Part Three: So I'll Settle For One Day

But I couldn't find a way
So I'll settle for one day
To believe in you
(Tell me, tell me, tell me lies)

"Syd, I'm sorry." She stared at him, expression blank.

"You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault the mission failed." Vaughn shook his head.

"No, not that." He paused, looking at her. Syd's face remained exasperatingly blank. Why was she closing herself to him now? Perhaps that's why he was apologizing. "I'm sorry about what I did to you."

"And what did you do to me?" Not only was her face blank, but her tone was neutral. She gave nothing away. She was protecting herself from him. Something he thought she would never have to do.

"I hurt you. I acted like a fool, a stupid fool, blind to what was going on around me. I reached out to you and then burned you. Tried to have my cake and eat it too I guess. And I'm apologizing." There, he had put it out there. Admitted what he did to her. Admitted it to himself. It hurt, but it felt like a cleansing hurt. He watched as a little emotion came back to her face. Unfortunately, it was anger. He realized, perhaps much too late, that maybe he hurt her more than he thought.

"Why are we talking about this now?" Her voice was sharp, and it seemed she didn't really know why he was bringing it up. Or maybe she didn't care. He crumpled his brow at her.

"We're not going anywhere for over twelve hours. What else are we going to do? Draw straws for the bed?"

Reflexively, Syd looked at the queen-sized bed. They were in a nice hotel, but got a budget room. There was no couch, no hide-away bed, just the regular bed, nightstands, the dresser, a table, and chairs. She realized that unless they could put away some of the awkwardness present between them, somebody would sleep on the floor.

She ran a tense hand through hair that wasn't hers, and sat up straight.

"Fine, but what the hell do you want me to say? Yeah, you hurt me, and it's great you're apologizing, but the situation still isn't resolved, and no one knows when it will be!" She looked at him, and finally let her emotions shape her face.

Vaughn watched Syd's anger, frustration, sadness, and longing present themselves to him. He sunk his head into his hands. He didn't know what to do. He felt trapped in an impossible situation. Forced to stay with a wife he now despised. Unable to move his life forward, and perhaps move it in the direction it was supposed to go - with the woman he really loved. He felt as if now he possessed some inkling of what Sydney had gone through. She too experienced having her free will ripped from her, much more than he ever had, and she still struggled with it.

"Remember Nice?" Her whisper cut across the agonizing silence between them like a razor.

His head sprung out of his hands, and he looked at her with surprise and confusion. He couldn't believe what she said, what she implied. But the look in her eyes told him that it was true. It was everything he thought it might be, and more.