Part V

"Hi," he said feebly. Will tried to stay as calm as possible but his heart felt like it was going to explode and overall he felt like he was going to be sick. After not seeing Sydney at all for two years, seeing her again was overwhelming.

"Will," she whispered. She stepped toward him and he stayed still. Frankly, if he moved he knew he would do something stupid. He would lose control. It was safer to let her take control.

"I know." He smiled sheepishly when she came closer and hugged him tightly. His eyes immediately slammed shut. Oh, how good it felt to hold her again. He missed her beyond words. Will finally opened his eyes and smiled. He was happy again for the first time since he left Los Angeles.

Sydney finally let go and ushered him deeper into the house. She knew the imminent danger he could be in and he did to, but he honestly didn't care. He fulfilled the purpose of his visit. If he died now, he'd be happy.

"Will! What are you doing here? Are you okay?" she asked concerned. He just smiled.

"I'm fine Syd. I just had to see you. I wanted to know if you were okay," he replied. She sighed heavily and sat next to him on the couch. He missed her warmth.

"There are so many things wrong with this right now," she muttered. "You shouldn't even be here. I don't know how you got out of Wisconsin without tipping the FBI."

"What does it matter?" he asked. "You don't know how happy I am to see you right now." She smiled at him.

"I'm glad to see you too, Will. But this is dangerous. You're jeopardizing your life." He wouldn't hear any of it. She consumed all his senses.

"Do you have a place to stay?" she asked. She took his hands in hers and squeezed them gently allowing her warmth to travel to his icy fingertips.

"No." he lied. She looked at him astonished. Will was about to answer the look in her eyes, but the Spanish lady who opened the door came into the living room.

"Sorry, to interrupt," she apologized. "I just came to get my cell phone." Sydney smiled at the young lady.

"Nadia!" she greeted warmly. "This is my best friend, Will." She stood up and he stood along with her reaching his hand out to Nadia. Nadia smiled a smile strangely similar to Sydney's.

"And Will, this is my sister, Nadia." What? Will blinked several times.

"Your sister? Wow. It's nice to meet you Nadia," he replied politely. "Seems like I missed a lot in the last two years."

"Sydney has told me a lot about you." Nadia said. Sydney smiled at her.

"I hope it wasn't anything bad."

"No, no, nothing bad at all." He beamed. "I should be going so you two can catch up. It was nice meeting you Will."

"Nice to meet you too, Nadia." She walked away and he turned to Sydney in disbelief.

"Your sister?" he asked incredulously. "That's insane!" Sydney smiled sheepishly.

"I know."

"You have to tell me this story," he pleaded as they walked to the kitchen. Sydney opened the freezer and pulled out a carton of ice cream. She smiled.

"Feel like ice cream?" Will inwardly panicked. This was vaguely familiar. The only thing running through his mind was "Is this a dream? Am I going to fall?"

"Will? Are you okay?" Sydney asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine.," he answered turning to the carton of ice cream. "Oh chocolate-chocolate chip, I haven't had that in forever." Sydney got out two spoons and opened the carton between them and they ate while Will reassumed his journalistic instincts. He felt strangely comforted by the small pretense of normalcy they created.

"Wow," he commented. "And I thought that you being kidnapped was crazy. I can't believe that Sloane is Nadia's father. I bet that makes you closer to him than you had wanted to be." She placed a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth and smiled.

"Yeah, but you get used to it. It's harder now for me to want to kill him only because he is Nadia's father. I just regret what my life did to you." He looked up and her immediately and stared into her brown eyes. If there was ever more sorrow and regret, Will would have seen it in her eyes. He sighed.

"Oh, don't say that," he entreated.

"No, Will. I ruined your life. I took it from you." She set her spoon down and closed the lid of the ice cream and put it back in the freezer. Will remained silent. The whole thought about Sydney owing him a life never came to his mind. He would never ask Sydney for anything. Just knowing that she was alive was enough for him, even if she didn't reciprocate the intensity of the feelings he felt for her.

"Come on, I'll show you where you can stay." She took him by the hand and led him into a spacious guest room. She sat on the bed while he observed the place.

"Look in the closet," she told him. Will turned around with his hands in his jacket pockets and looked at her curiously.

"The closet? Why?" He would always be a journalist.

"Just look." Giving in, he slowly pulled back the door to the closet half expecting to find some top-secret super high tech state of the art CIA gadgetry hidden behind the panel in the wall. Instead all he saw were clothes. Well, what was a closet for anyway?

"Do those look familiar?" she asked. Will turned around to give her a half confused, half curious look and finally reached out to touch the fabric. It was soft and strangely familiar in his hands, like he had held it somewhere before. Taking the coat off the rack he examined it in the light and it dawned on him. It was his old suede jacket.

"How in the world did you get this?" he asked incredulously thumbing the soft material. "I thought this was lost in the fire."

"I was surprised when I came across it too. But some how several articles of your clothing were recovered. I wish I could say that about mine. I had a lot of cute stuff." He smiled at her.

"What else is in here?" He turned back to the closet.

"Well, a couple t-shirts and a pair of track pants. Those are there in the top dresser drawer. I didn't want to throw them away. They were all I had left of you." Will walked over to the dresser and pulled the items out of the drawer and examined them.

"How weird is that?" he asked rhetorically. "I hope these all still fit." He placed the clothes back in the drawer and collapsed onto the bed next to Sydney. Her hair bounced and she laid down next to him, nestling her head in the crook of his shoulder and neck and brought his arm to her chest and hugged it close. Will died of happiness a thousand times in that one moment.

" I could spend eternity like this," he thought. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes. He would never forget this moment. With his other hand he stroked the hair from her face and stared out the window for a while. The moonlight and the darkness took on a whole other meaning when he was with Sydney. It seemed more hopeful for the day to come. He was no longer desperate.

"So, have you asked out that painter yet?" Will was broken out of his reverie with the question. Frankly, after returning from the CIA mission with Sydney two years ago, he hadn't even tried to pursue the girl. Let alone ask her name. Jonah would hate him for that.

"No. I figured she's not my type," he answered. "I'm supposed to be recovering from a traumatic dating experience, remember?" Sydney giggled.

"Oh yeah. But does it take two years?" For Jonah, no. But for Will, eternity wouldn't be long enough for him to refute his love for her.

"Jonah is trying to take it slow. He's got to make sure first that she doesn't own a bayonet or anything relatively sharp. He's still trying to deal with kitchen knives and scissors." "While Will was aching to get out." He thought. Sydney started up again with idle conversation and they talked into the early morning. It was comforting to hear her voice again and to feel like old Will Tippin and old Sydney Bristow. The ones they were (or thought they were) before Sydney confessed her real job. Daybreak began to peer through the windows when they finally fell asleep.

TBC……

Sorry this took so long everyone, but newspaper has been really breathing down my back lately. I'll try to write more….and I'm still searching for the ending! By the way, I appreciate all the reviews!

Taintedvision