Haley: Don't worry.there's gonna be a guy in Sydney's life that makes things really really difficult but don't count on Vaughn being overly jealous. He's still annoyed about Lauren and that situation is only gonna get worse!

Alias4ever: how much did you love last nite's episode? I was really on the fence about it for most of it but when he was getting jealous about Sydney and Will and then when he kissed her! OMG! I loved Katya but I wish Sydney had a chance to meet her!!

kay10197: Thank you!! I'm glad you like it so far! Hope this chapter is to your liking!!

She woke pretty much the same everyday, today being no different. Her brown eyes would shoot open after a long night of tormented dreams of him - of them together they way they were. He was sweet in all ways you could think of and more. Sometimes barely uttering words and other times, saying all the right things. But these past three weeks, the dreams had grown worse and now they prevented her from a decent night's sleep. She had felt his touch after so long of not feeling it. She smelled his cologne and was intoxicated by him. Sydney was in love with Vaughn all over again, and hated every minute of it. She hated that he had such control over her. She was a fiery woman and hated that anyone had control over her, least of all Vaughn. His eyes captivated her and his voice made her freeze. A movement towards her could stop her heart from pounding all together. But when her dewy brown eyes shot open and her chest started to heave from lack of air, the tears came. Her eyes were flooded with tears and the first fifteen minutes of her waking time were spent with her in near hysterics.

And that's how she woke up today. The clear tears were running fluid down her face and caused her to ache so badly as they stung her eyes and wet her cheeks. She couldn't help but understand why this was all happening. Her very core hurt with each breath and she almost wished something horrible on Lauren so that she and Vaughn could be together. Why was fate this cruel to her? Hadn't she suffered enough? Rolling onto her back, she reached behind her and grabbed her pillow from beneath her head and covered it with her face. It quieted her sobs but it only made things worse.

In the darkness, she was surrounded by his image that haunted her. She saw his every feature and longed for his touch. It was in the darkness that she realized how much she loved him. And it was into the darkness that she realized she would never be his again.

With sudden energy, she pulled the pillow off of her face, feeling the ambush of cold air on her face. As she threw the pillow aside, she ripped the white sheets off her body with the other hand. Her body bolted towards the small, frail bathroom and she collapsed over the toilet, unintentionally purging her body of herself. But as her stomach contents emptied, the sobs started to wrack her body again. She couldn't keep living like this. This was hell.

"Sydney! Are you awake? I hope it's okay, I let myself in!" A familiar voice rang out into the apartment.

Sydney's brown and red eyes grew wide as saucers and her tears almost stopped on a dime. She lunged towards the bathroom door and locked it firmly. Feeling somewhere beyond frantic, she staggered towards the plain white counter top and found a small bottle, filled with liquid tears. Two drops went into each eye and slowly she pulled herself to her feet. She hoped the redness would go away.

"Sydney?" The voice rang again.

"Be out in a minute!" She replied as cheerful as possible. She stood in front of her mirror and critically examined herself. She was getting skinny; lack of food would do that to you. Her hair was gray; stress and being overly emotional would do that to you. She was ugly.

A stern knocking came at the door and he knew that she was there. They had started a routine too. "Syd, open the door. I know what you're doing. C'mon. I'll talk you down off of your ledge." Weiss' voice was smooth and understanding.

"I'm fine." She replied through the locked door rather unconvincingly.

"What was it this time?" He leaned against the door and waited.

"I'm fine, Weiss. Really." She replied again, leaning against the vanity for support. Her eyes studied the white sink and she realized how depressing her apartment was. Everything was black and white. It was cold. She was cold.

"Then you need to open up the door, Sydney. Besides," he paused, "I need to talk to you."

"About what?" She asked suspiciously, raising her head and looked towards the door.

"Open the door and I'll tell you." He relented.

Wrinkling her brow slightly, she walked calmly over to the door and unlocked it dramatically. Slowly, she opened the door and saw Weiss standing there in a perfectly pressed business suit with a concerned look cascading over his face. "What?" She crossed her arms over her chest, covered in a plum tank top. Her legs were positioned lazily against the doorstop.

"What are you doing, Sydney?"

"I'm fine, Weiss." She snapped and jumped to her feet. She started to busily hustle around her tiny bedroom, trying to pick out an outfit to wear for the day. "Some mornings are tough to get going, you know? Real life hasn't settled in yet."

"Sydney." He said softly, causing her to turn around and look him. "It's me. Stop pretending."

She opened her mouth to protest but decided against it. The emotions were crashing over her and she couldn't stop it. She was just so numb. "I can't do this anymore. I can't."

Weiss watched her crash with a pitied look. He walked over to her, filling the space between them and wrapped his arms around her. They collapsed down to the floor together and she just sobbed uncontrollably. The tears never seemed to stop but after a good ten minutes of solid tears, she managed to sniffle slightly and look at him, "I want everything to stop."

He ran his fingers through her sleep worn hair, "I know. It's tough."

She sniffled again and sat up a little bit, her lips slightly puckered, "I just hate this so much. I'm tired and emotional. I want to do so many things but I know I can't. I just don't know how I'm going to keep doing this everyday. I need something to change."

"I know." He replied again, keeping his answers short and soft.

"What are you doing here?"

Weiss smiled slightly, "Well missy, someone turned their phone and pager off last night."

"No I didn't." she jumped up to her feet and checked the black phone and pager sitting on her dresser. "Yes, I did." She admitted softly, placing them back down almost silently and starring down at them. "That's not like me." She glanced around the apartment, well aware that Weiss's eyes were still on her. "I haven't been myself lately." Silently she started to berate herself for being so careless. Her mind started to sift through hours of alone time and she tried to remember when she turned off her electronics. She was being foolish and careless again.

Weiss looked away from her as he rose to his feet. "Sydney, I hate to do this-" he sounded so remorseful.

"Yeah, you need to talk to me about something?" She looked towards him, snapping her head in his direction and forced her eyes open. She pushed all other thoughts away and focused on Weiss.

"Dixon needs to talk to about something. He's sending you on a mission with Vaughn."

Sydney just starred at him and sat back down on her bed, "Give me five minutes?" Weiss nodded, getting up to his feet and came over towards her. His body, somewhat larger than hers, sunk down deeper into the cheap mattress. His arm reached up and wrapped around her. "Just five minutes." She started to whimper and buried her head in his chest. "Five minutes."

She learned to make herself look attentive during these meetings. She focused on Dixon's words and ignored the glares from Lauren and the helpless looks she received from Vaughn. It was all in her mind. But there she sat, all the same. Her hands were neatly folded on the table, the docket in front of her. Vaughn's green eyes would bounce from Dixon, to Lauren, back to her and repeat all over again. But she ignored it all and she forced herself to make it look like she was paying attention.

"So, Sydney, I'm sending you and Vaughn to the port of Odessa in the Ukraine. It's going to take some time. I want you both to be prepared to stay there for up to two to three weeks. Lauren, I want you to start working with the new liaison to Langley, Jonathan Ross. He's new here and said that you two know each other. I want you to go over the research we've picked up on our informant, Gerald Lio. Any questions?" Dixon paused for a moment and scanned the room, waiting for some sort of response or objections. When he received none, he added, "Alright. Run op-tech with Marshall. Your plane leaves in an hour. That's all." He leaned against his desk and watched all of the agents, his friends, rise and slowly file out of the room.

"Michael, we need to talk." Lauren said softly as she started to gather her things.

"We have nothing to talk about, Lauren. You better go and meet with Ross. He's going to need your help getting to know how things work." He snapped briskly.

"Michael, wait." She answered firmly, reaching her hand out to stop him as he brushed past her.

He turned around and got in her face, "Lauren, I really can't talk to you right now. In all honesty, I'm so furious by this situation that I can't even look at you right now. You accused me of still loving Sydney and then the moment your ex-boyfriend rolls into town, you're sleeping with him? Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and run op-tech with Sydney." He turned on his heels and walked away from her, not caring at this point what her face looked like or what was going through her mind. He was mad and nothing was going to change that. He pushed past some agents and found his way to the Marshall's office. Silently, he filed in next to Sydney.

"Hey." She greeted softly, not wanting to look him in the eye.

"Hey." His attitude still barked.

"Is everything okay?" She asked, not really wanting to know.

"Fine. Everything is fine. Marshall, let's get this over with, shall we?"