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. Heh. Season 2. Weird.
A/N: Man. Well, I felt like I needed to finish this. Wow. Blast from the past. Anyways, my style's probably changed, buuuuut I'm trying to tie up loose ends so hopefully I can still do this. There's one left after this (I've almost finished it so that's how I know). And this one is for my Molly. Who is my dearest heart and the one girl who understands the tortured writer that I am. Or you know, big freak. Either or. Italics are flashbacks.
Ch. 14
His reaction was immediate. His breath came in gasps as his eyes locked hers. He shook involuntarily as he stood slowly and backed towards the door slowly. Cracking open the door Vaughn managed to find his voice.
"Jaaack!"
Closing the door behind him, Vaughn made his way back to the bed, kneeling down next to her.
"I need you, I need you to just relax for a minute. You've been, um, you've been out for a while." He took a deep breath, trying to keep his tears away, forcing himself not to lose it in front of her. "We…we're back in LA. You, you have some pretty extensive injuries. A lot of, um, rehab is going to be needed but I'll um…"
His words were halted by the feel of her hand against his.
"Vaughn." Her voice was scratchy from nonuse.
Trying to pull himself together, he kept his eyes focused on the bed, letting his fingers glide across the ripples on the sheets.
"And Jack should be here any second with the doctor to tell us everything. You know, when we can leave. And we have a team working hard to find Sloane; making sure that-"
"Michael."
And that was when he shattered.
She walked in, immediately sliding off her jacket and shoes, dropping her back by the counter.
"Vaughn?" She clicked on a light.
A groan met her reply and she quickly dimmed the lights in the living room. "Sorry. Were you sleeping?"
"No. Just resting."
Pulling her hair out from the tight ponytail, Sydney moved towards the couch slowly. "Bad day?"
"Sorta." She reached the other side of the couch and sat next to him.
"Bad, how?"
He slowly turned towards her and she gasped softly. "Oh God, Vaughn. What happened?" Sitting up, she lightly trailed a finger along the black and blue gash running all around his eye.
"I had a slight…disagreement at work today."
"A disagreement?"
"Yeah, the guy I was getting video of in San Diego? Didn't want surveillance taken on him. Felt that I was…not welcomed on his property." He raised his hand, pointing a finger at his swollen eye. "His security guard showed me how he felt about intruders."
"Didn't you have back up?" She asked, walking to the kitchen and grabbing a bag of frozen peas.
"No. I was supposed to but someone pulled them off at the last moment."
"Who?" She sat back next to him, placing the bag over his eye slowly.
"The man who's supposed to be 'getting over' things."
"Man." She molded the bag to his eye. "Just relax. I'll talk to him. He's not taking this very well."
"No. He's not Sydney. What he is doing is trying to find ways to get me killed so he doesn't have to."
Rolling her eyes, she clicked on the TV, SportCenter immediately showing up. Leaning back, she fitting neatly against his shoulder. "Just watch the top 10 Michael."
Grinning, he pressed the peas against his eye, wrapping his arm around her. "Michael, huh?"
"Not the first time you've heard it."
He smirked, leaning down to whisper, "First time I've heard it without it being screamed."
"Michael, I'm okay."
Sitting up to look at her, Vaughn blinked back tears. "Syd, you just went catatonic because of everything. Excuse me if I'm a little-"
"I know." She cut in gently, cupping his cheek. "But…I could hear you. Wherever I was, I could hear everything you were saying to me. And you're right."
"I'm right?"
"You're the only thing in my life that makes sense. And I want to keep fighting. Right beside you."
She smiled at him softly as the doors burst open and a stream of people came through, pulling him away and spitting a myriad of questions at her.
He smiled softly as he backed out of the room, walking down the hall in search of something to drink.
"Mr. Vaughn." He turned back and made eye contact with the older man standing in her doorway.
"I'll call you when I know you can take her home."
"Thanks Jack."