A/N: Sorry about the long wait. I keep getting stuck on this fic. Anyway, a huge, huge, huge thanks goes out to Sandpiper. Without your continuing help and patience this story would not have come this far. Thanks! 

Written in Blood Part Six ~ Background of the Morgue

Hello there, the angel from my nightmare
The shadow in the background of the morgue
The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley
We can live like Jack and Sally if we want
~ Blink-182~ "I Miss You"

Vaughn POV

"Where do you need me to be?" Sydney asked Kendall, wasting no time as we burst through the ops center doors.

"Nice to finally see you here, Miss Bristow. Mr. Vaughn. Nantes, to answer your question. We've received intel of a computer program recently developed by a Claude Verre, a software designer for a major computer corporation, 'La Informatique.' This program is designed to act as a computer virus once sent to any computer or security system. What makes it remarkable is what it does right before eating away and discarding all files on the computer. It makes a copy of them and transmits them back to the source of the virus."

"So, if SD-6 were to acquire it, any and all information they wanted from any computer would be erased from that computer and given to SD-6," Sydney clarified.

"Exactly. And this virus is strong enough to work on even the most secure systems in the world. The White House, the Pentagon, here... I don't think I need to explain how vital it is that the program does not fall into the hands of SD-6 or any other enemy organization."

"So what do I have to do?" Sydney asked.

"We have reason to believe that Sloane has already received word about the program and will be sending an agent- you- to negotiate for it later tonight. You simply wait for him to call and assign you the mission. You'll be meeting Verre and taking him into custody. There will be a team there to pick him up. Afterwards, you'll be destroying the program."

"Seems easy enough," Sydney decided.

"Yes, it should be. There's no additional op-tech. You'll be destroying the program in a 'taste of their own medicine' fashion. Allow the program to destroy itself and transmit itself to us. Mr. Vaughn, you'll be assisting. You'll fly up on a separate flight and be booked into a room within the same vicinity as Agent Bristow's. We'll meet with more details after Sloane assigns Agent Bristow the op. Questions?"

We shook our heads, eager to leave as soon as humanly possible.

"Alright. Well in that case, you're dismissed, Agent Bristow. Agent Vaughn, they want to see you in Medical for your blood test in fifteen minutes."

Sydney's eyes snapped onto me as Kendall walked away. I matched my gaze to hers. We both knew what this meant.

Gently, she placed a hand on my wrist and gestured to a small, hidden alcove in the corner of the room. I followed silently and she shut the door behind us. "What do we do?" she asked as soon as our voices were blocked from the rest of the world.

"I don't know. We weren't expecting this today."

"Okay, okay.... The first round of testing is just to find blood type B-Positive. They can't determine anything definite from that and finding a way for you to avoid the testing in any way would be extremely suspicious right now. I'm sure with all the office gossip about us, you've already crossed their mind as a possibility," Sydney reasoned.

"So you think I should just go through with this one and we'll figure it out from there?"

There was a pause as she looked down, let out a small sigh, and thought a moment longer. It seemed obvious to me, though I wouldn't let her know this, that she was not sure she was thinking the right thing at all. "Yes," she answered anyway.

"Ok."

There was a buzzing silence that followed. I infected it quickly. "I should head down to Medical. I'll... see you later, I guess."

I turned and placed my hand on the door, about to leave, when I felt her fingers graze the back of my free hand. "Vaughn-"

I turned back around at her whisper, and stared for a moment as the buzzing silence grew louder again, almost deafening. Finally, in perfect synchronism, we leaned in. The kiss was fast, but soft and encouraging. I smiled weakly at her then opened the door, checked for passerbys, and walked quickly into the hallway. Sydney followed moments later and walked in the opposite direction, but I could feel her look over her shoulder at me as I took each slow, careful step towards the medical center.

***

The blood test didn't take long at all once I was finally called in from the waiting room. I hadn't been thinking straight when Sydney and I had first read about the blood tests. I hadn't comprehended what it meant to test every male agent in the LA CIA branch.

Male agents of every age and appearance sat anxiously in the cushioned seats and couches. Some stood, glancing at their watches every so often.

But every set of eyes shot in my direction as I entered the room. Awkwardness hung in the air. I cleared my throat and leaned against the wall. Most of the eyes strayed away then, casually looking back at their shoes or the clock.

They all were thinking the same thing. They all wanted to admit it. But I would not give them the incentive to. I couldn't afford to let them believe that I acknowledged their suspicions.

"Vaughn, Michael C.?" an aged, female doctor stepped into the waiting room and called out, looking down at a clipboard as her wiry, graying brown hair danced in front of her eyes. 

Slowly, as unbothered as I could force myself to look, I pushed myself off the wall and followed the doctor into a small room that smelled of disinfectant. Allowing no time for politeness or  chatting, she grabbed my wrist with a strength that seemed unusual for her frail form, doctor's trained hands I suppose, and began swabbing the inside of my arm with a cotton ball.

The needle was in a moment later. I looked away as my blood, the very drops of B-Positive blood that had the power to decode ancient fate predicting documents, into the serum. I've never been particularly fond of needles.

Handing the filled vial to a nurse that had been standing in the corner of the room, she snapped her rubber gloves on more tightly and said, "Alright, Mr. Vaughn. We're done. Thank you."

She skillfully slapped a band-aid over the tiny puncture mark, made a mark on her clipboard, and exited back out into the waiting room. "Vebins, Kenneth R.?"

I pulled my sleeve back down over my arm and left the waiting room the same way I had come in, feeling 15 pairs of eyes watching me until I'd shut the door behind me.

***

It all happened relatively quickly. Sydney called several hours later to inform me that Sloane had, as predicted, assigned her the mission. One hour after that, I was contacted by Kendall. Medical wanted me again. I hadn't been expecting the results quite that soon, but I'd apparently underestimated the CIA.

Sydney and I formulated a plan rapidly. It wouldn't be too difficult, but it would be illegal and possibly a bit ill-advised. It was, however, all we could do.

When I returned to Medical at 4:00, just two hours before Sydney's plane left and four hours before mine, the group in the waiting room was considerably smaller. No one seemed surprised to see me return. Not even Dr. Leman, as I had learned her name was.

This blood test took more out of me and lasted about two moments longer. They instructed everyone to whom it was administered to take a pill and lie down on a cot for ten minutes before leaving. Just a precaution, they said.

I lie there and felt the nervousness begin to sink in as I thought back to Sydney telling me about the conversation she'd had with her father in the warehouse.

"Dad... I need a favor."

"What is it?"

"The prophecy we uncovered. Page 63.  They found those side notes describing the man in the prophecy's blood type and several other features of blood... and that he was associated with the woman on page 47."

"Yes, I know all this, Sydney."

"I saw the list of agents called into Medical today for the first round of testing. They tested all the men in our division of the CIA. All of the men except you. Why?"

"The CIA has reason to believe that the 'association' indicated is a romantic one. Even Kendall isn't cynical enough to believe I would carry out that detail."

"Dad... we know what the prophecy says. We revealed the words and the picture. We know who it's about."

"What? They found the matching blood already? Why wasn't I informed?"

"No, Dad... the CIA didn't find the man yet. We did. By 'we' I mean... Vaughn and I. Vaughn is the man in the prophecy."

"Sydney..."

"Please, Dad, I don't need a lecture on protocol or the danger we could be getting ourselves into. That's not important right now. We just need your help."

"What is it that you need me to do?"

"They're looking for a man with B-Positive blood. You're B-Positive. You're the only agent not being tested and one of the only ones with enough clearance to be allowed into the blood fridge at the lab."

"Sydney. What does the prophecy say?"

"Nothing worth believing. Dad, you've never brought into this whole Rambaldi affair. But the CIA and the DSR... they think differently. If Vaughn is discovered, they'll take him into custody like they did me. And they won't be so careless as to let him get away like I did. And if they find out we've hidden it from them... Dad, please do this for me. I can't lose him."

"...Alright. I'll take care of it."

"Thank you."

Assuming everything had gone as we'd intended it, Jack was carrying out the plan right now. I decided not to worry about it.

The testing was beginning to have an effect on me. Forcing myself to relax as my mind grew dizzy and distant, I sank into the cot and fell into a slightly fitful sleep. I didn't wake up again until Dr. Leman entered and told me I had to get ready for my flight.

Just moments before she'd shaken me forcedly awake, a familiar dream had begun. Had I not been pulled back to reality in time, I would have allowed Sydney to tumble over the edge of a boat, sinking into the murky depths of ocean below. Blood from a cut on my hand stained her face as she looked up at me from the railing with helpless, pleading eyes....

TBC...

A/N: Thanks again, Sandpiper! And thank you to the people still sticking with this story, even with the immensely slow updates. But please believe me when I tell you that I have the next two chapters planned out so they should come more quickly. :-)

Oh and please review! This fic had nine pages before the crash, the closest I've come to a second thread since "Strike a Match" two years ago (wow, has it been that long? Meeeeemoriiiiieeees! Hehe) and now it's bumped back to 8. ::sniffle:: hehe. Love you guys!

~Dani