A/N: Sorry about my lack of updating. I have things going on that take away from my time writing and you're not the only one who's pissed about it. Working as hard and as fast as I can without giving y'all crappy chapters. It's going to be very interesting when school actually starts. :shrug: I'll just do my writing during classes when I'm supposed to be paying attention. What can they be teaching that's important? Anyone? I didn't think so. And I got the screwy end of the stick when the servers crashed and I couldn't get into document manager for all of yesterday and all day today until now!

Also, let me know if you think that I rushed this chapter. You'll see what I mean.

She considered running. Running from the gym, past all her students, past the staring eyes, past everything and disappearing again. But for some reason, her body refused to move. Her mind kept telling it to move and it kept telling her mind that she needed him. Needless to say, it was confusing.

Vaughn was by her side in a heartbeat and instantly he reached out for her. His warm hand on her arm snapped her back to reality and she spoke. "No." Her voice was barely above a whisper but he heard it.

"No?" He repeated, staring at her.

"Paige, who is this?" Remy asked, looking from Sydney to Vaughn and back to Sydney.

"Someone I knew a long time ago." Sydney answered. She put on a smile for her friend and added, "Excuse us." She grabbed Vaughn's arm and dragged him through one of the doors in the gym and outside, away from all the curious pairs of eyes. Outside, they were alone. And instantly, she regretted the decision. Things happen when a man and a woman are alone. "What the hell are you doing here?" She asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," He answered.

"I'm doing my job and chaperoning the school dance." Sydney answered. He took a step towards her and she took a step back. Distance, we need distance. If we're too close, I won't be able to stop what will happen.

He was disappointed that she stepped back but didn't make the move to step towards her again. "Syd..."

She interrupted him, "Paige. My name's Paige."

"Sydney..."

"Paige," She almost yelled at him. "Don't call me Sydney. I'm not Sydney."

"You seem like Sydney to me."

"Appearances can be deceiving." She answered.

"So I've heard." He replied.

She knew what he meant, she had written that line in the note that she had left him, "appearances can be deceiving." "What do you want from me?" She asked in a hoarse whisper.

"I want you to come home. I want you to say that you love me and made a mistake by running. I want you to come back to me and promise that you'll never leave again. I want you, Sydney. "

"No," She answered. He watched her closely, convinced that she was lying. One thing she wasn't good at was lying to him and he could clearly see that she was lying. "Did you read the files I told you to?" Changing the subject in a not so subtle way.

"Yes."

"All of them?" She persisted.

"Yes, all of them." He answered, "Wait, is that why you left? Because of something your father did to you almost twenty-five years ago?" She nodded weakly and he swore under his breath, "Jesus, Syd, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you talk to me? I would've helped."

"And I would have ended up hurting you." She countered.

"You hurt me by leaving, Sydney."

She didn't bother to correct him. It wasn't like she was going to be Paige much longer anyway. Not now that she had been found. I'm going to have to leave Colorado and the entire teaching profession after this. "They would have killed you."

"Who's 'they'?" He asked.

"The people that my father turned my life over to. They killed Danny, not because he knew about SD-6 but because they wanted to cause me pain and see what I did. They wanted me to suffer."

"Do you know that for a fact or did you just make that up?" He asked, seriously.

She stared at him, "You think that I made up the reason why my fiancé died?"

"What do you want me to think, Syd? You're not making any sense."

"I am not going to be the reason that another man I loved dies," She said firmly.

He didn't say anything, instead he closed the distance between them. His hands went to her face, cupping it and his thumbs gently brushing away her tears. "Do you love me?" She didn't answer. "Sydney, do you love me?" He persisted.

"I can't," She whispered. She pushed off his hands and took several steps back. The cool night breeze chilled her tear streaked face and she shivered unconsciously. She turned to walk away when he yelled out.

"Sydney! Wait!" She stopped, turning her ear slightly towards him, telling him that she was listening. "Do you want to go to dinner?"

She spun around on her heel and stared him in the eye, "What did you just say?"

"Would you like to go to dinner?" He repeated.

"Are you insane?"

"Quite possibly."

"We haven't seen each other in three years and within the first ten minutes you ask me to dinner?" She asked, though the question could have been mistaken for a statement.

He nodded, "Just one dinner. And we're both dressed for it anyway."

She looked down at her outfit and then at his. He was still wearing his work suit from that morning, minus the tie and with the top couple buttons undone. Slowly her eyes made their way back up to his face and she nodded, "Alright, one dinner."

()

"You look beautiful," Vaughn commented after the waiter had seated them. With a quick explanation to Weiss and an apology to Remy for leaving her alone with the kids, the couple took off in Sydney's car to the nearest restaurant that wasn't fast food. They ended up at a Macaroni Grill.

Sydney glared at him across the table. "Don't," She warned. To emphasize her point that she wasn't in the mood for complements, she picked up her menu and started to study it intensely.

He didn't get her warning or he did and chose to ignore it. "Syd," He said, gently, reaching across the table to lower the menu from her hands, "I love that outfit on you."

"Vaughn...Michael...please don't." She whispered, raising the menu again.

"Can we at least have a conversation without your menu in the way?" He asked.

She half smiled and lowered the menu from her face, again. "What do you want to talk about?"

"How about what you've been doing these past three years."

"Vaughn," She said, with a warning tone.

He gave up on that topic as well, "Okay, how about, do you like your new hair?"

She twisted strand of her hand around her finger, thinking about it, "Yeah, I guess. Though I miss being a brunette sometimes."

"If you came back to L.A. you could be a brunette again." He answered, suggestively.

"Vaughn," She warned again. One thing you can't say he isn't is persistent. He's got to be the most persistent man on the face of the Earth. Which, if I didn't love him, would be very annoying. Wait, did I say 'love him'? I don't love him. Not anymore at least. Or do I?

"Okay, okay, we'll drop that as well. Are you dating anyone?"

Her head came up sharply. She definitely wasn't expecting that question, but a guy's gotta know. Slowly she shook her head, no, "No, I'm not and in answer to your next question, I'm not married either."

Damn, this woman can read my mind or she just knows me too well, "Okay."

"What about you? Are you seeing anybody?"

He shook his head, "Nope, and I didn't get married either, if that's what you're thinking."

"I wasn't." She answered. "So, how's Donovan?"

He wanted to laugh. Only Sydney would bring up his dog at dinner. "He's doing okay, though it was hard to explain to him why his favorite girlfriend of mine wasn't coming back."

"Vaughn," She warned, again. Three times in one night, that's got to be like a record or something. I'm not sure what kind of record but it's definitely got to be one.

"Sorry Syd but I can't leave it alone." He lowered his voice before adding, "It's all I can do to stay sitting here and not reach across the table and kiss you senseless right here in the middle of the restaurant."

"Please don't." She answered, half as a joke and half as a request.

"You never answered my question." He said, accepting her request and leaning back in his chair a little.

She took a sip of water before answering, "Which one?"

He wanted to say "Do you love me?" but didn't. He knew what she would say. The same thing that she had before. What was it again, oh yeah, 'I can't.' What the hell does that mean, Syd? Does it mean that you do love me and you don't think you can? Or does it mean that you don't know the answer to my question so you say 'I can't.' instead of 'I don't know.' Instead he said, "Why didn't you talk to me about what you had found? You know I would have listened and done everything I could to help you."

She hung her head in shame for a second before looking up at him, "I don't know, okay? I don't know why I didn't tell you. I just snapped when I read those files and talking didn't seem like a valid option."

"And running did?" He asked.

"No, not really but it was all I could think of that didn't include the barrel of a gun and no, I wasn't going to kill myself. More like kill my father and those bastards."

He let out the breath he had taken in when she said, 'the barrel of a gun'. The thought that Sydney might have at one time considering killing herself scared him. But no, she said that she would have killed her father. Not that I would object to Jack Bristow no longer hovering behind me ready to shoot me. "Why won't you come back?"

To his amazement, she answered, "Because they could find me and they might hurt you. I couldn't live with myself if you died because of me. I love you too much."

She loves me. She said it. She loves me. Sydney Bristow loves me. Though his mind was racing, Vaughn managed to keep a straight face, "You know, I think Jack is more likely to kill me than who ever it is you're afraid of."

Sydney smiled at his joke, but the smiled suddenly disappeared at the thought of her father, "You didn't tell him, did you? My dad, please tell me that you didn't tell him."

"I didn't." He answered, calming her fears. "Truth is I was so anxious to come out here to find you that I forgot to tell him."

She smiled at him, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, thank my forgetful memory."

Again to his amazement, she laughed. Actually laughed. Sydney Bristow actually laughing at something he said. "You know, I'm not really hungry." She said, "Do you want to go somewhere else?" What the hell are you doing? Remember why you left him? Remember the whole not hurting him thing? Oh screw it, I'm going with what my heart and body say tonight and I'll deal with the rest of me tomorrow.

He smiled, and nodded, "Sure." He pulled out his wallet, leaving a ten on the table for the waiter and then pocketed the wallet again. He stood up and offered his hand to help her up as well. She took it and they walked out of the restaurant hand in hand.

They had gotten about twenty steps away from the restaurant before a voice that neither one of them thought they would ever hear again said, "Why hello Sydney, it's good to see you again and so well." Both felt a sharp sting in either the neck or arm respectively and then the world went black.

A/N: Haha! Cliffy, again! I am evil and I am proud!

Fair Cate- Yeah, when I was writing that part, I had Almost Thirty Years on the in the background and it was at the part where Sydney's running down the hall and Vaughn's just standing there like a dope watching her. But that's okay, he was a cute dope. And I was like, that perfectly describes how Sydney was feeling in my story.

Rach5- Now you have to wonder who the interesting voice is. And I'm curious, but how is it different from everybody else's? That interests me and now I can't stop thinking about how it's different.

cg's-gal-72689- I'm impatient too and I try to update as fast as I can. At least I'm not updating every three weeks or so. I think someone would lead a coup against me if I did that.

Valoriahn- hehe, I like ending things on cliffhangers, like with this chapter. Very cliffhangery. Is cliffhangery a word? ::shurg:: ah well, now it is. :)

Heidi- Yeah, I can't believe that it took me five chapters just to have them meet. It was killing me but I wanted to drag it out as long as I could, which apparently isn't very long. hehe

Erin- Now, I bet that you think this cliffhanger is even more evil. Cappucino is good too, along with mochas. lots and lots of mochas. I haven't had a mocha in a very long time and I'm all like normal. It's very scary. hehe that ryhmed, very and scary. hehe, i'm done now.

dani11e87- First off, thanks for all the reviews. second, you werent the only one to think that Vaughn was Lea's dad. Trust me, you weren't. third, I meant like you can google the CIA and look up where their offices are, true story, actually did it once. fourth, yeah, you gotta read the author's notes at the beginning of the story cause I did say that it was right after season two with the last five minutes of the third season in it. i know, very confusing. fifth, you're gonna love the finale whenever you see it. I did and that's a lot for me, considering i was yelling at the TV screen last year. I have trouble accepting that the telling and anything after it every happened. i think that's all for now. thanks for the reviews, again.

Agent Flamingo- There might some Syd on the run soon, hard to say and yes that is a spoiler that i just gave you. I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut. i have a really big mouth. ::whistles:: Yay! Cliffhangers are always nice. I love to write them

Ren201- Yeah, in a weird way, "we need to see them meet again" did make sense. a lot of sense, actually, and yay! you quoted my story, that's cool because people don't usually do that. I like that line too.

spykid18- Thanks, I pretty sure that I've read your stories and liked them. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was you.

TheUptownGirl- Bet you're just gonna love me after this last cliffhanger. and most of my chapters are cliffhangers, it keeps people reading.

wicked-sista- hehe, and this one that I just you with is probably more evil and I'm so proud of myself for being evil. It's a good quality.

rainluver- I love your name by the way. Totally cool cause I love the rain. I seriously go out in the rain just because I like it. Once it was raining and me and my mom were walking through the parking at a Target or something and it started lightning, and my mom was freaking out. So, just being the evil person that I am, I went up to one of those big street light things and hugged it, saying, "oh big metal pole, you're my new best friend" needless to say, my mom wanted to kill me because of that.

Charmed-angel4- Whoo! So we both have crappy memories. We should start a club about that. The Crappy Memory Club. Okay, so that title sucks, you think of something.

assethandler- What does that mean? It's solid. Does that mean that it's believable or that I've just really made the plot and setting and characters real? I'm so confused and I don't like to be confused and sorry if I sound mean. Not meaning to.