A/N: Wow, totally didn't realize I never uploaded this chapter. So for those of you who remember this fic, enjoy! lol

Chapter Eight, aka The Much Awaited Reunion- "All I Want For Christmas"

I knock on the door and am glad that Christmas does not mean snow in LA, because she doesn't open it right away. "Vaughn? What are you doing here?"

"I… can I come in?"

She's confused, but nods and opens the door wider for me. "Yes… of course."

I step inside and smile at the instant sight of a brightly decorated, two-foot Christmas tree on the table by her couch. It's not large, but it's very Sydney.

Neither of us has found anything to say yet, and I notice she has music playing lightly from the stereo in the corner of the room.

Pretty lights on the tree

I'm watching 'em shine

You should be here with me

Baby please come home…

I smile, recognizing the tune instantly. "U2?"

She shrugs sheepishly. "Do any other Christmas songs exist?"

"You make a fantastic point."

She gives me a genuine smile, but the short-lived conversation dies again quickly and once again, I only hear the melody filling the silence.

They're singing deck the halls

But it's not like Christmas at all

I remember when you were here

And all the fun we had last year…

I think we both realize that the words hit slightly too close to home, because she becomes suddenly uncomfortable. "Um, let me go turn that off…."

If there was a way

I'd hold back these tears

But it's Christmas day

Baby please come home

Ohh...

Click. Bono is replaced by silence again. I think I had much preferred Bono.

After a moment, I remember the gift bag in my hand. "Oh, here… Merry Christmas."

Her eyes flash with immediate recognition. "What's that? Is that..."

"Is that what?" I ask innocently.

She shakes it off. "Nothing..."

"Open it." I push the present towards her. She takes the wrapped frame out of the bag and looks at it; awe fills her face, no it couldn't be...

"Vaughn, is this…?"

I smile. "But," she rips away the tissue to reveal the frame. "I thought this was destroyed."

"Fire doesn't destroy everything."

Sydney pits her hand on the frame and starts to softly cry; she has no words. "How..." Her mouth falls agape.

"Well, I was in this antique shop..."

Sydney bursts out weeping. I more towards her, and wrap her in my arms. She cries harder. "What were you doing an antique shop..."

I chuckle slightly into her hair, feeling the tears beginning to gather in my own eyes. "I don't know..."

"You had this, all this time?"

"I found it in the rubble..." I tell her, remembering Kate's words. "I thought you'd like to have it back."

"I do."

I pull away slowly to look at her. "Syd?"

"Vaughn."

"We need to talk."

She nods. "Yeah."

I take her hand gently and lead her to the couch. For a moment, we just sit in silence, unsure of how to begin. Taking a risk, I slowly wrap an arm around her shoulders. Much to my relief and satisfaction, it takes only a few seconds before she rests her head lightly on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry... I'm just sorry," she whispers.

"Me too... Syd, I am so sorry. For everything I put you through. I... God, I can't even put into words how sorry I am. I'm praying you'll forgive me... I understand if you can't, because I don't think I can ever even forgive myself..." Damnit, I promised myself I wouldn't be cliché.

"Stop, please. It's my fault too. I was the one that... died. When I screamed at you at the hospital, said I would have waited, I... I didn't know what I was saying. I was so distraught and confused, and there you were -- married, and I didn't understand how. You were mine just before, it seemed like hours before were going to go to Santa Barbara, and then you're married? I... wasn't thinking when I said those things to you; I wasn't thinking that you spent two years thinking I was dead; or what that might have possibly been like for you. All I knew was I loved you so much and you were married and I'd had two years stolen. I was thinking about me, not about you. And I do forgive you. And I hope you can forgive me, for saying waiting for you would have been a mistake. Because, it would've have been. It wouldn't be." She looks away from me, back to the frame again.

"Syd... I swear to you, you have nothing to apologize for. I forgave you for what you said before you'd even said it. I mean... you've been through so much, Sydney. And you have every right to say the things you said," I assure her, moving slightly closer. "But none of it matters now... She doesn't have to be between us anymore."

A tear escapes from Sydney's eye. "Vaughn, this is real right?"

I smile and can't restrain my index finger from sweeping across her cheek to erase the tearstain. "It's real," I answer softly.

"Because I can't deal with this being another dream, I can't wake up to the hellish reality of not having you."

My heart jumps at her choice of words, and for a moment, I swear she knows everything that happened. But that's impossible. "It's... it's not. At this point, Syd, you'd have me even if you did wake up in Hell."

Sydney smiles and wipes her eyes. "I doubt that."

"If only you knew..." I mutter.

"Knew what?"

I can't keep this from her forever, I know I can't. Not with the knowledge that she had gone through it too. But I don't feel ready yet. It's insane, even to me. "Nothing. Just that, I would go that far to be with you, Syd. I would, and nothing is going to disprove that again. I promise."

She lifts up her head and stares at me. "Nothing means something."

"No, Syd, it's..."

"It's what?"

"Ok, Syd, this is going to sound... insane... but I can't lie to you..."

"It couldn't be anything more insane than these past few months."

"Do you believe in God?" I blurt, not wanting to waste time.

Sydney takes a moment, "Yes. Do you?"

"I... I do now."

"Why?"

"Tonight... when I went out for a walk, I... I ended up at the train station."

"It burned down, right?"

"Yeah, yeah it did. But our seats were still there. And I just sat there, and I started to think. And while I was thinking, this thought struck my mind... that maybe... if I never existed... things would be better. And... then, she came."

This is it, the test. If this has really happened to her, it will all be clear now. I take a deep breath. "Kate."

Her eyes widen. "What did you try to do at the train station!" Sydney's voice oozes concern; she knows exactly who and what I am talking about

"Don't worry," I say quickly. "Not what you tried to do at the pier three years ago."

"Then why did she show up... And how do you know about that?"

"I didn't try to do it. That doesn't mean I didn't want to," I explain, looking hard at her, "And it didn't take long for me to realize you'd gone through it too. Kate didn't make it hard to figure out. God, Syd, how could you have even thought about that! Why didn't you come to me?"

"You were with Alice."

"Screw Alice! Sydney, you tried to kill yourself! Don't you realize I would have left Alice a hundred times if I thought it would have made you walk even a centimeter away from that rail!" I exclaim. The last thing I want to do is sound angry with her, but I have to make her understand. "Sydney, you are the most important person in the world to me. Never doubt that. And never think that I would even so much as hesitate to be there for you, no matter what, or who, else is happening in my life."

"Then why weren't you there for me in these past few months?"

I freeze. "I... I didn't think you wanted me to be... and... I know that's not an excuse. I should have known you wanted me there, I should have felt it like I used to, I should have been there for you and, you're right, I wasn't. And I'll never forgive myself for it. I was so worried about morals, and righteousness, and loyalty, that I couldn't make myself see that I was already defying all those things by leaving you alone when you needed me the most. I'm so sorry."

"Vaughn..."

I look at her and take her hand, hoping it's not too much, wanting her to say whatever it is that's on her mind.

Insisted of talking, Sydney moves closer to me. Before I realize what is happening, she leads in and kisses me.

All I can think is 'finally.' Finally, finally, finally... thank you Kate... thank you thank you thank you thank you...

Slowly, we separate, and she falls into my arms and I feel her trying to muffle her tears in my shoulder. "God, I've missed you, Syd. I'm so sorry."

"I've missed you too. Vaughn, I..." Sydney stops, then says it. "I love you. So much. Losing you felt like I lost... my soul. Really, after I learned the truth about my life, after you came into it I felt like I lost the ability to go on alone. I need you."I hug her closer. "I love you too, Syd. I'm sorry I've never told you. But I love you, so much... so much that I'm not even going to attempt to tell you with a clichéd speech, because it still won't work. When you died, I lost my soul too. You are my soul, my Soul Mate. I can't exist with out you; I can't believe I was ever so naive as to think I could even try."

"Vaughn..." Sydney closes her eyes and rests against me for a long while, not speaking.

As we separate slowly, recreating distance between us, a sudden thought strikes me and I chuckle. "So do you think angels can receive fruit baskets? We definitely owe her."

"I think she'd prefer a good bottle of wine." Sydney meekly smiles.

"Or a leather bound biography of John Adams," I mutter, mostly to myself.

"What...?"

"She has a bit of an obsession with our second president, and his relationship with his wife, for that matter."

"I love Abigail, although history seems to misunderstand her... she actually wasn't really a feminist at all, she was just devoted to John and demanded respect."

"Great, you and Kate can form a committee," I joke. Then I pause. Sydney should know the rest, shouldn't she? "There was another reason she's such a fan of theirs, you know."

"She liked the fact he made principled and unpopular decisions for the greater good, and Abigail usually thought up of half of them?"

I laugh, then stop as I look her straight in the eye, preparing myself for what I'm about to explain, what I have just accepted myself. "Kate explained something to me. John and Abigail were... well, they were Soul Mates. Real Soul Mates. Not the Hallmark card, conversation hearts portrayal..." I go on to explain the concept as Kate had told it to me, leaving off with, "...there's only one pair for every generation. When that pair dies, the next is born. One pair." I grasp her hands and stare into her eyes again, sure she understands what I am telling her without my saying it straight out

As her smile grows, I see that she does. "Really?" she says, a little giddily.

I grin at her reaction, glad she has believed it more easily than I had. "Really. We're Soul Mates, Syd. The real, true thing. We belong together more than any other two people on the planet, and from now until the day we die... as long as we're together... everything is right in the universe."

"Wow..." she mutters in a heavy sigh, "But… then... why did the past two years happen? Wouldn't He want order?"

"Apparently this is order," I explain ruefully. "Each pair of Soul Mates is blessed with divine happiness, but only after they endure possibly years of arduous obstacles. 'Everything must be at a balance.'"

"He really hated us, didn't he? Past history couldn't be enough. I mean, couldn't we just have fought over the car payments?"

I laugh. "Would have been nice, wouldn't it."

"Yes, it would."

"But then we wouldn't have gotten to reunite like this."

Sydney nods.

As if to further prove my words, I lean forward and kiss her again. "So..."

"So..." She smiles.

"So where do you want to go from here?" I ask carefully as I bring my hand to her face to lightly brush her cheek.

She lifts her hand to mine and entwines our fingers. "It doesn't matter. We'll be going there together."

I smile and kiss her again, slow and soft and wonderful. "Merry Christmas, Syd."

"Merry Christmas, Vaughn."

So, the past months have not been the finest of my life. Shit happened. People fought, people died… people came back from the dead. Sydney and I have both gone to hell and back, literally and figuratively. But now, her lips are on mine and we are Soul Mates and I love her and she loves me. As we always do and always will, we have found each other.

And with this knowledge, I realize something amazing and true and right there in front of me the whole time.

It is one hell of a wonderful life.

C'est Fini.

A/N: Well… this has been such a fun ride. Can't believe I finally finished. Lol. Who knows, maybe I'll write another for season four, or maybe I should write Kate's back-story. Though, I think Pennylane might be a better person for that job. :wink, wink:

So, thank you sooo much to all those who read both stories, or even just one of them. You guys have rocked the whole way. :-) And, a very very very very very special thank you to PENNY for allowing me to base the character of Kate off of her, and for all the help in writing the character and the help with the plots of both stories in general. YOU'RE AWESOME, HUN!

And, finally, I want to take a second to be cheesy and wish everyone a Happy Holiday and a wonderful New Year. :-D

Dani