Title: All The 'Best Deceptions' and 'Clever Cover Story'

Author: Secret Agent Girl (SAG)

'Ship: You ask this... why?

Spoilers/Timeline: Pre-Phase One, Post-The Getaway, AU

A/N: Italicized lyrics come from Dashboard Confessional's Again I go Unnoticed.

Ch. 6

Please send me anything but signals that are mixed
cause I can't read your rolling eyes
out of touch,

are we out of time?

He stared at the letter as it lay on his desk, the fold lines deep. His eyes kept focusing back on the blurred signature. Slowly, he reached out and ran the tips of his fingers over the once smooth signature.

"Tear stains."

Vaughn's head shot up and met the eyes of the man in the door.

"She opened the letter and just…cried." Weiss shut the door behind him as he made his way further into the office.

"Eric, I told you…"

"Yes, you told me, six months ago that you didn't want to know her reaction. That it was too hard. Well too damn bad Michael." His voice was cold, his eyes boring into Vaughn's.

"You made me promise to protect her from everything. That includes you." He stared at Vaughn for a moment longer, his eyes never wavering. "She read that letter and completely shattered. When it came time for our next few meetings, she barely talked to me. It took me three weeks, three weeks Michael! Do you know how long three weeks is?!"

Vaughn looked deep into Weiss's eyes, reading them carefully.

"I never meant to..."

"Yeah, well, you did."

Letting out a long sigh, Vaughn moved slowly towards Weiss, collapsing into the worn leather couch against the wall. Running a hand through his hair, he closed his eyes briefly before speaking. "She came by today. She came by and she was just so…angry. She told me I…" sinking back into the couch, Vaughn shook his head slowly, trying to forget the anger in her voice, the pain. "I really screwed up Eric. Irreversibly screwed up."

"Then get up off your ass and fix it."

"Irreversibly, Eric."

"Oh stop being a defeatist. She wouldn't have come to you today if she didn't care. If she didn't think even slightly that you couldn't work things out." He looked at Vaughn pointedly. "Get up off your ass and go to her."

Cracking a smile, Weiss leaned back into the soft leather. "Because if you don't, I will."

Laughing slightly, Vaughn rose and snatched his keys from his desk, moving swiftly to the door, looking back long enough to grin at Eric before disappearing.

"Lousy Frenchmen. Always getting the girl."

He pulled up outside her apartment, double checking the piece of paper with her address scrawled on it. Smiling to himself, he reread the note written above it he had found taped to his dashboard.

About freaking time.

Francie and Will are usually out until late.

Don't mess up this time.

-Eric

Glancing up, he watched her silhouette move around in the shadows of the fire light through her windows. Her form seemed to glide around the rooms.

It seemed as time sped up. For one moment he was sitting in his car, watching her shadow lift the glass of wine to her lips, the next moment, his hand was moving to press her doorbell.

The sound of her doorbell rang through his ears as he listened to her call out to him and approach slowly.

She swung the door open with a smile, only to slowly replace it with a frown.

"What are you doing here?"

"I've made a terrible mistake."