In Color.

Sydney/Vaughn
Future

When losing conscious, he sees the world colorless. It's like is slow motion - the color drains out of the things around him. Living and breathing the spy world, it is not a rare occasion on which he loses conscious. In fact, it happens more often than he expects it to. He's gotten used to random objects losing their color, and knows what it means. It's a quick process, but he prepare himself for it - when something goes colorless, he can at least make sure he doesn't hit his head once he reaches the ground. He holds it up.

When he awakes, he likes to see colors around him. All colors, in all shapes and forms. And he doesn't know how it began, but Vaughn, in his mind, matches events and people with colors. He also doesn't know how it happened, but somehow, colors that went with certain events got all confused. Now, he doesn't think, orange is mom, silver is dad, turquoise is high school. Now, all colors have something to do with Sydney.

Red is the first time they met - her hair was so full of color that it made his lips curve into a smile. She looked like one hell of a woman - a spitfire - especially because it was clear to him that she was a woman full of pain (and not just because it seemed like she had some killer toothache), yet she sat there, filling page after page with the story of her life. She intrigues him completely - he couldn't wait to read the story she wrote, and was sure that even after reading it, he'd have many questions to ask.

Yellow is her missions, sometimes at exotic places (probably where yellow came from) and sometimes, not so much. At times, he joins her. At times, he's just a voice in her ear. In both cases, he worries with every step she take. She didn't quite understand at first, but with time, she's learned to keep him updated no matter what.

Pink is the takedown of SD-6. It seemed horrible to some, but for him, it was bright, shiny, and everything that is in between, because it meant he could hold her hand and hug her and kiss her and walk with her and comfort her and drive her to work and tuck her in at night and sleep with her and be with her. Just be with her.

Green is himself, his eyes, but only because she loves them so much, even more than she does the wrinkles in his forehead. When she looks into his eyes, he feels that something tugging at the pit of his stomach - his mother, when he was 11, maybe 12, told him that is how he'll know if he really is in love. But what he has with Sydney is more than being "in love". It's a feeling of pure bliss whenever she's around. He can't help it, he has to take her hand, touch her hair, anything - to make sure she's really there, really his. Her eyes tell him her story - how much she truly loves him, wants him, needs him. And when she opens her mouth to tell him, he stops her. He already knows.

Brown is the chocolate - they love eating it together. All kinds of chocolate too - they always have some in their house. All of their friends know it, and don't give up their dose when they come to visit. Even her father feels comfortable enough asking for some when he feels like it. When they're alone, they enjoy it the most. There are so many things you can do with chocolate… or chocolate mousse, or syrup chocolate.

Purple is for that negligee she bought and kept in her closet, him not even knowing it exists, until his birthday, when she wore it proudly and asked with a teasing smile if he liked his present. Of course he did.

Black is for what she nicknamed The Lost Years, and really, that whole period appears in his memory in deep black, twirling, spinning around. He thought she was dead, and it hurt so badly that he was going to die from the pain. It hurt just like, or even more than, a real injury, and for days he sat in his bedroom, not able to move, walk, or talk. When he closed his eyes, all he could see was black.

Blue is for Lauren, he isn't really sure why, he saw her in a blue wig once, and in that blue dress that was so similar to the one he got Sydney years before. When she was arrested, there was police everywhere - policemen wear blue. Sydney was also there - he angrily brushed her away. Blue used to be his favorite color. No more.

Gold is for the ring he gave her. He gave it to her simply, quietly, because that's how everything was for them the second time around. No endless declarations of love or fireworks - just him and her, curled up on a couch, watching a movie; it was more romantic than any other thing he could have done.

The best color is technically not even a color, but he doesn't care what's a real color and what isn't when he sees her walking down the aisle, wearing a white, white, white dress. All colors mesh into one colorful rainbow when she whispers out the 'I do', and he feels he could cry from happiness. When she wants to paint the walls in their house, he refuses to let her. White, he says into her ear, is the best color of all.