Title: If Only Once More

Arthur: Secret Agent Girl (SAG)

Rating: Hard PG-13 (mainly because I don't feel it's R but a touch more than PG-13)

'Ship: S/V

Spoilers: Everything is up to Countdown is fair game.

A/N: How much do I love three day weekends? I love them so very, very much!! O and I love Sting to because he is currently my updating buddy. Sorry this took so long, I know you all want to know what he saw… so that's why this chapter is something I have yet to do with this fic, have both Sydney and Vaughn in it… and not just in the flashbacks (though we can't leave those out… it's like, what I do) Hope you all enjoy!! Please R/R!



Ch. 7


        She knew something was coming. She could feel it all around her. The silence that usually blanketed the cold room she sat in, causing her breath to be shallow and her mind to be foggy was destroyed by the jumbled noises protruding into her already pounding head. The pain from her last 'conversation' with Sark was still explosive and she fought to keep her eyes open, her mind alert as the crashing sounds drew nearer.

        Though her mind and body had been battered for almost a full week, though time had lost all meaning to her for she never knew if it was day or night, noon or 4 in the morning, she could still pick out particular sounds. The sounds that agents are trained to listen for, footsteps, ammo being loaded into a magazine, gun shots, and she struggled through her exhaustion to hear the sounds around her, hoping to focus only on the ones that would hopefully set her free.

        Her eyes began to droop as she struggled to stay coherent. Her eyes fluttered shut, only to snap back open when she heard a sound near the end of the hallway, a sound that sounded remarkably like a gun shot and M1911 if she remembered correctly. She couldn't hold on any longer as she heard the sounds drift ever so closely and just as the sounds reached right outside her door, her world went black.



         The door swung open and his heart dropped. He was finally laying his eyes upon her and he couldn't move. She sat, chained to a chair, blood dripping, crusted over, marring her once perfectly satin skin. Her hair, once soft and shiny, hung limply around her face. Tears pooled in his eyes as he gazed at her face, her eyes shut, cuts and burns swollen on her cheeks as she sat, her head hanging.

         He fought to catch his breath as he looked at her. Images of bright red wigs and swollen jaws filtered through his head, conversations about other incidents. Other injuries, the medical reports stacked neatly in his office, a different folder for each mission. He felt the tears start to slowly slide down his cheeks as he stood there, feet glued to the spot.'



        She limped slowly into the apartment and shut the door behind her softly, praying that Will and Francie were already in bed. She sighed as she leaned against the door. Her ankle burned as she applied pressure again, slowly making her way deeper into the apartment.

         She placed her purse and keys on the counter and shrugged off her jacket, careful of the cut right below her left shoulder blade. She winced as she pulled her arm from the sleeve, pulling the cut the wrong way.

         His eyes blinked over as he heard her enter. Wanting to take a moment to wake up fully, he slowly rubbed his eyes as he woke. Listening carefully, he became worried as he heard her tired sighs and when he heard her wince, he stood up, vacating his comfortable spot on her couch, and made his way over to her.

         "Sydney?"

         "Vaughn." She sighed as she turned to him, carefully hiding her left shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

         "I wanted to be here when you got back. Will and I were hanging out watching the game earlier, what's wrong?" He pushed through his answer, quickly trying to get to the reason behind the wince.

        "Nothing's wrong. I'm a little tired but that's about it." She lied as she turned her left side away from him more, reflexively.

        "Really? Then let me see your left shoulder."

        "What? Vaughn, I'm fine… really." She tried to side step him as he walked towards her, but he caught her left arm in his hand and pulled back, causing her to wince out again in pain.

         He turned her away from him and lifted her shirt up so that he could see the deep gash lying under her shoulder blade. "Damn it Sydney, what happened."

        "Just this guard… I'm fine Vaughn."

        "You're not fine. Come here." He pulled her into the bathroom and took out the first aid kit and began to dress her wound. She winced as he put antiseptic cream across it. "Sorry."

        "No, just cold." She shuddered as his warm hands ran over her back, applying the soft gauze.

        "You've gotta be more careful out there Syd."

        "I know."

        "Any other injuries?" He felt her hesitate. "If this is going to work, you're going to need to trust me here Syd."

        She sighed in defeat. "My right ankle. I think I twisted it or something. There should be an ace bandage in the med kit."

         He bent down in front of her as she sat on the closed toilet seat and slipped the shoe from her foot, gasping at the swollen joint. "Syd..."

        "I'm going to be ok, Vaughn." She reassured him as she ran her hand through his hair.

        "I hate seeing you this way."

        "I know." She cupped his cheek softly. "I know."

        He stood up and kissed her softly, threading her hair through his fingers. "Promise me you'll be more careful." He rasped out as they broke apart.

         "I promise." She whispered before guiding him back to her.



        His breath returned as he watched her head twitch and suddenly his feet were freed from their place on the cold concrete and he flew to her side, kneeling down in front of her.

        "Syd? Sydney?" He whispered softly as he cupped her cheeks, pushing her hair out of her face.

        "Vaughn?" She rasped out, her eyes still shut tight. Please don't let this be a dream. Please.

        "Yeah, Syd, it's me. Oh, Sydney." The tears came faster as he stood up a bit and placed a feather soft kiss against her forehead.

        She felt his cool lips against her head, soothing her and she knew that it was him. No one had ever touched her the way that he did, the gentleness and compassion that he saved only for her. Tears pooled in her eyes as she slipped her heavy lids open and came face to face with the pair of dazzling green eyes, that she thought she would never see again, even brighter as the tears swelled around them. "Vaughn." She whispered as the tears in her eyes slowly cascaded down her cheeks, stinging as they came in contact with the burns plaguing her face.

        "Oh, Syd. What did he do to you?" He whispered, taking in every burn that covered her body. "That sick son of a bitch." He growled as he lost count.

        "Michael… Michael, I want to go home." She cried softly.

        "Oh, sweetheart, we're going." He quickly moved behind her and began to work on her hand cuffs, pulling the lock pick from his pocket and making quick work of the steel cuffs around her wrists and feet.

        Her entire body relaxed as she was freed from the handcuffs and she sagged against the chair. Vaughn rushed to her left side and put her arm around his shoulder holding it in one of his hands while he placed the other one around her waist.

        "Ok, on three we're going to stand."

        "Wait." She quickly stopped him pulling her arm from his shoulder and pulling his face towards her. "Vaughn… I need to tell you something."

        "It's ok Syd… whatever it is… it can wait." He responded, trying to force her up again but she wouldn't budge.

        "NO! No it can't. It cannot wait any more. Vaughn, Michael I love you."

        His breath caught in his throat as he gazed into her eyes and he softly took her face in his hands, careful of the burns marring her cheeks, and brought her lips down to meet hers, kissing her with a hunger she had never felt before. Pulling away, he smiled up at her.

        "Sydney I love you so much. I can't even tell you how much I love you, because there are no words to describe it." She smiled as she sniffled slightly, tears pouring down her cheeks. "Come on, let's get you out of here. We don't have much time."

        "No, you really don't." Came a voice from the doorway.

        Sydney and Vaughn turned towards the door to see Sark standing there, a gun trained on the both of them. "In fact… you don't have any time left."