A/N: I apologize a trillion billion times for how long this took me. Sorry!!!!!
And a huge, mondo thanks goes out to Sandpiper for the heaps of help she gave me. I so could never have finished without you, hun!

Written in Blood Part Five~ "Pen Becomes the Blade"

Whoa slow down I think I'm going too fast again.
Whoa writing my words with the vengeance of someone who wants to run away.
Replace the razor with my pen
The noose becomes my thoughts
My words the pills, swallow them down 
Swallow them down.~ "Creative Suicide"~ AFI

Vaughn POV

I could spend the next three weeks describing the bliss I felt when I woke up the next morning and found Sydney lying in my arms next to me.

I could probably spend the next month describing how quickly that happiness was replaced by frustration.

Damn phone.

"Mmph..." I grunted, turning to my nightstand to grab my phone, one arm still secure around Sydney's waist. "What?"

"Good morning to you too. Kendall wants you in here."

"Tell him I asked how it feels to want."

"That'll go over real well, I'm sure. Oh, he wants Sydney in too. Can you contact her?"

I glanced at her peacefully resting form beside me. "Uh-huh."

"Good.... Alright, seriously, Man. What's up?"

"I should something be up?" I asked flatly.

"You're usually up and about by 8:00 a.m. on work days."

I sighed. "Does the phrase 'pain killers' mean anything to you? I was brutally tortured incessantly for 5 hours. Be glad I'm 'up and about' at all. Unlike some people who don't move for three months after being shot once."

I had to admit, I was pretty proud of my partial lie.

"Alright, alright. Point taken," he gave in, chuckling, "Just get in here ASAP."

"Whatever, buddy."

"Bye." I hung up the phone.

Knowing that I had about an hour to get to the Ops center before Kendall had Weiss on my ass again but not wanted to accept the fact just yet, I fell back against the pillows.

"What time do they want us?" a quiet voice suddenly questioned into my ear. I turned my head to find Sydney staring at me, her eyes telling me that she wasn't all too excited about the answer. As though I needed her eyes to tell me that.

"'ASAP,'" I quoted Weiss, "And how long have you been awake?"

"Why, is there something you said that you wouldn't have wanted me to hear?" she countered slyly.

"Maybe," I grinned.

"Oh, really? In that case, I was up the whole time."

I wrinkled my forehead and put on an expression of mock worry. "Oh, no. Please accept my sincerest apologies. I swear I didn't mean any of it, especially not the part about all the girls I take home with me every other night. Please forgive me, Katie! I mean... Courtney... no... that's not right either...."

Sydney laughed and sat up, shaking her head. "Come on, Vaughn, we should get ready to go."

"Why?"

"Because we get paid to be hassled every waking moment, and we've committed ourselves to that."

"Come on, Syd. Five more minutes in which we don't have to think about torture and prophecies and the 16th century?"

Before she could answer, I leaned over and kissed her delicately, lingering for just a moment or two.

"Alright... five more minutes," she gave in, and I grinned victoriously. "Keep smiling at me like that and maybe we could squeeze in another two."

****

"Agent Vaughn, Agent Bristow, so glad you finally decided to arrive."

"There was an accident on I-47," I explained honestly.

"If I wanted a traffic report, Agent Vaughn, I would have asked for one. Now, let's get right to business," Kendall suggested, oblivious to the way Sydney's fingers were curling into a fist and probably drawing blood from her palm. I shot what I hoped was a calming glance at her and her the white in her knuckles seemed to fade just a little.

"I haven't had any success with the Rambaldi document yet, Kendall," Sydney lied instantly, telling him exactly what we had planned.

"I'd assumed as much, Agent Bristow. We've uncovered a new piece of information that may prove extremely helpful, however."

"What's that?" she asked, obviously wondering what 'new piece of information' would contribute to an answer we'd already found.

"One of our agents in the Philadelphia branch discovered another Rambaldi journal in Bangladesh. It contains only three manuscripts, but we believe they are all related to page 63 of the journal that you found. We were able to read the first two but we're so far unable to read the third."

"What did the first two say?" I asked slowly.

Kendall turned and picked up a manila folder from the desk behind him and handed it to Sydney. "It's all in there. You can go home and work on it. I'll be calling for any updates later. Have a good afternoon." He nodded at both of us then strode to the Tech Ops office to wreak havoc on someone else's life.

Sydney turned her head to look at me and I nodded, sure of what she was thinking. "Let's go," I told her quietly.

We returned to my apartment in silence, filling the stillness with emotions. Sydney glanced over her shoulder and peered at the rearview mirror every so often, whether out of actual nervousness or habit, I wasn't quite sure. So much was happening to us now, so many thoughts swarming in our minds, I wasn't even sure that either of us would notice if we were caught.

"So what does it say?" I asked Sydney as she immediately opened the folder and began reading upon entering the apartment.

She began reading aloud to me the notes CIA analysts had made and attached to the copies of the manuscript. "The first manuscript seems to be side notes and further details by Rambaldi about the man in the Page 63 Prophecy. It makes multiple references to the woman on page 47. Apparently, it reveals that this man is associated with the Prophecy Woman."

Her eyes traveled up from the paper and locked with mine, saying in their own language, 'This isn't looking good.'

I broke the unnerving gaze as well as the silence, forcing a calm tone as I asked, "What does the second one say?"

Quiet again, then the flipping of papers. "Only his blood can reveal the secrets," she read softly, eyes flickering, "And only his blood can conceal their truth."

"That's... it?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah..." Sydney shrugged, seeming as surprised as I was. "Except for this note at the bottom... analysts found markings sketched on the parchment. Deciphered, they told the blood type- B Positive-, antigen levels, and the red and white blood cell numbers of who the CIA assumes to be the man in the prophecy."

"Me," I stated obviously.

Sydney nodded, obviously wanting to say something else that obviously, I wouldn't want to hear. "According to this, it's imperative that they find this man. Since the person is said to be connected to... well... me, they figure the CIA is a good place to start," she paused, eyes darkened, "They're going to run blood tests to find the blood that can uncover the prophecy. First they'll administer one to all the men I've ever had contact with in the CIA to find their blood type. They'll narrow it down to all the B Positives, and from this group they'll continue with a series of tests until they find the person who matches all of Rambaldi's specifications."

My heart sank as I, too, realized what this meant. "If this prophecy is true, I'm going to be a match. We could sidestep them finding out that we've been lying, but either way they'd get the prophecy."

"I don't want to imagine what they'd do with you after finding out what it says," Sydney agreed with my implication. But she was fighting another point, one I was desperately attempting to ignore myself. It wasn't working.

The words battled with my emotions to climb up my throat, finally gaining victory in a hoarse murmur. "And if the prophecy is true...."

I realized then that the sentence did not need to be finished. The words that would have completed it hovered limply in the space between us, threatening to bite and sting, leave painful marks that time could not heal. We could feel the beginnings of it too, knowing that by simply doubting the falseness of the words, they had already begun to tug at the stitches of our hearts.

Sydney said nothing, just weaved her hand through the tangle of emotions between us and took mine in her own, entwining her fingers with mine, trying to force me to trust that she didn't believe. But I knew it couldn't be that simple.

If the prophecy is true... I'm going to murder you.