Whoohoo! Updates rock! Hehe… sorry, I excite myself…

The two simple words echoed in my mind, and all my years of training failed me. It only took two seconds to recover, but those two seconds could have made all the difference.

"Who's there?" I finally managed to gasp out. There was nothing but cold static. Weiss looked at me, a vague hint of fear playing in his eyes, and worry streaming plainly across his face.

"Hello? Are you there? Hello?" After a few more minutes of this, Weiss gently took the phone from my hand and hung it up. He glanced around, presumably to see if anyone was watching us too closely, before grabbing my shoulder and leading me to a more private room to talk.

"What the hell was that Mike?" I slumped into a chair and stared at the wall for a moment, those words reverberating in my mind again.

"Hey, Mike. Vaughn! Vaughn, damn it, what happened?" I finally managed to look up at him. "Who was on the phone?"

"Joey's Pizza," I murmured. I heard his sharp intake of breath and saw him brace himself on the table.

"What do you mean, Joey's Pizza? Do you know… I mean, was it…" his voice faltered, and my eyes met his.

"I don't know, Weiss. That's all it said, Joey's Pizza."

"But Vaughn, that was…" he trailed off again.

"I know what it meant, Eric. I need to talk to…" I cut myself off and looked at him sharply. I couldn't say Jack or Irina, not in the Joint Task Forces Center, and not to Weiss. But he somehow seemed to know, as he simply nodded at me and left the room, where I sat and thought for a few more minutes. Finally deciding on a plan of action, I got up and got to work. I walked over to one of the tech guys, Shelton, and asked him if he could trace a call that I had received. After he asked a few questions, regarding the length of the call, he said he could try, but it would take a while.

"That's fine, it's no rush. I've got a few other things to take care of. Think you can figure it out within the hour?" He nodded confidently and I headed out.

I still had no way of initiating contact with Jack or Irina, but I knew that one of them should be calling that day. With that in mind, I headed to the park, figuring Irina or Sark would approach if they were around. As I waited for contact, either in person or on my cell phone, I took some time to sort out various thoughts and feelings that had been running through me since I heard that voice.

It was her. I knew it had to be. All that time without her hadn't diminished my memories of her- her voice, her eyes, her hair, her smile. Sydney was alive, and she had made contact. I didn't know if she was healthy, or where she was, but for the moment, simply knowing she was out there was enough.

But the more time I had to think, the more worried I became. What if she wasn't ok? What if I never got her back, and those two brief words were the last I ever heard from her?

Fortunately for my sanity, I wasn't long allowed to drift down that road. My cell phone's ring tone dragged me away from it.

"Vaughn," I answered tiredly.

"It's Jack." His voice came through loud and clear.

"Something big happened," I said quickly, not allowing him to say anything more.

"What? How big?"

"She called." There was silence, with the exception of his breathing, for a few long moments.

"What do you mean, she called?"

"Jack, I mean she called. I mean my phone rang at the JTF, and I picked it up, and she was on the other end."

"What did she say?" I could hear the carefully controlled emotion behind the words, and I took pains to keep myself in check as I explained. There was another extended silence before he spoke again.

"What have you done about it?"

"I got one of the tech guys to attempt a trace. He's working on that now."

"What about Irina?"

"I'm at the park now, so if she shows here, or calls me, I'll tell her."

"Fine. Be sure Sark tells Dixon. And Vaughn… never mind. I'll be in touch." I didn't have the chance to protest, as he quickly hung up on me. I frowned, wondering what he had wanted to tell me. I was so eager to tell him my news that I ignored the fact that he must have had something to tell me, and he must now have a reason to withhold it.

I sat and considered the angles of that for a good fifteen minutes before deciding that it was time to head back. But a familiar voice stopped me.

"Vaughn?" she said somewhat hesitantly. I slowly turned to face her. She was sitting at the bench I had just vacated.

"Took you long enough," I said irritably.

"I don't just sit around and wait for you, you know. I have other things to be doing. But Sark figured you must have wanted to see me, since you've been here close to an hour." I nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah I did."

"Ok. What is it?" I dropped my eyes and took a breath, before looking back up and launching into the details. When I was finished a few minutes later, I was shocked by the change that seemed to come over Irina. When she had first appeared, she seemed to be her usual serene self, eyes looking as though they knew a million things I could never imagine, and a slight smirk that hinted at superiority. Now, she was agitated to an extent, with a storm brewing in her eyes and all traces of that smile gone.

"I won't leave town tonight. Be back here as soon as you get the results of the trace." I agreed and started back to work, before remembering something Jack had said.

"Jack wants Sark to tell Dixon about this, just to keep him informed." Irina nodded, somewhat numbly, and I returned to the JTF to find an angry Kendall waiting for me.

"Agent Vaughn, please tell me you realize it's 10 in the morning? That's too early for a lunch break. So where the hell did you disappear to for an hour?" I was stuck. I couldn't tell him the truth, but too much of a lie would eventually be uncovered. So I opted for a less detailed version of the truth.

"I needed to clear my head, sir. Agent Bristow's been on my mind today."

"And every day," I heard him mumble as he turned away. "Fine. Get back to work. But don't make this a habit!" After watching him disappear, I quickly ran to find Shelton.

"The trace- did you get it?" He looked at me nervously.

"Well, I… it's a bit complicated, because I-"

"Yes or no. It's simple."

"I got a very general area trace, and that was it."

"How general?"

"It came from Lithuania." I waited for him to keep going.

"That's it? That's all you got?" He nodded anxiously.

"I'm sorry, I tried, but it was very-"

"Don't worry about it. It's better than nothing." I walked back to my desk and sat down to decide what to do next. If I walked out, Kendall would be pissed. It could endanger my job. But if I waited for the day to end, we would lose precious hours. If I got to Irina immediately, she could get people out to Lithuania in no time. That settled it.

I stood up and headed towards the front door. I heard Kendall yell something to Weiss, and a moment later he was at the end of the hall yelling for me to stop. I ignored him and continued on my way.

I actually had this finished last night, but I was too tired to come up with replies to all the reviews, so you had to wait till today… sorry!

MadWoman: Happy that you're hooked! Hehe. Thanks for the review!

Secret Agent Girl: I promise, the F/V talk is coming, there are just some more things in the backstory that need to be told first…

Carrie: Yeah, ten points for StraightenedOutVaughn! 2 days… is that soon enough?

miss.pebbles: Yeah, we like Sydney-ness. As for Vaughn saying screw Kendall… well, did this update accomplish that? I'm not sure…

Ryanne: Nope, Syd's not dead, she's just been missing for a few years.

Susan: Make up your mind, dear- was it good or awful? :P And I reiterate- I CAN do that to you! Hahaha!

snosamie6: Suspense is good, yeah? Consider this continued!

JJ: I only see two J's there, must you really put in a million and a half? Hehe… yeah, a Thai place would be interesting…

purpleblue: Welcome and thanks for reading! And of course it had to stop at the cliffhanger- I'm eeevil!

rin: Yeah, you better keep talking to the thread, it gets lonely you know. But I'm sure Man appreciates how faithful you are.

Kiki: Powerful… I like that word! Thanks for the review!

Agent Otter: Hmm… others have mentioned heart failure too… maybe I'm bad for people's health. And yes, yes I'm quite pleased. Hehe.

Jade: I kinda liked the dreams, thanks! And I can certainly try my hand at that challenge… restore the FrancieFaith!

mary_d: I actually had planned out exactly what I wanted to happen with Syd, but now I'm not sure it's such a good idea… ah well, we'll find out soon enough!

Thanks to all the readers! You guys rock!