Hey everyone! If you prefer to read the NC-17 version of this chapter, you can read it at http://www.alias-media.com/allies/story.php?no=197&chapter=40
Chapter 33: "A Beautiful Life"
"Vaughn, have you lost your mind?" Sydney asked as she stared at him in disbelief. "You know I can't go home with you."
"Why not?" His breath tickled her neck as he kissed a spot behind her ear, and suddenly she couldn't remember why not. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feel of his lips on her neck for a moment, but quickly shook her head to clear her mind so she could think rationally again.
"We could get caught. Someone could be watching us," she reasoned.
"My building is secure," he murmured as he planted more kisses along the length of her neck. "No one will be watching us there, I promise."
"Vaughn," she lightly protested.
"Syd," he sighed, mimicking her tone. "I need you tonight. I want to be with you and hold you, and talk with you and make love to you all night long. Don't you want that, too?"
"Of course I do, but we can't. We shouldn't," she moaned as his lips brushed across a particularly sensitive spot on her throat. Despite her protests, he continued to kiss her, a fact that she found both exhilarating and maddening as her fingers betrayed her and slipped into his hair.
"Vaughn?" She prayed that he would stop kissing her before the rest of her body betrayed her as well. "Vaughn," she rasped as she tugged on his hair and he finally pried his mouth away from her.
"What?" he regarded her, his eyes hazy with both confusion and lust.
"Vaughn, we're making out in a public parking lot," she breathlessly laughed. "If that's not a sign that we're out of control, I don't know what is."
"Well, the only reason we're still standing here is because you're playing hard to get," he smiled. "Syd, you don't have a good excuse to say no, because tomorrow is Saturday and you don't have to work. Just think -- you could spend all night with me and wake up in my arms tomorrow morning. You know you want to," he softly coaxed.
"Vaughn," she sighed as she cursed herself for being so weak and wanting him so much that she was actually letting herself consider the possibility of going home with him. He was quickly breaking down her resolve, but she desperately tried not to let him see it, knowing that he would play dirty if he had to. Her suspicion was confirmed when he began whispering in her ear, telling her in French all the things he wanted to do to her.
"Okay, that's not fair," she laughed.
"I know," he wickedly grinned.
"You know, all of your little seductive tricks would be wasted on a woman who didn't know French."
"And Italian," he kissed her, "and German," he said with another kiss, "and Spanish," another kiss, "and should I continue?" he innocently asked.
"No, that's unnecessary," she managed to whisper, although he left her breathless. She had always wondered what it felt like to be high, and she supposed that she was finding out at this very moment, although Vaughn was more addictive and more lethal than any drug she could possibly imagine. She was fully aware that she was rapidly losing her ability to reason and think, but it felt so good that she hardly cared. "I've never seen you this persistent," she smiled at him.
"That's because, with the exception of getting you to agree to marry me, I've never wanted anything more than I want you right now. Sydney," he sighed as he stroked her hair, "I just agreed to let you do something incredibly dangerous in a few weeks, and tonight I just need to be with you and feel you and reassure myself that for one night at least, you're completely safe. Please don't deny me that."
She was amazed by the easy way that his tone shifted from low and seductive to sweet and sincere, and as the intensity of his voice and his gaze wrapped themselves around her heart, she knew that her decision was made. She leaned forward and brushed her thumb across his cheek as she softly kissed him.
"Okay," she whispered. "Show me the way home."
*****
As Sydney pulled into a parking space in the garage of Vaughn's building and turned off the engine of her car, she thought to herself for the hundredth time that she was absolutely crazy for doing this. But she was absolutely crazy for Vaughn too, and she wanted to be with him every bit as much as he wanted to be with her. Apparently, she was just as incapable of saying no to him as he was to her, especially when he unleashed his seductive side.
She could already feel the longing stirring inside of her as she watched him get out of his car and walk into his building. She waited for a few more minutes as he'd instructed her to do, and then got out of her own car and walked toward the building. She punched in the access code he had given her to open the door and took the elevator up to the fourteenth floor. Just as she reached 1407 and raised her hand to knock on the door, it swung open and Vaughn pulled her inside, kissing her the minute that he closed the door behind her. She melted into his arms and kissed him back until she heard excited little yelps and a felt a scratching sensation through the legs of her jeans.
"Donovan! Hey buddy, I missed you," she crooned as she bent down to scratch him behind his ears.
"He obviously missed you too," Vaughn smiled as the little bulldog danced around her.
"So I see. Have you been a good boy, Donny?" He wagged his tail excitedly as if to say yes, and she beamed at him.
"I'm going to take him out, but make yourself at home, make yourself comfortable, okay?" He wrapped an arm around her waist as she stood back up and he pulled her close to him. "If you want to make yourself naked while I'm gone, that's okay too," he murmured into her ear.
"Vaughn! Go take the dog out," she ordered with mock sternness.
"What? It was just a suggestion," he laughed as he and Donovan turned to leave.
She shook her head in amused exasperation at his one-track mind. Sometimes, she swore that he was thirty-four going on fifteen, but she loved that aspect of his personality. For so long, she had never realized that that side of him existed, but now his playfulness was one of the things that she adored about him the most.
She stood in the foyer for a few moments after he left and took a deep breath, hardly believing that she was actually in Vaughn's home. This part of him had been hidden from her for so long out of necessity that she almost felt nervous about finally seeing it. At the same time, though, she was curious to find out how many new things she would learn about him just from seeing where he lived.
As soon as she stepped into the living room, she felt as if she had entered the ultimate bachelor pad, complete with black leather furniture, big screen television and more electronic equipment than anyone could possibly ever need. A plush cream, black, and grey rug sank underneath her feet as she sifted through the magazines on his coffee table, noticing copies of Newsweek, Time, GQ, Sports Illustrated, Le Monde, and the L.A. Kings' Media Guide. In the far corner of the room sat a pool table lined with red felt instead of the normal green, and she could almost picture Vaughn and Weiss playing pool on Saturday afternoons after watching a full day's slate of college football games.
As much as Vaughn's place resembled almost every sports-loving American male's fantasy, however, it was balanced by the modern art that adorned the walls and the sculptures that sat in the corners of the room. Her mind flashed back to the day that she met him at the Getty museum and discovered his interest in art, and she realized with a smile that he hadn't simply been trying to impress her that day. His cultured and sophisticated European side was prominently on display through the art work, and she couldn't get over how much the entire room was a reflection of him, seeming to capture all the different facets of both his personality and his background.
She walked over to inspect the mantle above his fireplace, finding herself drawn to the pictures neatly arranged along the black shelf -- pictures of him with Elise, one of Donovan as a puppy, one of a huge, multigenerational group of people whom she assumed to be the Vaughns.
She carefully picked up a wooden frame that held a picture of an attractive blonde woman holding an adorable baby and she studied it curiously. The woman looked remarkably like Elise, but the picture appeared to have been taken relatively recently. She was so engrossed in the photograph that she didn't even notice that Vaughn had returned until he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"What's up, Gorgeous?"
"Who's this?"
"That's my cousin Nathalie and her son, Christian. She sent that to me a couple of weeks ago."
"He's so cute," she smiled as she placed the frame back on the mantle.
"Yeah, he is. For a while, my mom thought that he was as close as she was ever going to get to having a grandchild, but that was just before she met you and her hopes were revived," he laughed. "Do you want something to eat or drink," he asked, suddenly remembering his manners.
"No, I'm fine." She closed her eyes and smiled as she leaned back into his chest. "I can't believe that I'm here with you," she marveled. "How many people can say that the first time they ever saw their fiance's home was *after* they got engaged?"
"Not many," he laughed. "But you and I aren't ordinary people."
"That's an understatement." She turned around and smiled as she looked at him. "I really like this place."
"Good, because in my crystal ball, I see the two of us spending a lot of time here in the not too distant future. You haven't seen all of it, though. Allow me to give you the grand tour," he smiled.
"Lead the way."
He took her hand and led her down the hall until they reached a large bedroom done in navy and various shades of grey.
"We're starting the grand tour with your bedroom?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Mmm hmm. We're ending it here too," he laughed as he shut the door behind them.
"Then, I'm glad I didn't pay for this so-called tour."
"Oh, you're about to," he lasciviously grinned. "I'm not even sure that you can afford the admission fee." Just as he leaned in to kiss her again, they were interrupted by a scratching sound on the other side of the door and he groaned.
"Damn. I was in such a rush to get you into bed that I forgot to put Donovan up. I'll be right back, okay?"
"Hurry back," she smiled as he quickly kissed her. She stood and admired his immaculate room for a moment before wandering into his large walk-in closet. She was completely unsurprised to see suits and dress shirts lining one wall, neatly separated by color, and casual clothes on the other wall, not appearing to be organized in any particular way other than to separate pants and jeans from shirts and sweaters. She thoughtfully studied the contrast -- buttoned-up, always professional Agent Vaughn to her left and casual, easygoing, relaxed Michael to the right. Two parts of one whole, and she couldn't live without either one of them, because Michael was the one who made her laugh and was so incredibly sweet, the one who'd brought her breakfast in bed and shocked her with a proposal when she'd least expected it. But Agent Vaughn was the one who'd kept her safe for the last year and a half, the one who'd been with her every step of the way as she worked to bring down SD-6, and who'd shown her that there was one person in her life that she could trust completely. *And,* she realized with a wicked grin, Agent Vaughn was the one who had the extensive tie collection. She moved over to his tie rack and gently fingered a red silk tie just as he came back into his room.
"Syd?" he called out.
"In here," she called back. A moment later, he walked into the closet and shook his head.
"Oh, hell no," he laughed as he took her hand and dragged her out of the closet. "Come away from those."
"What? I was just looking," she innocently protested.
"No. You we're touching, too, and that could get us into a lot of trouble. We won't be needing those tonight," he shook his head.
"Damn, you're no fun," she pouted.
"I'm plenty of fun, but there are other ways to have fun than with neckwear."
She noticed the glint in his eyes and felt her body instantly respond to his words. "I want you to show me all of them," she breathed.
"That could take a lot of time," he smiled.
"I didn't meant tonight," she laughed. "But we'll have all the time in the world, soon."
"Yeah, you're right," he murmured. He pulled her into his arms and rested his forehead against hers as he looked deeply into her eyes and smiled.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked as she stroked his forearms.
"I just can't believe that you're actually here with me. Before we got together, I used to dream about this. I always imagined that I would bring you here after we took down SD-6 -- like *immediately* after we took down SD-6."
"Oh, so in all of those dreams, I actually *participated* in the takedown?" she innocently asked, making him laugh in response.
"Yes dear, you did," he exaggeratedly replied.
"Just checking," she smiled as she cocked her head to the side and looked at him. "So, really the first thing that you were going to do after SD-6 was gone was bring me home with you? What ever made you think that I would have wanted you to do that?" He shot her a knowing look and she laughed. "Okay, obviously I would have wanted you to do that," she admitted.
"Don't I know it," he grinned. "The way I always imagined it, I would bring you home with me and we'd finally spend our first night together, discovering each other, making love to each other. And when we woke up the next day, you'd be free and I would be free to take you outside in the daylight, take you anywhere you wanted to go and tell you how much I loved you."
She smiled as she slipped her hands underneath his long sleeved t-shirt and rubbed his back. "Can I tell you a secret? I used to dream about that too. The first thing I wanted to do after SD-6 was destroyed was find you and kiss you, and finally give into all the feelings that we had been hiding and ignoring. I dreamt about that for so long, but the way we actually came together was perfect. The first time we made love in Lake Tahoe was better than any fantasy I ever had, and I wouldn't go back and change that for anything."
"Me either. Can you imagine what it would have been like if we hadn't spent that weekend together? Maybe we'd still be waiting to make out move on each other."
"Honestly, I don't know if I *could* have waited much longer than I did, especially after you got sick. It was impossible to hide the way that I felt about you after that, Vaughn. I think I would have exploded if we had waited any longer, and even though it might have been smarter to wait, whatever self-restraint I had flew out the window once I saw you in ski clothes." She grinned at him as she slid his shirt up his chest and deftly removed it in a single, fluid motion.
"God, you were so sexy that day," she remembered, "and I loved seeing you laugh and smile, seeing you have fun for once without having to worry about me. That was the day that I finally got to see Michael instead of Agent Vaughn, and I realized that I was even more in love with you than I already thought I was. And I've fallen even more in love with you every day since then," she murmured as she placed a soft kiss over his heart.
Her words touched a place deep inside of him and he ran his fingers through her hair, gently tilting her head back before lowering his lips onto hers and kissing her with the intoxicating mix of love-filled sweetness and lust-fueled desire that she had become so addicted to ever since that first weekend with him. His kiss instantly sparked her desire for him, and the sparks ignited a slow burning fire in her as he slid his lips onto her neck and brushed his hand across her breasts. As he peeled away her tank top and lowered his mouth onto the soft flesh just above the edge of her bra, the fire grew into a raging inferno.
*****
Sydney and Vaughn were both silent for a few minutes as they laid in bed together, him trying to regain his breath and his senses and her listening to the strong, rhythmic thump of his heartbeat. She felt so good wrapped in the warm cocoon of his embrace, and she was overwhelmed by the depth of the love she felt for him. Knowing that she would soon be able to spend all her nights like this made her deliriously happy.
"Vaughn, can I ask you something?"
"I might not be coherent enough to answer you, but yeah."
She lifted her head and rested her chin on his chest. "Why did you ask me to start looking for houses a while back?"
"Um, because we're going to need somewhere to live after we get married?" he uncertainly replied.
"Obviously," she rolled her eyes and smiled. "I meant, how come you don't want to keep this place?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I never really thought much about it. I just assumed that you'd prefer to move into a house that was ours from the beginning rather than a condo that used to be just mine. Do you not want that?"
"Oh, I wouldn't mind moving into a house, but this place is great. It's close to work and it has a great view of the city, and it's certainly big enough for two people . . ." her voice trailed off as she grew momentarily distracted by a bead of sweat glistening on his chest and licked it off.
"Yeah, it's big enough for the two of us, but it may not be big enough for our hockey team full of brown-haired, brown-eyed little girls," he smiled.
"Actually, I was envisioning them more as green-eyed, sandy-haired boys," she laughed, "but in any case, it's not like we're going to start having kids immediately, unless -- is that what you want?" she asked, realizing that they hadn't really discussed the timing aspects of starting a family.
"Well, I think my mom would want that, but honestly? I wouldn't mind having you all to myself for a while so we could have more nights like tonight. How long did *you* want to wait to start having kids?"
"I don't know, a couple of years, I guess. At least until we get tired of having the freedom to make love on the kitchen floor if we want to."
He grinned. "Have you *seen* the floor in the kitchen? It's a hard ceramic tile."
"So?" she laughed. "What's wrong? Is it going to mar your delicate skin?" she teased.
"No, I'm just -- would you really want to live here?" he asked as he drew himself up onto his elbows.
"Yeah, I would," she smiled. "I just don't see the point of looking for a house, when you already have the perfect place to live."
"Well, I never thought of it as perfect before, but it's starting to feel that way now that you're here. I think you belong here, Sydney."
"I belong wherever you are," she smiled.
"Yeah, you do, Syd. You and I are going to have an incredibly beautiful life together," he vowed as he softly kissed her cheek.
"A beautiful life," she softly echoed as a smile lit her entire face. When she looked at him and saw the absolute love shining in his beautiful green eyes, she had no doubt that it was true.
*****
Early Saturday morning, Agent Sean Bridges walked through the empty halls of SD-6 headquarters. He was generally a late riser, especially on the weekends, but he was wide awake this morning knowing that he possibly held the key to his future in his hands. He had been incredibly flattered when Sloane recruited him for an off the books surveillance op, and he knew that with the information in his hands, he would soon become a trusted ally of Sloane's. He couldn't imagine what that would do for his career, but he was more than eager to find out.
As he walked towards Sloane's office, he saw the older man look up from his desk and press a button to unlock the glass door to his office, allowing Agent Bridges to enter the office without having to announce himself.
"Good morning, sir," he broadly smiled.
"Good morning, Agent Bridges. I didn't expect to see you here this morning."
"I know sir, but I knew that you would be here, and I thought that you would want this package as soon as possible."
Sloane looked at Agent Bridges questioningly as he took a large manila envelope from his hand. He quickly opened it and removed its contents, sucking in a deep breath as he suddenly felt as if he had been punched in the gut.
The envelope contained exactly what he'd expected to eventually see when he first became suspicious of Sydney a couple of months ago -- photographs of her and a handsome young man locked in an intimate embrace.
"When were these taken?" Sloane asked as the his initial shock over Sydney's duplicity gave way to anger.
"Last night at the pier, sir."
"And have you identified this man yet?"
"Yes sir. His name is Michael Vaughn," he paused, "and he's an agent of the CIA."
TBC . . .
Chapter 33: "A Beautiful Life"
"Vaughn, have you lost your mind?" Sydney asked as she stared at him in disbelief. "You know I can't go home with you."
"Why not?" His breath tickled her neck as he kissed a spot behind her ear, and suddenly she couldn't remember why not. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feel of his lips on her neck for a moment, but quickly shook her head to clear her mind so she could think rationally again.
"We could get caught. Someone could be watching us," she reasoned.
"My building is secure," he murmured as he planted more kisses along the length of her neck. "No one will be watching us there, I promise."
"Vaughn," she lightly protested.
"Syd," he sighed, mimicking her tone. "I need you tonight. I want to be with you and hold you, and talk with you and make love to you all night long. Don't you want that, too?"
"Of course I do, but we can't. We shouldn't," she moaned as his lips brushed across a particularly sensitive spot on her throat. Despite her protests, he continued to kiss her, a fact that she found both exhilarating and maddening as her fingers betrayed her and slipped into his hair.
"Vaughn?" She prayed that he would stop kissing her before the rest of her body betrayed her as well. "Vaughn," she rasped as she tugged on his hair and he finally pried his mouth away from her.
"What?" he regarded her, his eyes hazy with both confusion and lust.
"Vaughn, we're making out in a public parking lot," she breathlessly laughed. "If that's not a sign that we're out of control, I don't know what is."
"Well, the only reason we're still standing here is because you're playing hard to get," he smiled. "Syd, you don't have a good excuse to say no, because tomorrow is Saturday and you don't have to work. Just think -- you could spend all night with me and wake up in my arms tomorrow morning. You know you want to," he softly coaxed.
"Vaughn," she sighed as she cursed herself for being so weak and wanting him so much that she was actually letting herself consider the possibility of going home with him. He was quickly breaking down her resolve, but she desperately tried not to let him see it, knowing that he would play dirty if he had to. Her suspicion was confirmed when he began whispering in her ear, telling her in French all the things he wanted to do to her.
"Okay, that's not fair," she laughed.
"I know," he wickedly grinned.
"You know, all of your little seductive tricks would be wasted on a woman who didn't know French."
"And Italian," he kissed her, "and German," he said with another kiss, "and Spanish," another kiss, "and should I continue?" he innocently asked.
"No, that's unnecessary," she managed to whisper, although he left her breathless. She had always wondered what it felt like to be high, and she supposed that she was finding out at this very moment, although Vaughn was more addictive and more lethal than any drug she could possibly imagine. She was fully aware that she was rapidly losing her ability to reason and think, but it felt so good that she hardly cared. "I've never seen you this persistent," she smiled at him.
"That's because, with the exception of getting you to agree to marry me, I've never wanted anything more than I want you right now. Sydney," he sighed as he stroked her hair, "I just agreed to let you do something incredibly dangerous in a few weeks, and tonight I just need to be with you and feel you and reassure myself that for one night at least, you're completely safe. Please don't deny me that."
She was amazed by the easy way that his tone shifted from low and seductive to sweet and sincere, and as the intensity of his voice and his gaze wrapped themselves around her heart, she knew that her decision was made. She leaned forward and brushed her thumb across his cheek as she softly kissed him.
"Okay," she whispered. "Show me the way home."
*****
As Sydney pulled into a parking space in the garage of Vaughn's building and turned off the engine of her car, she thought to herself for the hundredth time that she was absolutely crazy for doing this. But she was absolutely crazy for Vaughn too, and she wanted to be with him every bit as much as he wanted to be with her. Apparently, she was just as incapable of saying no to him as he was to her, especially when he unleashed his seductive side.
She could already feel the longing stirring inside of her as she watched him get out of his car and walk into his building. She waited for a few more minutes as he'd instructed her to do, and then got out of her own car and walked toward the building. She punched in the access code he had given her to open the door and took the elevator up to the fourteenth floor. Just as she reached 1407 and raised her hand to knock on the door, it swung open and Vaughn pulled her inside, kissing her the minute that he closed the door behind her. She melted into his arms and kissed him back until she heard excited little yelps and a felt a scratching sensation through the legs of her jeans.
"Donovan! Hey buddy, I missed you," she crooned as she bent down to scratch him behind his ears.
"He obviously missed you too," Vaughn smiled as the little bulldog danced around her.
"So I see. Have you been a good boy, Donny?" He wagged his tail excitedly as if to say yes, and she beamed at him.
"I'm going to take him out, but make yourself at home, make yourself comfortable, okay?" He wrapped an arm around her waist as she stood back up and he pulled her close to him. "If you want to make yourself naked while I'm gone, that's okay too," he murmured into her ear.
"Vaughn! Go take the dog out," she ordered with mock sternness.
"What? It was just a suggestion," he laughed as he and Donovan turned to leave.
She shook her head in amused exasperation at his one-track mind. Sometimes, she swore that he was thirty-four going on fifteen, but she loved that aspect of his personality. For so long, she had never realized that that side of him existed, but now his playfulness was one of the things that she adored about him the most.
She stood in the foyer for a few moments after he left and took a deep breath, hardly believing that she was actually in Vaughn's home. This part of him had been hidden from her for so long out of necessity that she almost felt nervous about finally seeing it. At the same time, though, she was curious to find out how many new things she would learn about him just from seeing where he lived.
As soon as she stepped into the living room, she felt as if she had entered the ultimate bachelor pad, complete with black leather furniture, big screen television and more electronic equipment than anyone could possibly ever need. A plush cream, black, and grey rug sank underneath her feet as she sifted through the magazines on his coffee table, noticing copies of Newsweek, Time, GQ, Sports Illustrated, Le Monde, and the L.A. Kings' Media Guide. In the far corner of the room sat a pool table lined with red felt instead of the normal green, and she could almost picture Vaughn and Weiss playing pool on Saturday afternoons after watching a full day's slate of college football games.
As much as Vaughn's place resembled almost every sports-loving American male's fantasy, however, it was balanced by the modern art that adorned the walls and the sculptures that sat in the corners of the room. Her mind flashed back to the day that she met him at the Getty museum and discovered his interest in art, and she realized with a smile that he hadn't simply been trying to impress her that day. His cultured and sophisticated European side was prominently on display through the art work, and she couldn't get over how much the entire room was a reflection of him, seeming to capture all the different facets of both his personality and his background.
She walked over to inspect the mantle above his fireplace, finding herself drawn to the pictures neatly arranged along the black shelf -- pictures of him with Elise, one of Donovan as a puppy, one of a huge, multigenerational group of people whom she assumed to be the Vaughns.
She carefully picked up a wooden frame that held a picture of an attractive blonde woman holding an adorable baby and she studied it curiously. The woman looked remarkably like Elise, but the picture appeared to have been taken relatively recently. She was so engrossed in the photograph that she didn't even notice that Vaughn had returned until he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"What's up, Gorgeous?"
"Who's this?"
"That's my cousin Nathalie and her son, Christian. She sent that to me a couple of weeks ago."
"He's so cute," she smiled as she placed the frame back on the mantle.
"Yeah, he is. For a while, my mom thought that he was as close as she was ever going to get to having a grandchild, but that was just before she met you and her hopes were revived," he laughed. "Do you want something to eat or drink," he asked, suddenly remembering his manners.
"No, I'm fine." She closed her eyes and smiled as she leaned back into his chest. "I can't believe that I'm here with you," she marveled. "How many people can say that the first time they ever saw their fiance's home was *after* they got engaged?"
"Not many," he laughed. "But you and I aren't ordinary people."
"That's an understatement." She turned around and smiled as she looked at him. "I really like this place."
"Good, because in my crystal ball, I see the two of us spending a lot of time here in the not too distant future. You haven't seen all of it, though. Allow me to give you the grand tour," he smiled.
"Lead the way."
He took her hand and led her down the hall until they reached a large bedroom done in navy and various shades of grey.
"We're starting the grand tour with your bedroom?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Mmm hmm. We're ending it here too," he laughed as he shut the door behind them.
"Then, I'm glad I didn't pay for this so-called tour."
"Oh, you're about to," he lasciviously grinned. "I'm not even sure that you can afford the admission fee." Just as he leaned in to kiss her again, they were interrupted by a scratching sound on the other side of the door and he groaned.
"Damn. I was in such a rush to get you into bed that I forgot to put Donovan up. I'll be right back, okay?"
"Hurry back," she smiled as he quickly kissed her. She stood and admired his immaculate room for a moment before wandering into his large walk-in closet. She was completely unsurprised to see suits and dress shirts lining one wall, neatly separated by color, and casual clothes on the other wall, not appearing to be organized in any particular way other than to separate pants and jeans from shirts and sweaters. She thoughtfully studied the contrast -- buttoned-up, always professional Agent Vaughn to her left and casual, easygoing, relaxed Michael to the right. Two parts of one whole, and she couldn't live without either one of them, because Michael was the one who made her laugh and was so incredibly sweet, the one who'd brought her breakfast in bed and shocked her with a proposal when she'd least expected it. But Agent Vaughn was the one who'd kept her safe for the last year and a half, the one who'd been with her every step of the way as she worked to bring down SD-6, and who'd shown her that there was one person in her life that she could trust completely. *And,* she realized with a wicked grin, Agent Vaughn was the one who had the extensive tie collection. She moved over to his tie rack and gently fingered a red silk tie just as he came back into his room.
"Syd?" he called out.
"In here," she called back. A moment later, he walked into the closet and shook his head.
"Oh, hell no," he laughed as he took her hand and dragged her out of the closet. "Come away from those."
"What? I was just looking," she innocently protested.
"No. You we're touching, too, and that could get us into a lot of trouble. We won't be needing those tonight," he shook his head.
"Damn, you're no fun," she pouted.
"I'm plenty of fun, but there are other ways to have fun than with neckwear."
She noticed the glint in his eyes and felt her body instantly respond to his words. "I want you to show me all of them," she breathed.
"That could take a lot of time," he smiled.
"I didn't meant tonight," she laughed. "But we'll have all the time in the world, soon."
"Yeah, you're right," he murmured. He pulled her into his arms and rested his forehead against hers as he looked deeply into her eyes and smiled.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked as she stroked his forearms.
"I just can't believe that you're actually here with me. Before we got together, I used to dream about this. I always imagined that I would bring you here after we took down SD-6 -- like *immediately* after we took down SD-6."
"Oh, so in all of those dreams, I actually *participated* in the takedown?" she innocently asked, making him laugh in response.
"Yes dear, you did," he exaggeratedly replied.
"Just checking," she smiled as she cocked her head to the side and looked at him. "So, really the first thing that you were going to do after SD-6 was gone was bring me home with you? What ever made you think that I would have wanted you to do that?" He shot her a knowing look and she laughed. "Okay, obviously I would have wanted you to do that," she admitted.
"Don't I know it," he grinned. "The way I always imagined it, I would bring you home with me and we'd finally spend our first night together, discovering each other, making love to each other. And when we woke up the next day, you'd be free and I would be free to take you outside in the daylight, take you anywhere you wanted to go and tell you how much I loved you."
She smiled as she slipped her hands underneath his long sleeved t-shirt and rubbed his back. "Can I tell you a secret? I used to dream about that too. The first thing I wanted to do after SD-6 was destroyed was find you and kiss you, and finally give into all the feelings that we had been hiding and ignoring. I dreamt about that for so long, but the way we actually came together was perfect. The first time we made love in Lake Tahoe was better than any fantasy I ever had, and I wouldn't go back and change that for anything."
"Me either. Can you imagine what it would have been like if we hadn't spent that weekend together? Maybe we'd still be waiting to make out move on each other."
"Honestly, I don't know if I *could* have waited much longer than I did, especially after you got sick. It was impossible to hide the way that I felt about you after that, Vaughn. I think I would have exploded if we had waited any longer, and even though it might have been smarter to wait, whatever self-restraint I had flew out the window once I saw you in ski clothes." She grinned at him as she slid his shirt up his chest and deftly removed it in a single, fluid motion.
"God, you were so sexy that day," she remembered, "and I loved seeing you laugh and smile, seeing you have fun for once without having to worry about me. That was the day that I finally got to see Michael instead of Agent Vaughn, and I realized that I was even more in love with you than I already thought I was. And I've fallen even more in love with you every day since then," she murmured as she placed a soft kiss over his heart.
Her words touched a place deep inside of him and he ran his fingers through her hair, gently tilting her head back before lowering his lips onto hers and kissing her with the intoxicating mix of love-filled sweetness and lust-fueled desire that she had become so addicted to ever since that first weekend with him. His kiss instantly sparked her desire for him, and the sparks ignited a slow burning fire in her as he slid his lips onto her neck and brushed his hand across her breasts. As he peeled away her tank top and lowered his mouth onto the soft flesh just above the edge of her bra, the fire grew into a raging inferno.
*****
Sydney and Vaughn were both silent for a few minutes as they laid in bed together, him trying to regain his breath and his senses and her listening to the strong, rhythmic thump of his heartbeat. She felt so good wrapped in the warm cocoon of his embrace, and she was overwhelmed by the depth of the love she felt for him. Knowing that she would soon be able to spend all her nights like this made her deliriously happy.
"Vaughn, can I ask you something?"
"I might not be coherent enough to answer you, but yeah."
She lifted her head and rested her chin on his chest. "Why did you ask me to start looking for houses a while back?"
"Um, because we're going to need somewhere to live after we get married?" he uncertainly replied.
"Obviously," she rolled her eyes and smiled. "I meant, how come you don't want to keep this place?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I never really thought much about it. I just assumed that you'd prefer to move into a house that was ours from the beginning rather than a condo that used to be just mine. Do you not want that?"
"Oh, I wouldn't mind moving into a house, but this place is great. It's close to work and it has a great view of the city, and it's certainly big enough for two people . . ." her voice trailed off as she grew momentarily distracted by a bead of sweat glistening on his chest and licked it off.
"Yeah, it's big enough for the two of us, but it may not be big enough for our hockey team full of brown-haired, brown-eyed little girls," he smiled.
"Actually, I was envisioning them more as green-eyed, sandy-haired boys," she laughed, "but in any case, it's not like we're going to start having kids immediately, unless -- is that what you want?" she asked, realizing that they hadn't really discussed the timing aspects of starting a family.
"Well, I think my mom would want that, but honestly? I wouldn't mind having you all to myself for a while so we could have more nights like tonight. How long did *you* want to wait to start having kids?"
"I don't know, a couple of years, I guess. At least until we get tired of having the freedom to make love on the kitchen floor if we want to."
He grinned. "Have you *seen* the floor in the kitchen? It's a hard ceramic tile."
"So?" she laughed. "What's wrong? Is it going to mar your delicate skin?" she teased.
"No, I'm just -- would you really want to live here?" he asked as he drew himself up onto his elbows.
"Yeah, I would," she smiled. "I just don't see the point of looking for a house, when you already have the perfect place to live."
"Well, I never thought of it as perfect before, but it's starting to feel that way now that you're here. I think you belong here, Sydney."
"I belong wherever you are," she smiled.
"Yeah, you do, Syd. You and I are going to have an incredibly beautiful life together," he vowed as he softly kissed her cheek.
"A beautiful life," she softly echoed as a smile lit her entire face. When she looked at him and saw the absolute love shining in his beautiful green eyes, she had no doubt that it was true.
*****
Early Saturday morning, Agent Sean Bridges walked through the empty halls of SD-6 headquarters. He was generally a late riser, especially on the weekends, but he was wide awake this morning knowing that he possibly held the key to his future in his hands. He had been incredibly flattered when Sloane recruited him for an off the books surveillance op, and he knew that with the information in his hands, he would soon become a trusted ally of Sloane's. He couldn't imagine what that would do for his career, but he was more than eager to find out.
As he walked towards Sloane's office, he saw the older man look up from his desk and press a button to unlock the glass door to his office, allowing Agent Bridges to enter the office without having to announce himself.
"Good morning, sir," he broadly smiled.
"Good morning, Agent Bridges. I didn't expect to see you here this morning."
"I know sir, but I knew that you would be here, and I thought that you would want this package as soon as possible."
Sloane looked at Agent Bridges questioningly as he took a large manila envelope from his hand. He quickly opened it and removed its contents, sucking in a deep breath as he suddenly felt as if he had been punched in the gut.
The envelope contained exactly what he'd expected to eventually see when he first became suspicious of Sydney a couple of months ago -- photographs of her and a handsome young man locked in an intimate embrace.
"When were these taken?" Sloane asked as the his initial shock over Sydney's duplicity gave way to anger.
"Last night at the pier, sir."
"And have you identified this man yet?"
"Yes sir. His name is Michael Vaughn," he paused, "and he's an agent of the CIA."
TBC . . .