with the previous silence.
"I love you, Sydney." *'Please, God, let her see how much I love her.'*
"It's not that simple," she whispers, her tears falling steadily now.
"What?" I ask, thoroughly confused. Of all of the possible reactions that I expected from her, this was definitely not one of them.
"Vaughn...you may love me, but you love Lauren too. You, yourself, told me so just last week, and you and I know better than anyone that you can't just stop loving someone, especially when they've made such a positive impact on your life. You can't control love like some...water faucet, letting it flow and cutting it off whenever you want. It doesn't work like that."
"Then how does it work, Sydney?!" I yell, my voice bordering on anger. "You're going to have to explain it to me because I really don't understand what the hell you're talking about!" *'Is she insane?! Why is she refusing me, when I've just shown and told her how much she means to me?'*
"That's just it Vaughn - you don't understand. It's not something that I can explain to you. You just have to know," she says softly, but with great conviction. "If I have to explain it to you, then you'll never understand."
"What?! You're talking in circles, Syd! Why can't you just be straight with me?"
"*You have to know*," she says again, stressing each word. I watch, bewildered, as she bends down and retrieves my ring. Taking my hand, she places it back in my palm, closing my hand around it.
"I'm sorry," she says as she places a soft kiss on my cheek. Before I can blink, she turns and walks out the door. Faintly, through the daze that has assumed control of all of my senses, I hear her car roar to life, and the sound of her fading into the distance.
This chapter takes place prior to "Taken" and is in Vaughn's POV.
Disclaimer: I do not own the scene from "Truth Be Told."
Intuition
Without knocking, I burst through her door, not having the slightest clue what I am going to say, but knowing that I will do whatever it takes to show her how much I need her to stay.
I find her standing in the middle of her apartment, gazing at the emptiness around her, seemingly unaware of my presence. Suddenly, she turns towards me with a mixture of surprise and relief on her face.
"Vaughn? What are you doing here?" she asks, her voice strained, as she blinks rapidly to try in vain to hide the evidence of her tears.
Taking a deep breath, I close the door behind me and quickly make my way to her side. "I came here to tell you what you already know," I answer her, hoping my voice is as strong as I think it is. "Sydney, you can't leave." She opens her mouth to speak in protest, but I interrupt her, repeating the truth that she has to know, stressing each word as if it were the last I would ever speak, "*You can't leave.*"
She looks at me poignantly, her brow furrowed, her face showing her attitude of the strongest determination ever to win this argument. "I can, and I am," she says with a tone of finality trying to show me that whatever else I am going to say will not do anything in the slightest to change her mind.
I grab her shoulders firmly, keeping her rooted to her spot, preventing even the thought of leaving before I make my point clear to her from entering her mind. "Sydney, think about what I am saying, what you know is in your heart. I can't let you leave again because you know that this is where you belong."
"Vaughn, I don't know where I belong anymore, but I *know* that it isn't here. Everyone here has moved on, began new chapters in their lives - Dixon's the boss now, Marshall and Carrie are married and have a child, Sloane is supposedly one of the 'good guys,' my parents have apparently reconciled, and you have found love with someone else. But me? Where do I fit in? Not here - that's for sure, and it has taken me too long to figure that out. I need to leave...I want to."
"That's a lie, Syd, and you know it. If you really wanted to leave, you would have gone straight to the airport from work, never once looking back. But you didn't. You came here because you know that this is your home...this is where you are meant to be."
She knows I am right; I can see her strong resolve crumbling, but she won't admit defeat. "No, Vaughn. You...You're wrong."
*'Some things really don't change,'* I think. *'She's as stubborn as the first day I met her...'*
* * * *
It had been turning out to be a very interesting day at the office. As I entered my office to talk with the new walk-in, Sydney Bristow, about her situation, I noticed she was eyeing the picture on my desk of me and Alice. *'There's no need to promote a conversation about *her*,'* I thought as I turned the picture away from Sydney, *'especially after the fight we had last night.'* I took a deep breath as I sat down, preparing myself to see whether or not I was correct in assuming that this person before me - red hair, swollen face, and all - was actually crazy.
I smiled slightly as I said, "Well, this could be very interesting--"
"Does that mean I'm in?" she interjected, showing me from the start that I didn't need to waste time with small talk.
*'Well, all right. My introduction would have been long and boring, anyway.'* "No," I said. "Not yet. They're reviewing your statement...uh...it's...You wrote a lot."
"I know," she said, embarrassed, troubled, or indifferent - I couldn't tell yet, so I tried to see if I could crack through her shell.
"I mean, it's like Tolstoy-long."
*'Not even a smile?'* I thought in response to her non-response. I let the smile fade from my face and stuffed Humor down to the bottom of my pile of conversational techniques for the moment. Masked with a serious face, I continued, "Devlin says it could take weeks to verify...but I know we could use another double agent inside SD-6. So, we'll be in contact. I'm going to get you a ride out of here, keep you concealed..." Her lips had turned upward in a small smile. *'I'm talking seriously about her business with the CIA, and NOW she thinks I'm funny? Maybe she really is crazy!'*
"...Why are you shaking your head?" I asked.
"Because you said 'another', " she responded.
"So?" *'What game is she trying to play, here?'*
She took in a deep breath and spoke as if she were annoyed at having to explain herself, her attitude itself telling me that she would not be such an easy person to work with. "So if you really had one already, you most likely wouldn't tell me until I was authenticated."
"Unless I had an instinct about you," I retorted.
"My bet is you don't - have another double."
"We might," I said, trying to assure her, but she continued anyway.
"But you want me to believe that you do, so that on the off-chance that I'm actually looking to be a triple agent, I'll report back that there's an existing mole to upset the balance of my agency." I couldn't help but smile as she spoke, her analytical and uncompromising nature already telling me that this was a woman whom I would not easily forget.
"I'm not trying to play you," I assured her.
"Yeah...we'll see," she answered softly. *'Stubborn AND untrusting,'* I thought of her. *'This *will* be very interesting.'*
"I have an instinct," I admitted, not able to meet her gaze as I spoke. We had not even spoken each other's names, but I felt as if I knew her already. Little did I know, however, just how she would speak my name like no one else ever had, how she would be the only woman with whom I would ever become involved who would call me...
* * * *
"Vaughn!" Sydney says, suddenly startling me back into the present. "Vaughn?" she says again, her tone changing from one of exasperation to one of concern.
"Sydney...I...uh," I babble, saying anything to fill the void between us until a solution to our problem unexpectedly pops into my head, causing me to wonder at my stupidity for not thinking of it sooner.
"Sydney, I'll leave Lauren!" I exclaim triumphantly at my realization of what I have to do to keep Sydney from leaving.
"What?" she asks softly, as if she is not sure if she heard me correctly, looking deeply into my eyes. I could only hope that she would see my love for her burning strongly as she gazed into me.
"I'll leave Lauren," I repeat calmly, trying to appease my racing heart. "I'll do anything for you, Syd, anything you want."
She turns her face away, making me fear that I'm not getting through to her. Desperately, I take my hands from her shoulders - her suit jacket now wrinkled from my unconciously tight grip - and demand her attention. "You don't believe me? Look. Look!"
She brings her gaze back to me, tears falling intermittently from her eyes. Confident that my next action will quell any doubts that she has of me, I press on. I hold my left hand up in front of me and slip my wedding ring off of my finger. It glints harshly as I hold it in my palm, showing it to Sydney as proof of my dedication to her now that I am no longer bound by it. I tip my hand to the side, allowing the ring to fall to the hardwood floor; the sound it makes is deafening, unmistakably clashing with the previous silence.
"I love you, Sydney." *'Please, God, let her see how much I love her.'*
"It's not that simple," she whispers, her tears falling steadily now.
"What?" I ask, thoroughly confused. Of all of the possible reactions that I expected from her, this was definitely not one of them.
"Vaughn...you may love me, but you love Lauren too. You, yourself, told me so just last week, and you and I know better than anyone that you can't just stop loving someone, especially when they've made such a positive impact on your life. You can't control love like some...water faucet, letting it flow and cutting it off whenever you want. It doesn't work like that."
"Then how does it work, Sydney?!" I yell, my voice bordering on anger. "You're going to have to explain it to me because I really don't understand what the hell you're talking about!" *'Is she insane?! Why is she refusing me, when I've just shown and told her how much she means to me?'*
"That's just it Vaughn - you don't understand. It's not something that I can explain to you. You just have to know," she says softly, but with great conviction. "If I have to explain it to you, then you'll never understand."
"What?! You're talking in circles, Syd! Why can't you just be straight with me?"
"*You have to know*," she says again, stressing each word. I watch, bewildered, as she bends down and retrieves my ring. Taking my hand, she places it back in my palm, closing my hand around it.
"I'm sorry," she says as she places a soft kiss on my cheek. Before I can blink, she turns and walks out the door. Faintly, through the daze that has assumed control of all of my senses, I hear her car roar to life, and the sound of her fading into the distance.