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Chapter Ten:

Here With Me

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It was in the twilight of her mind that she heard it, rising from the depths where she lingered between starlight and shadows. It began as a low moan, a rumbling in the ground beneath her, the earth shaking beneath her fingertips. Her thoughts rose from the depths, unconscious mind slowly becoming aware of the world around her. The sound of her name, a broken cry that spilled from broken lips woke her instantly. She glanced around for a moment in the shadows of the dawn, frowning to herself, wondering what precisely had awoken her. Then she heard it again.

Looking down at the man beside her, pain knifed through her heart. Vaughn was curled up into a ball, fingers clutching at Sydney's skin desperately. Tears were seeping out from beneath closed eyelids and his face was contorted into a spasm of intense pain.

Gently, she reached out and touched him, one hand coming around to rest comfortingly on his back. She felt the scars on his back burn her fingers with the heat that he seemed to emanate and he cried out in pain, arching his back, mouth opening wide with shock. Sydney drew back, eyes wide and fearful.

"Vaughn," she spoke his name softly, touching his face and bringing her lips down to plant a gentle kiss on his forehead. The sound of her voice ripped another moan from his lips and once again, her name. It was spoken in such a broken tone, filled with desperation and despair. She could only imagine what kind of torture his dreams held.

"Sydney..." His fingers clutched her tighter though he was not conscious of her presence. "Why did you have to leave me..." his words were a broken whisper. "Why do they have to break me? Don't they know I'm already gone?"

With a faint horror, Sydney realized that he was reliving his torture. She wondered how many nights he writhed in pain, only to wake, soaked in sweat and exhausted. She wondered how many nights Lauren had sat beside him and watched him suffer with pleasure, never reaching out to comfort him or take away his pain.

Sydney swallowed her anger and blinked away tears, resolving herself against this new torment. Gently she pulled him close to her, unfolding his legs away from his body and pressing up against him. The feel of her body against his seemed to quiet his moans, still his shaking flesh but not entirely. Gently she wrapped her arms around him, avoiding the scars that streaked his flesh and rubbed his back.

"It's okay, Vaughn," she brought her lips forward to whisper in his ear. "I'm here now. I'm not going away again." She kissed his damp forehead and wiped away the sweat, planted another kiss on his closed eyes, his lips. She wrapped herself around him, struggling to act as a physical shield against his demons which she knew attacked from within. Murmuring soft words of love into his ear, she held him tightly and tried to soothe away the pain.

Eventually his shaking stopped, his breathing became even and after a few moments she realized that his eyes had opened. When she gazed into them, the dark cloud seemed to clear, leaving only a dazzling green behind. Like a storm blowing away from the sea and leaving the water clear again.

"Syd..." he trailed off with a helpless frown. "What..."

She silenced his words with a soft kiss, tasting them on her lips, every letter and consonant that would never be formed. She swallowed them and all of his words until he was left speechless, staring at her in wonder.

"You were having a bad dream," she whispered. She smoothed a loving hand across his damp face and dried his tears. His eyes darkened momentarily, the memories surging up within him. But in his conscious state, he could hold them at bay. In Sydney's arms, there was no fear or pain anymore.

Instead he just nodded and snuggled closer to her, placing a soft kiss on her arm where his fingers had left sharp red marks. Another kiss on her neck when she turned her head and again on her lips, thanking her without the words that neither of them needed to say.

"I love you," he whispered instead.

Sydney smiled at him gently, running her fingers through his hair soothingly. He shut his eyes and reveled in her touch, releasing a deep sigh as she lay her head on his chest and kissed the bare skin that she found there. They lay together in a quiet moment of peace, having awoken from the nightmares and not yet ready to face the nightmare of reality.

"Vaughn," Sydney murmured his name softly into his skin, he could feel her voice vibrate through his flesh. He opened his eyes and found her gazing up at him, biting her lower lip in concentration.

"Why...If I asked you not tell me the truth..." Sydney shook her head and eased herself up, leaving him cold without the touch of her skin.

"Why are you telling me now?"

Vaughn squeezed his eyes shut and scrubbed at them tiredly with heavy fingers. When his vision cleared, Sydney was still sitting before him, gazing at him with earnest and somewhat apprehensive expression on her face. He leaned forward and grasped her hand, lacing his fingers through hers and kissing the palm gently.

"Because," he whispered into her skin. "It is time."

Sydney's frown grew deeper, eyes growing darker. "Time?" Her voice shook on the word, as if she did not want to know what it meant.

Vaughn shook his head, "I remained in contact with Irina even after you asked me to leave. She and I were struggling to figure out a way around the prophecy. We agreed that only when we had come up with a solution would I tell you the truth." He shook his and turned his eyes away momentarily, seeing, for the first time, the early morning light that was beginning to stream in the window on the far wall. It illuminated Sydney from behind, lighting her in a golden halo before him and casting him in shadow.

"She contacted me a few days ago and told me that it was time, she could not offer an explanation but I would have taken any opportunity to tell you." He shook his head, jaw clenching with contained anger. "What I want, more than anything, Syd, is to end this. I never want to lie to you ever again." His words were punctuated by a vehemence that was not akin to his nature, but yet the feeling was familiar to Sydney. She knew how he felt.

"I still find it so bizarre that you're trusting my mother in all of this," she shook her head and Vaughn felt his heart sink in his chest.

"I didn't want to at first," he confided in her. "I knew you wouldn't have either, after the way she betrayed you." He shook his head and smoothed down the stray strands of Sydney's hair that had been tousled in her sleep. She softened beneath his touch and smiled at him gratefully, clasping her hand over his.

"But Jack convinced me... I would have made a deal with the devil if I knew it would have brought you back. I tried to think that I was not asking my father's killer for help, but the mother of the woman I love. I had to put everything in perspective and judge what I was willing to sacrifice." He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the cheek where a tear had landed, spilling from her eye and dappling her flesh.

"You've sacrificed so much, Vaughn." Sydney shook her head and sighed. "You've sacrificed too much for the sake of me."

"No," he kissed her knuckles and sighed, tracing the lines in her palm with his breath. "I had to put aside my hatred for your mother in order to focus on the Covenant. We all knew that, we all understood that. Jack made me see..." he trailed off and shook his head soundlessly, rubbing closed eyes.

"It sounds like my father helped you through a lot after I died," Sydney spoke softly, seeing the pain that was written in every line of his body. Vaughn nodded and looked up at her, eyes dark with memory that she would never know.

"We helped each other," he whispered. "We had both lost you and neither of us really had anyone else who understood what it was like. Losing you was not just like losing a lover or a daughter, it was like losing our very souls." He pulled her to him with one hand clasped tightly in hers and she came easily to his chest, wrapping her arms around him. He rested his forehead against hers and kissed her gently.

"Our worlds had been torn apart... Its incredible the strength that can come from a bond formed of loss... I've lost my father and the woman I loved. Jack had lost his only child and both of the woman he loved. For the first time, we had no reason to be suspicious of one another or resentful. He was no longer worried about how I might hurt you, only grateful for how I had loved you."

Sydney was staring down at their entwined fingers, his thumb gently stroking the soft skin of her wrist. Their hands were beginning to blur into an indistinguishable lump of lines and color in her vision as she struggled to blink away the tears that seeped out.

"I want it to end," she whispered, she was barely aware of the words leaving her mouth until she heard them hanging above their heads. They were like a cloud in the room, waiting for the breeze to scatter them.

Vaughn only slipped his arms further around her and hugged her close, kissing her neck gently where his head rested in the curve. "I know," he murmured against her flesh. "It's only a matter of time now."

"Where do we go from here?" Sydney asked, she was watching the play of the sunlight against the wall behind Vaughn. The simple dance of the sun's rays seemed too beautiful for the shadows that shrouded them, covered them with a cloak of heaviness.

"We go to Irina," Vaughn smiled against her skin and pulled back to look her in the eyes. "Or, if I know your parents at all by now, she will find us. More than likely, Jack would have contacted your mother after you called him to inform him that you were leaving the country. Irina is probably searching for us as we speak." As he spoke, a faint beeping met their ears. Vaughn smiled in satisfaction and leaned over to retrieve his duffel bag from beside the bed. As he rummaged through it, the beeping grew louder and Sydney could discern a pattern emerging in the notes.

"Morse code?" She asked, "Very typical of my mother."

Vaughn shrugged, "We needed something simple, something that no one would suspect." Triumphantly he pulled out a watch from the bag, Sydney recognized it as the one he had shown her years earlier.

"Your father's watch?" She frowned when he didn't respond, his head bowed low as he concentrated on the pattern of the beats. After a few minutes, the beeping faded and slowed to a stop. Vaughn smiled in satisfaction and slid the watch onto his wrist, securing the leather band in place.

"A replica of my father's watch," Vaughn told her as he lifted his wrist to show her the face of the clock. "This one works, Irina sent it to me after she had encoded the transmittor inside. Lauren believes that this is my father's watch however, she knows that it has sentimental value to me so she wouldn't question why I often have it on me. Nor would she question the alarm that is, in reality, a message. She doesn't know much about morse code and even if she did, she wouldn't realize the message until much analysis."

Sydney nodded thoughtfully, still marveling at the unending stupidity of Vaughn's partner. "But you know the code, so what does my mother have to say?"

"She is saying that we have to go," Vaughn was already getting out of the bed as he spoke. Sydney watched him for a moment, brows knit in thought but she did not question him. He dropped her clothes on the bed and she took a moment to admire the sleek curve of his body as he stretched and pulled his clothes on.

He could feel her gaze on him and turned to her curiously, the expression on her face made him smile. The warmth of her eyes fueling his strength. "What?"

Sydney smirked and shook her head, "Nothing." She pulled on her own clothes and was ready to go within minutes.

"Where are we going?" She asked him.

"Kiev," he told her. "Back to Kiev." She could hear a note of bitterness that lingered in his voice and gently, she touched his shoulder. He relaxed instantly under her fingertips but she could still feel the tension lingering in him.

"I haven't been back there since I left you," he admitted and his eyes flashed with anger at his own words. He still could not forgive himself, but never once did he place any blame on her.

Sydney nodded and bit her lip, "There is something else." It was not a question, merely an observation on his tense stance, the coiled energy that sprung to life in him.

Vaughn bit his lip, eyes darting around the room that had seemed so cozy before. Now the shadows were threatening, caging him in, hiding unseen dangers. The walls seemed to close in on him and he caught himself making a mental list of every escape route.

"The Covenant is onto our trail," he admitted. "Irina intercepted transmissions between them or something, morse code is only so clear in its message. They are searching for us and we are very close to being found, we have to get to your mother as soon as possible. She has a plane waiting for us at a private airfield nearby."

He could see the fear in her eyes, flickering slowly like a flame that she struggled to stamp down. She was always so fearless but after hearing what they had done to her, and to Vaughn, she could not help but be afraid.

Sydney grasped his hand in her own, the strength of her grip surprising him suddenly as she overwhelmed him with her outward mask of courage. He knew that the mask served to quell the flames of her fear as well as the knowledge that he was at her side.

"Okay," she nodded and swallowed hard. "Let's go."

He gazed at her for a long moment before picking up their bags from beside the bed and grasping her hand tightly. There was a moment of stillness, a silent decision between them, before they took a collective step toward the door.

It was then, as they moved to leave the room, that they heard a scuffling on the outside. Exchanging anxious glances, they stepped back and their hands strayed for their respective guns as the door banged open with a noise that shook the stillness and destroyed it from the inside out.

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