Heya! i know what i said, and i also know you think i should continue but i was thinking last night night and the thought 'quit while you're ahead' came to mind (hopefully i am ahead!)anyhoo, i've decided to leave this as is and i'm really sorry if you wanted me to continue. The last paragraph has changed to how it was originally writen- as the end, so if you want have a scrowl down (to get some closure!-god i'm a loser...sigh) Its been a pleasure writing for you guys and thanks for coming on this little adventure with me. thankyou so much for reading and even more so for reviewing, and anytime you see a little title with Dani11e87 written by it, give it a click and tell me what you think about it! Thank you so much again for your encouragement and input, and goodbye from A Cruel Twist Of Irony- dani xxx

Chapter 8

They awoke to the shrill sound of a cell phone. She hit him causing him to grunt

"Pick it up or I'll kick your ass" she groaned, turning away from him. She could still feel the imprint of his body on hers, and missed the warmth she was becoming gradually more used to not having as the months went by.

"Vaughn" he answered gruffly from across the room "oh, hey man" he said his voice seemingly lighter and happier. "Eric" he mouthed to her "mm-hmm. Ya-huh. What? Ugh no Eric not today, day off remember? Yer, no, ya-huh, fine. I guess you're right. No, its confidential remember, besides I want to be there. Thanks anyway. I'll do it later" she smiled at his monosyllabic answers. Vaughn's face suddenly fell "No I haven't seen her," he said a little too defensively for her liking. He was clearly lying- he must be talking about me she thought sadly. "Yer... No. No. It's ok. I'll call her... Because... I need to talk to her anyway...yes I'm sure. Bye Eric " he hung up flinging his phone onto a chair. Vaughn span around to see Sydney crying, curled up her sheets resting against the headboard. He rushed towards her falling onto the bed gracefully; as he crawled to her he reached out to touch her only for her to flinch and lean away from him. This was too similar from how he had found her likely and he knew she was hurting, because of him. "Syd?" no response "Sydney?" she sniffed, angrily wiping tears from her face with the back of her hand.

"I never thought I would say this, especially to you. But last night...I-it was mistake. I vowed- I told you I would never be the other woman, and now...God, I'm such an idiot. I slept with a married man. And you!" she shouted angrily pointing her finger at him. He fell back slightly at her action, she was now kneeling up on the bed facing him: fury in her eyes. "How can I be sure this just isn't a sick game, like all those other times, North Korea, earlier with the coffee? How do I know your not just going to go running home to your wife?! I just- you can't keep doing this to me. You're breaking me apart slowly, piece by piece!" she was crying, shouting at him as she had at the pier. "I love you so, so much. But you are married, you've committed adultery, and don't pretend you're not ashamed of your actions!" she screamed as he opened his mouth in protest. "If you had no regrets from last night you wouldn't have lied to Eric! You would have told him you were here with me. But instead you hid the truth. You used me!" she whispered, clenching the sheet, tightening it round her body. Sydney ran to the bathroom slamming the door angrily behind her. Vaughn sat, frozen on the bed. He thought the pain had gone and she understood how he felt. Clearly he was wrong. He was angry; fuming that she thought so low of him.

"Sydney!" He roared as he jumped off the bed. He grabbed his now dry boxers throwing them on himself. He smashed his fist against the door several times, ravaging the handle in an attempt to open it. "Let me in now Sydney" he demanded. His aggression frightened them both

"No!" she screamed. "You've had you're thrills now leave. I don't ever want to speak to you again. EVER" the bangs and rattles of the doorknob stopped dead, she was shocked by the abruptness, but her tears continued. There was silence.

After a few minutes, the blotches on her face had gone and her tears had subsided

"V-vaughn?" even though at the time she had meant what she said, she was so terrified that he wouldn't be there when she opened the door, she almost felt paralysed. She pulled it open cautiously seeing him sitting on the floor against the foot of the bed. She let the door softly bang against the plaster of the wall, and she folded her arms across her chest, allowing the sheet to move slightly with her arms. His knees were bent up infront of him and his arms rested on top of them; his hands were clutching his phone, tapping it against his knuckles occasionally. His head was lowered but she could tell his face was scarred with tears from the impact of her words. Without lifting his head, he looked at her quickly only to focus his eyes back on his hands when he saw her watching him. The fact that she looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her didn't help the situation either. Her eyes were soft yet full of feeling, and she had that soft glow she did every morning after they made love. The sheet she had draped around herself was reminiscent of some tragically beautiful goddess, and her hair lay in a messy accumulation of waves and curls, causing her to look cute but sexy all at the same time.

"Eric" he spoke holding up the phone looking at her through distraught and angry eyes "reminded me I needed to go to my solicitor today to give the papers. He offered to take the papers in for me, but its something I need to do. He then asked me if I had seen Lauren since she signed them, but I think she's gone running off to her boyfriend or something; her phone's off. He wasn't asking about you Sydney. Eric knows I'm here. He helped me plan what to say. I knew I needed- I had to come round after you hung up but I didn't want to come here straight away so I called him on my cell as I left the house. I walked here so I could find the words to let you know about the...the new developments. But then I heard you crying and the door was open and- why was the door open Syd?"

"I um... I went over to see Eric but I saw through the window he was on the phone, I walked back and I...broke down. It looked important, I didn't want to bother him anymore- it was you he was talking to, wasn't it?"

"Yer. He shouted at me for not talking to you sooner, and he swore if I ever hurt you again he'd kick my ass." They laughed momentarily, sincerity falling on them once more. "Syd, you and me, w-we've come too far to start a fresh, to just have coffee. That's what normal people do when trying to start over, traditionally, you and me-we would go to some clandestine building in the middle of nowhere, or have a shootout with some cocky blond bastard, or-"

"Disarm a nuclear bomb..." she added

"Yeah." He grinned sadly. All those things, the times when he thought he was near death; she was all he could think about. Not Lauren, his wife, the one he was meant to be loving for all eternity or whatever- it was that sad girl before him, Sydney- his Syd. "We're not normal Syd. What we have isn't ordinary. We can't just sweep stuff under the rug or start again- we've been through too much. We have too much."

"Vaughn I love you, but we can't be together; not like this anyway. I can't dishonour you're wedding vows, and I...I-can't do that to Lauren. I can't be known as the office...slut. A home wrecker."

"Syd" he said a little more forcefully than he had meant to. "What are you saying? I can't believe you would think that, that you would degrade yourself so much. No one is a harder on themselves as you are. I know you think yourself as the other woman, but you're the only woman Sydney. In my life there's only one person- you're the one who has my heart. I will always be yours Syd." She was crying now, silently letting the expressive liquid plunge from her eyes. There was a pensive silence "Do- do you really want me to leave?" His voice was unsteady, yet his message clearly delivered. She shook her head biting her lip bashfully, trying to hide a smile. They now both knew she didn't mean it; her anger spoke for her, but he had to check, to make sure. Sydney didn't want to mar the moment, but she had to ask.

"Where's your ring?"

"I can't remember. I took it off sometime between coming in the house and...putting you to bed." He smiled sheepishly and the memory of holding her sleepy form.

"Oh yeah thanks for that by the way" she said timidly

"No problem" he grinned back standing up "So we're good?"

"We're good" she answered assuring both of them, a huge grin spread across her face as he grabbed her sheet pulling her towards him.

"I love you so much" he said in a gentle voice no louder than a whisper

"I love you" she countered happily. "Too much" They laughed, soft kisses and caresses being exchanged generously.

Half an hour later, a make shift bed had been created on the floor from the sheet Sydney had been wearing. Both were now dressed and up and about the house. It wasn't really dressed in the sense of the word they supposed, as Vaughn was just wearing the pair of sweats they had found and Sydney, also in sweats, only wore her bra. They lay on the couch watching the television together not really paying attention to what the presenter was saying. The couple were in the process of eating all the ice cream she possessed and finishing off all Eric's beer when Vaughn was about to suggest a shower only to be interupted by Syd.

"Who's do you think it is?" she asked gently "the baby I mean"

"I don't know, or really care. I mean I always wanted my first child to be with you... This is going to sound terrible but, I-I'm kind of glad its not mine- how terrible does that make me? " she kissed his head tenderly

"Vaughn, you are the most caring, loving, generous," she laughed at his groans and his head shaking slightly in disagreement. She continued, "supportive, funny, passionate, kind, beautiful, sexy man I have ever met in my entirety and I love you..." He kissed he in thanks.

"You are too good to me" he whispered, their lips barely touching

"...and you're not a bad lay either" she laughed as he groaned again, hitting her with a pillow. She became serious again "No one can blame you for feeling betrayed Vaughn. Its only natural, you're in love with her and her place in your heart makes you vulnerable to her, effectively hurting you more than anyone else can"

"I am so, so sorry" he whispered into her neck, an incommunicable feeling of guilt screaming through his body. "Syd, I loved Lauren, but I'm not in love with her. I cannot believe it hurts like this- and our relationship wasn't even built on anything substantial, just grief over my loss of you... What you and I had- what we have now-Syd the pain you must be feeling-"

"The pain I felt" she reassured. He smiled sadly and continued

"I am so sorry for hurting you like I did. I promise I'm going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you..."

"What?' she laughed quietly

"Uh- I. Hang on..." he blushed as he leapt out from under her dashing into her bedroom.

"Vaughn?" she got up quickly following him. He was bent over the clothes he had worn at the pier, they were still wet, but he was rooting around in his pockets for something. She stepped closer to him catching him off guard as he span round to face her.

"Wow!" he shouted, "How did you-"

"Spy" he grinned

"I wanted to do this properly but I can't wait..."

"Vaughn what?"

"I was going to give this to you in Santa Barbara, but you-uh" he said twirling a ring in his fingers, his voice was laden with emotion recalling the night he died; the night Sydney disappeared. He led her to the bed, sitting her down as he knelt infront of her.

"Vaughn" she said in the same frightened tone as in Hong Kong when she saw the small band of gold on his finger. He sighed rubbing his hand down his face.

"In Santa Barbara, I was going ask you, I was going to tell you I loved you and that, uh...that even though I knew it wasn't the time... I would propose- not then, but in the future, it was kind of a promise ring that... I would always love you and that I would do everything in my power so could spend the rest of our lives together- uh if you wanted to... I mean I was pretty sure you loved me too, but I never, we never... I was going to tell you there was nothing I wouldn't do for you, but I came for you and you weren't there anymore. You had gone. You were dead. I-I oh Syd, you left me alone, I was so alone; you were all I had, all I wanted to have. You were my soul, my very essence, my everything. I never got to give you the ring I so carefully chose for you, I never got to tell you I loved you, I never got to ask you to be my wife. This is a promise" he whispered holding up the ring shakily, "that I will never hurt you again, that I have always loved you, that I will never lose faith, that I'll propose to you, that we'll grow old together, that however much we argue, you'll always be right. That I'll always be your guardian angel." She didn't say anything. She just cried, her tears mingling with her smile effortlessly. She didn't need to tell him that yes she would be his wife, that she forgave him, that she loved him unconditionally and that he would always be her guardian angel. The kissed softly allowing tears to vanish in between them.

While in some ways he would always be her tormentor, her torturer, his weapon would only be his devotion to her and his undying passion, pushing her to the edge of her sanity with contentment and delight she would never think obtainable. Promises would be fulfilled, and like them, their love would prove to be indestructible. No matter what they would say, he would always be her guardian angel and whatever they did- whatever happened, inevitably, he would always be hers...

fin

Thankyou to Jenny, Grouchy, Saorla, Neptunestar, KMB, Shelz, Agent Flamingo,Olivia, Kniki, Angels Touch, Emmy d, Kiki and Sark all the way and for their reviews, a big cheers to anyone who clicks the little button later! thanks dudes!!!- dani xxx